MEMORY. 25 



" to go to Davy Jones' locker." There is hardly 

 an act or an idea in life about which we have not 

 all of us unconsciously gathered a whole vast col- 

 lection of proverbial phrases which we trot out 

 and bring into use from time to time as occasion 

 offers. 



Then, again, there is the extraordinary variety 

 of faces and features that we all remember, both 

 those personally known to us and those merely 

 recognized and remembered as belonging to neigh- 

 bors or fellow-townsmen. It is probable that 

 almost every human being recollects more or less 

 distinctly, by name or face, not less than seven or 

 eight thousand separate i)ersons. This seems, 

 indeed, at first sight, an excessive estimate, es- 

 pecially for the inhabitants of small villages and 

 out-of-the-way places, where the whole population 

 is small and fixed ; but it has been arrived at by 

 careful calculation and observation of cases, and 

 on the average of instances it is probably true. 

 For one has to remember not only all the mem- 

 bers of one's own family and one's personal ac- 

 quaintance, but also hundreds and hundreds of 

 other people, with whom our intercourse has been 

 but very slight, yet quite suflicient to make one 

 recollect them. Think only of all the servants, 

 landladies, tradesmen, assistants, policemen, cab- 

 men, errand-boys, and hangers-on generally of 

 whom one has a distinct and recognizable mental 



