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Yet, when we cannot recall them we are, 

 nevertheless, confident that we have pos- 

 sessed the knowledge which we seek. We 

 try to discover it by some circumstance 

 with which it was connected, and if we 

 find but the associating link, we are in- 

 stantly assured of our perfect memory of a 

 lono; chain of incidents. In what, mav I 

 ask, exists this assurance of forgotten 

 events, or of perfect memory, when we 

 discover but a single link in a long chain 

 of circumstances ? Surely we must answer, 

 in that which has perceived and thought. 



Of the unity of that which perceives, 

 attends, thinks, decides, and wills, nature 

 has given us a consciousness which no ar- 

 gument can annul, and which enquiry only 

 strengthens. I wish to avoid metaphysical 

 discussions in this place, but it seemed ne- 

 cessary to shew that the consideration of 



