the gates. During his absence, the 
chainber in which Scopas and his guests 
were carousing, feil in, and in its fall 
they were biiched to death. The rela- 
tions of thesé unfortunate revellers, anxi- 
ous to honour the 
sequies, were unable to recognize their 
persons in the mangled and “disiigured 
corpses,’ which lay strewed around, uil 
Simonidés overcame this dilemma, by 
remembering the distinct places each 
had vecupied at table; and thas pomung 
out each Ag bese th those who sought 
his remains.* This event suezested 
to his mind the practicalyility of making 
exterhal IM pressi ons subservient to ihe 
st: enginening oF memory, by" sclec ing 
places and unages, as se many reposito- 
ries and symbuls OF ideas, ilence e, he 
was led fo propound a method of asso- 
ciating the ideas of things to be Fetained 
in the memory, with the ideas of objects 
coilveyed to the mind by that acutest 
of our senses—the sight; and already 
Impressed upon it in a regular series. 
The invention of this method stamped 
hiaras the Father of the Mnemonic Art.F 
Cicero ‘tells us, that when Simonides 
offered to instract Themistocles in his 
method, his offer was rejected in these 
miedeOFABle: words <' Ah! (replied the 
hero,) rather teach me the art of forget- 
ting; for T ofte 
net, and caunot forget what [ w sould.” 
From tins time, Mnemonics bec came a 
favourite pursuit with the Greeks ; and 
being peg to perfection by Scepsius 
Metrod ore sf was In great vogue z TOME 
their th atiunk They are said to have 
made use of the statues, pylatings, or- 
naments, and other external circum- 
siaices, of the places where they ha- 
ranzued, for reviving, in progressive or- 
der, the topics and matter of their ora- 
tions, which they had already appro- 
priated “to each circumstance. In the 
list of those who prided themselves on 
having pérfected their memory by ar 
x aie story is handed down to us, both 
by Cicero aud Phaedtus, in his fables: 
+ This system of Simonides, is founded-on >. 
that theory of emblems, which Bacon so 
justly cigrsee) 
intellectuale ad. senszile: 
fortins iteucts 5 Memoriam, phe im ea fociliits 
imprimitur, quai intellectuale”” Krablem 1e- 
ducech -cuncelts saectldeial to images sea- 
sible, which always strika the meniory more 
forcialy, and are therefore the more easily 
imprinted, than intellectual conceits.—%a- 
Cox» ugm. Scientiag, 1b. vi. cap. 2, 
{ Pisit Hie Nat. libs vill. c. 2h. 
2 The Origin and Progress of Mnemonies. 
eta with funereal ob- 
‘In after-ages, 
en remeinber what L would 
izes: SS Emtlema werd dedr\cit- 
sensibile autem seimper’ 
ae 
(Fe b. 1, 
tificial means, are. enumerated Metro 
dorus, Hippi as, and ‘I heodectes. 
The Romans bestowed no less atten= 
tion on this art, the subject of Cicero’s 
panegyric and discussion throughout a 
whole: ehepter of his masterly treatise on 
Oratory.* Yet Cicero’s conviction of 
its utility did‘not prevent Quinctilian’s 
assertion of its inetficiency, a short time 
afterwards; for we find the latter sum-— 
ming up his thoughts upon it,.an these 
vehement terms:—‘* Wherefore, both 
Carneades, and the S ‘Scepsius Metrodorus, 
(of whom I have just spoken,) who, “as 
Cicero says, had used this exercise, may 
keep this method to themselves: we will 
pass over to a more simple subject.’ + 
Fabius, the historian, also. ridicules this 
art m his XIth book, Mnetnonics, 
however, ‘still continued in great repute; 
and Cicero, ‘strengthening precept by 
example, boasted that they were the 
basis of his excellent memory. It is said,. 
their practice was cultivated with suc- 
- cess, by others of no less repute ; amongst 
pita Crassus, _ Julius Cesar, and 
Seneca, are e particularly noticed. 
This art appears to have Jain dormant 
till that luminary of 
science, Raimond Lulle,t thought fit to 
bring it once more into notice among the 
learned; and wooed it with such “dili- 
gence, that it has ever since been called 
“Lulle’s Att?’ I shall not detain your 
readers, by entering into an analysis of | 
Lulle’ 5 method, which is amply deiailed 
by Morhof, and in Gray’s Memoria 
Technica. 
Mnemonics had nat yet attained the 
meridian of their greatness: this epoch 
was reserved for the sixteenth century ; 
and Sl question much, whether any art. 
* De Oratore, lib. i. sect. 86, .87.> 
+ © Quare et Carneades et Scepsius (de 
guo modo dixi) Metrodorus, quos Cicero dicit, 
usos hac exercitatione, ‘gibi habeant sua: nos. 
simpliciora tradainus "Inst. Orat. ut supra. 
Dr. Beattie also says, in conclusion of his 
remarks on Artificial Memory, «¢ T cannot, 
~ but think with Quinctilian, that the Art was, 
tog complex, and that Memory may be im- 
“proved by easier methods.” . Diss, Mar. and 
Crit. chap. ii. sect. 3. Lord Bacon held a 
similar opinion, as well as, Morhof, i in whose 
«<Polyhistor Literar.” (lib. li, “gap..v. de’ 
Arte Luliiana, and cap. vi. De Memoriae 
Subsiciis,) i is preserved an elaborate account 
of the writers ea this subject. - 
t Gaspar Scioppius, speaking of- this, 
ctor Mluminatus,? terms him, with jus- 
tice, “* lutulentum et ineptum scriptorem, 
sed portentosi acuminis,” Comment, de Styla 
ot [ 
. has 
