Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-12-02
TFo.TuE ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE.
4 Few Thoughts on Memory

binary memory from oifeuustanceS WHICH,
when looked into, show nothing extraordi-
nary in tho matter. \ case, IN point, re-
spsctins M.caulay, the great English Histo'
rian. recently appeared in the papers--'he
G.y.,to among the rest headed "Macau-
laws Memary" Macsulay vas at a gather
inv Of the HieraH. male ADD female, and one
Of the latter-of athestic sentlments--Aad
b N 'by the button hole" an unwilling lis
toner to 40 account she was giving OF the
rambling down of a building. involving loss
of life; with wbioh she managed to interlard
her peculiar views as to future state
Macau!ay turned to e friend d piteously
calculated two lines of poem which be bad
read some years ago-the exact words not
now reme;n bered, but which are substantial
II az follows
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here female atheist talks you dead"
Ard this was given as remarkable In
stance Of memory 10 MacauIay. L do not
so regard il. 10 al tHHcrdte mao, rs an
Ell ,rt Of pure memory, lt would have BEEN
But the exceeding fitness Ut the Poets idea,
aud It's perfect coincidence with the current
circumstances, flashed st once upon the fine
perception Of the man Of letters; the literal
words easily followed, and all the more
readily that they ',jioglei." Just as when
d man OF literary taste views mountain,
enich 10 the distance, appears to De blue
uut which, il epprUacced. he knows Is no
! bu9r than the scenery Immediately about
hun. the liues OF Campbell occur
"'Tls distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in It's azure hue"
Just as an adlairer Of Young, who is in.
| dulging IN Night Thoughts" an hour after
tue wltching ume, when according to Shdks-
Ueare "churchyards yawn," &c., may be
reminded OF tue liaes-
The clock strikes one,
! We take no note OF time out from It's loss"
| Just as, when we see q fairy form tripping
over q meadow full OF wild flowers, which
receive 10 permanent oppression from her
| footsteps-wc say With Scott
| "Een the slight h4rebel raised its head
| Elastic from her AIRY tread
|! IS IN extraordinary ArithDetics and
| Mathematical computations, Games Of Chess,
e., that the leats OF memory appear most
astonishing to US. We baye treuueutly
| heard OF Individuals who had On extraordl-
nary faculty pt adGing up mentally, several
Song oJlumus oil hSures, and stating the re-
suit rapidly aud correctly without resort to
penci s3a paper. O1e VI the most remark
able OF thrse was negro who had never re-
| ceived any cultivation. Aud, recently,
! have read Vt the teats oil u Chess player
" no, blndioldcd, played simultaneously ten
games vi Chess against as many antagonists,
aid ocat then ali. Tnese cases are mani
lesuy ?rouIgies ot memory, and OF the pow
er OF Abstraction and concentrated thought
| save said tuat the Jingle" helped 10 the
case Of II !caulay; and rhymes are evidently
more easily recalled chan aEy tGiog else
| The last word Of d line is cue for the sound
OF the contemplating word in the next; which
L., IL tufu, l. letter point, by y hlch We rave
| backwards the remainder OF the line
| Vi Gcrc there is poetic UT literary taste, the
memory, OF course, SEXES upon Poetry more
earnestly, and retains it more lastingly. An
! Illustration VI this, aud a more notlcea Bile
case than that OF Mscsulay Is recorded Of
sir Walter Scott: Campbell having read TO
| Scott the original draft OF bis "HOheniin.
| deg," lost toe manuscript, and could not re-
collect the poem. Lie mentioned the loss to
Scott, who Immediately rected it., word for
word-eueh was the impression tie one read
| iug had made upvn hun. | am not SC much
surprised that Scott should BIZ able TO recol-
ect it d. that the author himself should not;
though this la-t may be explained perhaps
By the fac; that "l0henlinden" was not q
iavurite with its author, but on the contrary,
ne as rather ashamed OF IL. Composition
Is tho desrest, sweetest employment on earth
TO - poet SEG when be succeeds III pleasing
hlmsel!-whcn his own Judgment approves
his wcrk-tue glowing l~ages Of his brain"
remain iDdolit.y stamped there. Some may
DOUBT this; AID question ii Byron could
Rave reca! ei al o: bis Childe HayOid--or
Milton nj Of hI1 Paradise LoSt-or Loog-
fellow ali Of bis Hiawuthd; but my PROPOSE
ton is UertaInly more moderate than one |
have seen advanced by soWe metaphysical
cGsu!st, to-wit: that every thing we have
ever written, read, OF thought, said, or heard
sald--ls intellectually GaguerreOtyped upon
the mind; and that though we may not be
able to recall it AT wIl!--lhCush we may be
as otiivi5us IF it for long time, as if it
never had been presebt conception, yet at
some time or other-iu Time or Eternlty--lt
viii turn Up. The argumeutatiye, reasoning
mind, rs lt hGs more relish tor, so 1t moro
easily masters ana memories i logical, ar
sumeUtatIve essay or debate, than poetic
ana iuat!Ve Iniud. a remaG kable instance
OF memory IN tolls respect according to DR..
Rush. was that Of Mansfield, who after a
loag debate IN the British House of Com.
ra0us, would get 10 bis carriage, close his
eyes, aid on reaching home, would write
or the whole OF the debate as IL occurred,
without toe aid of notes.
10 short, prime requisite for "remem-
bering' aoy thing or cisss OF things, is
deep Ia,c.est 10, and earuest attention to, the
matter III hand. Let man meet US on the
street and tell Us that at some future day
Gaming It, he will pay Us certain sum,
Gaming it, We sha!l be very apt to remem-
Der tae exact Day, month, aud year; and as
10 the mOney--tbe greater the sum, the more
likely are we to remember that, though it
be not 10 ryund numbers, but 10 any imag.
uable combination Of odd dollars and cents.
ga the 0thor hand, set a man down TO q
dozen newspapers usi to kill tme," and
a ter reading ;hem all through mechanically,
he will rise from the perussl without retain
lag single idea. Upon tDis principle our
shop reuds will recall at the close Of busy
day, all the minuticE Of tie days sales to