once a King of two and twenty Kingdoms where so many differing Languages were spoken which he understood so well that he could speak every one of them and to all his Subjects without an Interpreter The Great Cyrus had so large a Memory that he could call every Souldier of his numerous Army by his proper Name Likewise Seneca tells us of himself that he could repeat 2000 distinct Names that had no dependance And in our late Days the Cardinal du Perron was able to repeat without missing a Word two hundred Verses which were spoken before Henry the Fourth by a famous Poet and never heard nor saw them before Likewise in our Age and Nation some carry with them whole Libraries in their Memory Which in reason cannot be expected unless Men endeavour to improve this rare Gift of God by a continued Exercise I need not inlarge upon the Usefulness and Excellency of Memory to incline Men to the practice of the Means to attain to it All other Abilities of the Mind borrow from hence their Beauty Ornaments and Perfections as from a common Treasury And the other Capacities and Faculties of the Soul are useless without this For to what purpose is Knowledg and Understanding if we want Memory to preserve and use it What signify all other Spiritual Gifts if they are lost as soon as they are obtained It is Memory alone that enriches the Mind that preserves what Labour and Industry collect which supply this Noble and Heavenly Being with those Divine Excellencies by which it is prepared for a Glorious Immortality In a word there can be neither Knowledg neither Arts nor Sciences without Memory Nor can there be any improvement of Mankind either in respect of the present Welfare or future Happiness without the Assistance and Influence of this Supernatural Ability Memory is the Mother of Wisdom the common Nurse of Knowledg and Vertue as the Poet very well hath express'd Sophiam me vocant Graeci vos sapientiam Vsus me genuit mater peperit memoria But as these Lines are designed for the Benefit and Encouragement of their Memories chiefly who are to appear in the Pulpit or at the Bar to speak in the Audience of the People I need not tell them with St. Austin Memoria in primis oratori necessaria That there is no Ability more useful to an Orator than Memory For it gives Life to what is spoken and makes a deeper Impression in the Minds of Men it awakens the dullest Spirits and causeth them to receive a Discourse more kindly than otherwise it adds a Grace and an extraordinary Excellency both to the Person and his Oration and is the greatest Ornament of that part of Rhetorick that we commonly name Pronunciatio So that if there is any thing worthy to be esteemed or valued in that Art so useful in a Common-wealth 't is all borrowed from Memory alone which gives the greatest weight and efficacy to the Words that are spoken It is reported of Eschines that when he came to Rhodes he read to the Inhabitants a famous Oration of Demosthenes which they very much admired tho pronounced without the Grace of an Orator But said he to them Quid si ipsum audissetis How much more would you admire and esteem this Oration if you had heard it from his own Mouth But our daily Experience can declare more of the Excellency of this rare Ability I shall therefore proceed to examine what Temper is most agreeable with a good Memory CHAP. III. The Temper or Disposition of the Body best and worst for Memory with the Natural Causes and Reasons of both MEmory is named or rather described by Plato that great and famous Philosopher of his Age the Soundness of the Senses because the Soul making use of the Senses of the Body to receive the Impressions of Things the Memory is either larger or narrower greater or less according to the good or ill Qualities of the Senses and the Ideas are more or less lasting in Man However 't is most certain that in general it is requisite for a good Memory that the Body be in a perfect Health for if either the whole be distemper'd or any part be diseased the Sufferings are communicated to every Member and all are sensible in some respect of the Pain with the disaffected Part and the Disease whatever it be disorders the Functions more or less according to the nearness of Communication Some Diseases have that evil Influence that they totally deprive us of our Memory for a time as those that seize upon the Head and Brain and such as distemper the Nerves and Veins that are uppermost and corrupt the Blood and Spirits which are used for the Exercise of Memory Besides when any part of the Body is diseased the Mind is distracted and cannot so readily perform that Office as when it enjoys a perfect Tranquillity free from the Avocations of Maladies and Pain Likewise if the Spirit be disturbed by the violent Passions of Anger Fear Despair c. the Exercise of Memory can never be so free because it requires a sedate and quiet Temper of Mind as well as a Soundness in the Body All the Alarms and Troubles of the Soul blot out the Ideas that are already entertain'd and hinder others from coming in They obstruct all the Passages and the Crowd of Thoughts that in such Cases arise is a great hindrance to Memory But the Learned observe that two Tempers of the Body or Brain are Enemies to a good Memory and that such can never expect any great Advantage from this Ability that in those cases is naturally disinabled The first is a Temper extraordinary Cold for thereby the necessary Motions are stopt and the Passages for a speedy Conveyance frozen and the Imagination as it were benumm'd So that as a convenient Heat of the Body is a notable Help to an active Memory a cold Temper can never be so quick in Apprehension nor receive the Impressions that are offered Therefore a noted Physician names Cold the Mother of Forgetfulness and declares that there can be nothing more pernicious to Memory either to the admittance of the Ideas or to the making use of them than an inward or a too violent and ambient Cold. The second Temper unfit for Memory is Moist when a too great Humidity seizes upon the Brain as in Drunkenness Intemperance and Defluxions Memory in such a case may quickly receive an Impression but it will as speedily lose it As a Ship at Sea running swiftly through the Waves leaves behind a Track which is almost assoon lost as made so that no sign can be found of its Passage through that fluid Element So the Moisture of the Brain may be susceptible of an Idea for the present but 't is not lasting nor is there any sign a little after of any such matter Those Persons may remember the things near at hand but they seldom call to mind that which hath been long ago done I might add
THE ART OF MEMORY THE ART OF MEMORY A TREATISE useful for such as are to speak in Publick By Marius D' Assigny B. D. Omnis disciplina Memoria constat frustraque docemur si quicquid audimus praeterfluat Quintil. lib. II. Rerum omnium thesaurus Memoria est Cic. I. de Orat. Constat Memoriam habere quiddam artificii non omnem à natura proficisci Cic. London Printed by J. D. for Andr. Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil near Stocks-market 1697. To the Young Students of both Universities I Need not tell you Gentlemen how useful this Art is and may be to you whatever Employment you are to undertake in Church or State As it is the most desirable Faculty for the enriching your Minds with rare Sciences and Knowledges and the gathering from your Stations those rich Jewels that will cause you one day to appear the greatest Ornaments of your Age and Nation it is also the most excellent Ability for the perfecting of all your Natural Perfections and procuring to you a real Happiness in this Life and an eternal Felicity in the next Seeing therefore that so many and apparent Advantages depend upon your Memories and the Improvement of them pray be not wanting to your selves neglect not this Gift of God suffer it not to be idle and useless but employ it for the Purposes intended by the Donor's Wisdom and Bounty If you have capacious and officious Memories able to receive contain and preserve much keep them not as empty Bladders puft up with Wind and Fancy but fill them while you are at the Fountain with the profitable Knowledg of God and Nature of sound Learning and of true Wisdom and of those liberal Arts and Sciences by which you design to be useful and do good in your Generation Let your Elevation be never so great and your Birth never so considerable Learning Knowledg and Wisdom will add a greater Splendor and Glory to your Nobility and procure to you a greater Veneration from those who are to be subject to your Commands and Dominion Picus Father and Son Earls of Mirandula tho Men of great Eminency in our late days thought the Exercise of their Memories in the studying of all manner of Sciences to be no Diminution to their Nobility but rather a considerable Increase to their Native Honour for one of them published at Rome Theses de omnibus Scientiis with a Promise to defray the Charges of those Learned Men if poor who would have the Pleasure to travel to oppose and dispute with him And if you please to look into Antiquity how many Noble and Famous Men how many Kings and Princes have purchased to themselves everlasting Renown by the Exercise of their Memories by their Industry Studies and great Learning Cato the Elder at the Age of 80 Years pleaded his own Cause when accused by his Adversaries of a Capital Crime and it was observed that neither his Memory failed him nor his Countenance changed Themistocles that Noble Athenian could call all his fellow Citizens by their proper Names and when he was banished into Persia he learnt in a few Months the Persian Tongue that he might be able to speak to King Darius without an Interpreter And in our late Ages King Alfonsus Averroes and Avicenna were noted for their Learning as well as for their Nobility Memory is a rich and precious Jewel if polish'd used and improved but if suffered to be idle it is as a Pearl of great Value in the Hands of a slothful or unskilful and ignorant Artist To this purpose Erasmus speaks very well Ad nativae Memoriae vim natura felicem accedat intelligentia cura exercitatio ordo ad memoriam confirmandam non nihil opis pollicentur medici sed praeter ea quae diximus plurimùm confert perpetua vitae sobrietas nam crapula ebrietas ut ingenium hebetant ita memoriam prorsus obruunt Officit etiam curarum varietas turba negotiorum officit tumultuaria diversorum voluminum lectio And again he saith Optima memoriae Ars est penitus intelligere intellecta in ordinem redigere postremò subinde repetere quod meminisse velis Certainly such have a great advantage who are gifted with a large Memory but it can yield neither them nor others any Benefit unless they employ this Gift for the Purposes that their wise God hath designed in the Donation And let it be never so strong and large by Nature it may be improved and increased by Art and their Industry to the compleating of their Felicity both Temporal and Eternal But if Nature seems to deny some of you this Advantage and you are not so ready and perfect as others in the use of this excellent Ability you are not therefore to slight the least Gifts of God in your Creation but still to endeavour the Improvement and Increase of them Let your Labour and Industry strive to supply the Deficiencies of Nature and polish this Gift this precious Jewel by a continual Exercise Demosthenes the Prince of the Greek Orators had such Natural Imperfections as made him unfit to speak in publick yet by his resolute and vertuous Endeavours he attained to the highest pitch of Perfection and Glory in Oratory Art may procure to us divers Excellencies which Nature seems to keep from us and the Divine Bounty grants many times to our assidual Labours what was refused to our Birth at first The sparing Hand of Nature in bestowing this Ability should rather provoke our Resolution to get it by other means than cause us to slacken or discourage our Endeavours for according to the old Greek Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greater the Difficulty in the Attempt the greater will be the Glory and Satisfaction in overcoming it for of all the Perfections of the Mind there is none more capable of a greater Improvement than Memory and none will reward our Labours with more satisfactory Returns than this excellent Ability when we can attain to any Perfection Pray consider therefore you who are like to want the use of this rare Faculty in the following course of your Lives and in the Imployments that you design to engage your selves in how much it concerns you now to polish and increase your Memories and exercise them frequently for as a Roman Author observes Memoria minuitur nisi exerceas eam Tho the Labour may be great at first because of your Natural Imperfections the Difficulty is to be overcome by Art and what is wanting to you in Nature the other will supply in time Pray weigh and consider these seasonable Verses applicable to my Purpose Quisquis desidiam luxumque sequetur inertem Dum fugit appositas incauta mente labores Turpis inopsque simul miserabile transiget aevum The Advantages that the Exercise of Memory will procure to you are innumerable to you Gentlemen chiefly who design to instruct the Nation from the Pulpit for besides the Honour Glory
Esteem and Value that you will thereby obtain from your Congregations by this way of Delivery besides the greater Efficacy and Power that your Words and Preaching will have upon the Minds of your Auditors besides the promoting of the Glory of God and perhaps the perswading a greater Number thereby out of the broad Road of Eternal Perdition I must needs tell you that you will quickly find an unspeakable Benefit in a few Years and your great Pains at first in conquering your natural Weaknesses will be fully recompensed with a greater Ease Pleasure and Delight in the publishing of your Meditations You will find that this way of Delivery will smooth and polish your Conceptions and Fancy You will find that it will unty your Tongues and make you more ready to express your selves you will find that your Labours will be the less your Preaching more acceptable your Improvements greater your Learning more sound and your selves able upon a sudden to answer all Gainsayers for by this means the Body of Divinity will become as familiar to you as your Pater Noster Antisthenes the Athenian Philosopher when a Friend complained that he had lost his Book where he had recorded weighty Matters told him that he ought not to have trusted things of so great Importance to Pen Ink and Paper but to his Memory where he should always have found them ready at hand in time of need There is one Advantage more which we shall receive by the Exercise of our Memories how considerable it may be to us and what Influence it may have to increase and inlarge our Eternal Happiness we may at a distance guess for thereby the Soul will be inabled to increase its Abilities Faculties and Graces which have a natural Dependance upon this of Memory and that also will be inabled to retain more because as there is a strict Union and Communication of all the Perfections between the Soul and Body so that if one receives an Inlargement it conveys the same Benefit to the other and the other becomes more perfect and accomplished in that Ability which its Partner enjoys The Exercise therefore of Memory will not only inable the Organ now to perform more perfect Acts and inlarge the Ability while the Soul is in Conjunction with the Body but at its Separation and at the great Morn of the Resurrection this Perfection with all the rest being as immortal as the Spirit where it is fixt and to which it is conveyed by our constant Endeavours and Correspondence with the Body will then appear more compleat and greater for the better Reception of future Glory and Bliss and to our everlasting Comfort and Satisfaction Therefore as St. Bernard very well expresseth himself Ad aeternitatis Gloriam acquirendam nullus labor durus nullum tempus longum videri debet In Doct. I would not have those Worthy and Learned Gentlemen of my Function be displeased with this Exhortation and Advice that I address to the Students of our Universities as if it were designed to undervalue their wise and profitable Meditations pronounced with the Assistance of Book from the Pulpit Our Nation only is used to this way of Delivery for we are wont ofttimes as we ought to consider and weigh the Things and Expressions more than the manner of the Publication Neither is it possible for them after a Tract of Time and a long Usage to change their Custom of Preaching But for the Young Men coming up to supply our vacant Places in Church and State 't is now in their Power to alter this Custom to exercise their Memories to follow the Practice of the Learned Men of other Nations 'T is now in their Power to use themselves to such a Practice as will be advantagious to the Glory of God the Salvation of Souls the Credit of our Church and infinitely beneficial to themselves I recommend therefore this Treatise principally to you Gentlemen and let nothing hinder you from the Exercise of your Memories and the Practice of the Rules here prescribed which I will assure you from Experience have proved effectual for the overcoming the Weaknesses of Nature and inabling frail Memories to perform the Acts of large and strong If some of them seem common despise them not they will be no less useful if put in Practice I have not only consulted in the delivery of them my own Knowledg and Experience but have also set down the Advices of several Learned Men about this Subject and borrowed from the Skill of the Physicians several approved Experiments for the strengthening and corroborating the Faculty of Memory However I intreat you Gentlemen to accept kindly from my Pen this Endeavour for your Benefit and the Publick and this sincere Expression of my earnest Desire of your Success Promotions and Advantages and of the Prosperity of our Church and Nation I beseech God of his Infinite Bounty to make you all truly useful in your Generation to inlarge your Memories increase your Learning bless all your Abilities and Graces and to preserve you all to his Eternal Kingdom Amen ERRATA PAge 8. line penult dele all P. 10. l. 27. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 23. l. 28. r. suscitat P. 43. l. 26. r. tam. P. 54. l. 3. r. capillis P. 57. l. 24. r. linguam P. 58. l. 3. r. dicta P. 59. l. 13. r. albi l. 24. put a colon after dictas P. 60. l. 26. r. bulliant P. 61. l. 4. r. Stichadâ—s THE CONTENTS Chap. 1. OF the Soul or Spirit of Man page 1 Chap. 2. Of Memory its Seat and Excellency p. 18 Chap. 3. The Temper or Disposition of the Body best and worst for Memory with the Natural Causes and Reasons of both p. 30 Chap. 4. Some General and Physical Observations and Prescriptions for the remedying strengthning and restoring a Memory injured by the ill Temper of the Body or the Predominancy of one of the four Qualities in the Brain p. 38 Chap. 5. What is very much prejudicial to the Faculty Habit and Practice of Memory p. 42 Chap. 6. Of such Natural Things as may be assisting to and may comfort Memory from the Procurement of Nature and the Contrivance of Art p. 49 Chap. 7. Rules to be observed for the Acts or Practice of Memory p. 62 Chap. 8. Rules to be observed to help our Remembrance of things that we desire to preserve in Mind p. 77 Chap. 9. Of Artificial or Fantastical Memory or Remembrance p. 82 The Art of Memory c. CHAP. I. Of the Soul or Spirit of Man THE Excellent and Wonderful Frame of the Human Body wherein the Wisdom of the Creator shines so beautifully and apparently before our Eyes being but the Cabinet of the Soul or the outward Shell made on purpose to receive and entertain this Immortal Creature gives good reason to imagine that this Jewel is far more excellent and of a greater Worth Certainly our Wise Maker had no mean Esteem of this Master-piece of the Creation