the Object all on heaps where the later Impression would go near to deface the former But if they impinge upon different Parts and make every Part sensible with the Stroke 'T is true then they have it among them but which way the Whole should emerge is still incomprehensible For supposing the Image was painted in Order without any Dislocation vacant Intervals or Interloping yet the Parts of the Fibres being distinct and impregnated by distinct Spirits they can account no farther than their Share of Motion reaches And therefore how they should club their particular Informations into a common Idea is inconceivable For Instance If a Cake is broken among Twenty People though there may be nothing lost in the Division yet 't will be next to impossible for each Person from the View of a single Fragment to understand what Relation either in Site or Magnitude his proportion bears to the whole Besides if any of the returning Spirits should happen to fall foul upon others which are outward Bound which is not unlikely These Counter-motions would over-set them or occasion a later Arrival either of which Accidents would maim the Image and make it imperfect These Rubs you see will lie in the way of Sensation But then in the Business of Imagination the Difficulty is still greater For here are no external Impressions to begin the Motion 'T is true outward Objects will make us perceive them whether we will or no. But the Exercises of Imagination are oftentimes purely voluntary When the Passions are not violent we may check or quicken change or extinguish the Operation as we please Now I would gladly know the main Spring of the Motion What Power it is which opens the Scene and gives Direction to the whole Management which chalks out the Course of the Spirits and limits their Commission both as to Time and other Circumstances of Action Luc. I perceive you imagine a Mechanical Solution impossible But if you examined the exquisite Fineness of the Animal Spirits and the exact Proportion between them and the Fibres to give and receive Impressions I believe you would alter your Opinion Especially considering this Hypothesis is supported by matter of Fact Hyl. We 'll examine your matter of Fact afterwards At present let me tell you since both the Fibres and Spirits are Material I think it impossible for them to produce Effects so much above the Vigour of the Cause You may as well expect that two Bowls should grow sensible by Rubbing as that the Rencounter of any Bodies should awaken them into Perception and Reasoning The whole Force of Mechanism consists in Matter and Motion Matter is nothing but Extention that is Length Breadth and Depth And Motion implies no more than a Change of Situation in the Parts of Matter Now these two Ingredients though never so well mix'd will not rise into the Composition of a Spirit Thoughts and Dimensions are the most incompatible unresembling Things in Nature To make the first out of the later is a harder Metamorphosis than any is in Ovid. Who ever heard of an Ounce of Pain an Inch of Desire or an Ell of Contemplation Luc. I suppose you fancy if Matter and Motion can make a Thought a Thought may make Matter and Motion Hyl. Why not What should hinder this Mercury from being fixed after Sublimation and thrown back into its former State But as this won't do so neither will the other Take a Body and run it through all Shapes and Changes force it into all Climates and bâ—ndy it through the Universe yet like some young Travellers 't will come Home as dull and unthinking as it went out For all this bustle amounts to no more than making the Parts and Motion greater or lesser than they were before and giving them a new Neighbourhood Luc. I should have fancied that when the Parts were broken fine and curiously filed a brisk Touch of Motion would have quickned them into Thinking â—â—â—Hyl Motion make them Think You may as well expect Discourse from a Tempest or Consgration And as for the Fineness of Parts if that signifies any Thing a Mite would have more sense than a Man And to carry on the Improvement One would think we might beat Spice till it felt the Pestil and with a good Flint and Steel strike Consciousness into a Tinder-box Luc. What makes you so positive against the Sensibility of Matter Hyl. Because 't is nothing but Extension variously figured Luc. Do you know all the Affections of Bodies If not why do you confine their Operations Hyl. If you ask me whether I know all the Effects which may result from all the possible Combinations of Matter and Motion I answer No neither is it necessary But this I know That all your Transmutations can never hunt a Body out of Extension You may divide or consolidate alter the Superficies the Bulk or Place quicken the Motion or interrupt the Quiet but after all 't will have Longitude Latitude and Profundity in spight of Fate The Consequence is That all the Revolutions in Nature can give it nothing more than different Degrees of these Dimensions And what affinity has Thinking with such Attributes as these No more than there is between a Syllogism and a Yard-wand In a word If Thinking is Essential to Matter than all Matter must Think and if so Stocks and Stones will come in for their Share of Privilege But if all Matter does not Think none can for the Essence of all Matter is the same Luc. Does it imply a Contradiction for Matter to Think Hyl. Truly in my Opinion as much as for a Man to be a Horse Luc. Why so Does Thinking extinguish Extension Hyl. It extinguishes the Idea if you will and that is sufficient proof it does not belong to the Thing Luc. Because Extension and Cogitation are unallied in their Ideas and this later is not implied in the Notion of Matter you conclude this Faculty does not belong to it Hyl. Yes and with good Reason For how can the Distinction of Substances be known but by the different Proprieties and Operations which proceed from them and which way can these be discovered but by the distinct Notions and Sentiments we have of them Luc. Are you sure your Idea of Matter is compleat Hyl. That the full Notion of Corporeity is comprized within the Three Dimensions is as clear as that Two and Two makes Four To these Dimensions add what Dose of Motion you please and then you have raised the whole Posse of Mechanism And when you have disciplined it in all Postures and Figures 't will be Matter and Motion still For you may better suppose That a Mouse may produce an Elephant than that Matter and Motion should propagate out of their own Species Now these two Principles fall vastly short of the Notion of Consciousness and are no more like Perception than Colours resemble Sound Luc. You take the Differences of Ideas for Demonstrations of Distinction in Things will that
hold Hyl. Yes or else we have nothing to trust to If clear and distinct Perception is not the infallible Mark of Truth 't is impossible to know any Thing For all Reasoning is at last resolved into Self-evident Principles Now these Magisterial Propositions don't dispute for Belief but demand it They flash Conviction so powerfully that 〈◊〉 there is no resisting them unless you will suppose our Faculties are false And then it will be Madness to argue about any Thing To return Don't you think the Whole is greater than any Part of it Luc. I allow it an indisputable Axiom what follows Hyl. Why as plain and as primary a Truth as it appears 't is but a Consequence of what I mentioned before Luc. What that a Distinction of Ideas infers a Distinction in Things Hyl. Yes For do but attend and you 'll find that the reason why you pronounce the whole bigger than a Part is because the first takes up a greater room in the Notion and includes a more comprehensive Reality than the later Luc. It seems then the Functions of Life and Reasoning proceed from an immaterial Substance and that the Body and Spirit are perfectly distinct Hyl. Nothing more certain And if a Spirit has no Extension it can have no Parts from hence it becomes indivisible and thence immortal Luc. I own these Consequences are very clear but then they are embarrassed with some appendant Difficulties which shock a Man's Understanding Hyl. Look you We must not let go manifest Truths because we cannot answer all Questions about them Objections are no good Evidence against positive Proofs This scrupulous way would make us deny our Senses For there is scarcely any thing we meet with but puts our Reason to a stand in some Circumstance or other But pray where does the Pinch lye Luc. Why by this Scheme all Communication between Soul and Body is cut off and yet nothing is more certain than that These two maintain a large Correspondence You see we move our Limbs at our Pleasure and receive various Impressions according to the Objects of Sense and the Habits of Constitution But how the Soul can move the Body or be affected by it without Extension is past my Comprehension For all Motion is perform'd by Resistance and Resistance supposes Contact and Contact requires a Superficies and this implies Extension so that where Extension is absent the other Requisites must fail of Course At this rate a Soul may as soon push down a Church Steeple as stir a single Atom Hyl. I confess I can't tell you how this Affair is managed 'T is possible the Soul does not move the Body at all Luc. How then comes it to pass that Motion is so perpetually consequent to our Will For the Purpose When I have a Mind to walk the Muscles are immediately put into a Posture of Travelling and do their Office at the least Notice imaginable Hyl. I believe this mysterious Correspondence depends on the Laws of the Union which by Sovereign Appointment are order'd to consist in a certain Reciprocation of Thoughts and Motions and so vice versa Luc. You mean when I would move my Finger God directs the Organ for such a Performance And on the other hand gives me Ideas suitable to the Presence of sensible Objects and to the State of the Union Hyl. Right Luc. But why do you make use of this Supposition Do you believe the Power of Exciting Motion exceeds the Force of the Soul Hyl. 'T is not improbable it may For if this Privilege lay within our reach one would imagine we should know something more of the Manner of using it But I don't pretend to determine any Thing Luc. You don't think it impossible for a Spirit to move Matter Hyl. By no means If it were there would be no such Thing as Motion For Extension implies no Necessity of being Moved It supposes no more than a bare Capacity for such an Event Now that Power which brings this Possibility into Act must be something distinct from Matter Besides The Regularity of Motion visible in the great Variety and Curiosity of Bodies and the constant and even Revolutions of some of them is a Demonstration that the whole Mass of Matter is under the Conduct of a Mighty Intelligence Luc. By your Reasoning I conceive you believe that the Power of Motion is either an incommunicable Perfection of the Supreme Being or else a sort of Prerogative Royal which he is pleased to keep in his Hands that we may be the more sensible of our dependance Hyl. I think that Opinion not improbable You know the Apostle tells us That in Him we Live Move and have our Being Which Words 't is likely will bear a more Literal Sense than is usually imagined Luc. May be so But to return If Matter be so uncapable of Thinking as seems to have been proved How comes it about that the Operations of Sense and Reason vary so much according to the Disposition of the Organs For if the Musick does not depend on the Instrument what 's matter whether 't is in Tune or not Now you know any considerable Degrees of Sickness or Age flat the Senses extinguish the Memory and weaken the Understanding So that the Vigour of the Mind seems almost stifled under these Corporeal Oppressions Hyl. I grant the Powers of Sensation are contracted or enlarged made keen or languid according to the Temper of the Body But 't is likely these Circumstances are no more than occasional Causes of this Variety My Meaning is That there is no natural Connexion between Thought and Matter and Motion Or that the Soul and Body do not act by direct Force upon each other 'T is true Sensations and Passions seem to depend upon a particular Set of Motions And the Body on the other hand seems to fall into different Postures by the Orders of the Mind yet these Effects may not result from any mutual Agency but meerly from the Will of a third Power That this Supposition is possible needs no proof ' That 't is matter of Fact seems likely because the two Parties are so essentially foreign and dissimilar that they seem uncapable of entertaining any Commerce by virtue of their own Strength Luc. If the Operations of Life have no immediate dependance on the Quality of the Organ why are our Senses worn up with Age and decay with the visible Parts of the Body Hyl. When the common Period of the Union is almost expired 't is likely Providence gives us notice of it by such sensible Declensions that we may disengage from the World by degrees and prepare the better for so great an Alteration Luc. Why does Pain follow from Obstructions Dislocation Discontinuity c. and Pleasure from those Actions which support the Frame Hyl. To encourage us to keep the Body in repair and to prevent Dissolution Luc. Your answering in the Final Cause makes me believe you are at a Loss for the Efficient Hyl. As to that 'T is
Quality that the Pleasure of Expectation exceeds that of Fruition It Refines upon the Richness of Nature and Paints beyond the Life And when the Reality is thus out-shined by the Imagination Success is a kind of Disappointment and to Hope is better than to Have Besides Hope has a creditable Complexion It throws a generous Contempt upon ill Usage and looks like a handsom Defiance of a Misfortune As who should say You are somewhat troublesome now but I shall conquer you afterwards And thus a Man makes an honourable Exit if he does nothing farther His Heart Beats against the Enemy when he is just Expiring and Discharges the last Pulse in the Face of Death But Despair makes a despicable Figure and descends from a mean Original 'T is the Off-spring of Fear of Laziness and Impatience It argues a defect of Spirits and Resolution and oftentimes of Honesty too After all the Exercise of this Passion is so troublesome that methinks nothing but Dint of Evidence and Demonstration should force it upon us I would not despair unless I knew the irrevocable Decree was past Unless I saw my Misfortune Recorded in the Book of Fate and Signed and Sealed by Necessity Indeed where the Act is unmanly or the Expectation immoral or contradictious to the Attributes of God we ought to drop our Hopes or rather never entertain them And therefore I would neither Hope to play the Fool or the Knave or be Immortal But when the Object is defensible and fair I would not quit my Hold as long as it was within the Reach of Omnipotence What then must we Hope without Means Yes why not When we cannot work them out of our own Industry Pray what Means was there to make the World with There was neither Timber nor Tools to raise the Building and yet you see what a noble Pile it is Why should we suppose a Miracle so strange a Thing since Nature herself was produced this way He that made Second Causes can as easily work without as with them Quicquid Dii voluere peractum est To Will and to Do is the same Thing with an Almighty Power If we could Cure a Fever with a Wish Decree up a House and make what we would consequent upon Inclination In such a Case we need not tye our selves to Application and Materials The bare Fiat of our Will would give Birth to the Idea And make it start out into Existence without any more ado To use the Ministrations of subordinate Causes looks like a Going about For where there is Matter and Motion there must in humane Apprehension be Succession of Parts and Resistance and Time for the Performance The Powers of Nature seem too Heavy to keep Pace with Thought and to drive out an Instantaneous Production So that one would almost imagine the Acting by immediate Omnipotence was the most disencumber'd as well as the most magnificent Method But is it not extravagant to expect a Miracle Not at all I believe we are assisted with many more Miracles than we are aware of For the purpose A Man in a Storm prays that he may escape being Wreckt I desire to know whether he thinks it possible for him to be the better for his Devotions If he does not he is an impertinent Atheist for using them If he does he must believe that Providence will interpose and disarm Nature or divert her Violence Now to check Second Causes in their Career to change their Motion or lay them Asleep before they are Spent is no less a Miracle than to Act without them Let no Man therefore disquiet himself about the Future nor quit a just Undertaking out of Despondency Honest People ought to be chearful if it was only for the Credit of their Vertue Let us not grow Melancholick upon a superficial View of Things for that is as far as we can discover 'T is a much better way to do our own Parts carefully and rest the Event with God Almighty OF COVETOUSNESS BETWEEN Demeas and Mitias Dem. I Thought I should have Dined with you to Day what made you fail your usual Eating-house Mit. I ask your Excuse I have been at a Miser's Feast I went thither to entertain my Curiosity rather than my Palat for you know that is a Sight which is not every day to be met with Dem. And was it as great as the Proverb makes it Mit. Every jot I have not had my Senses so regaled this long time 'T was so inviting that I 'm afraid the Founder has taken a Surfeit Dem. You mean of the Expence Fear it not he will have a Lent after his Carnival that will cure him Mit. This Fit of Feasting comes upon him once a Year If you did not know him you 'd think it was an Ague he looks so desperately Pale and Thin for a great while after And now as you say he will go into a Course of Abstinence but I wish we could prevent the return of the Distemper for in my Opinion he is well neither Full nor Fasting In short The Disease lies in his Mind and how to reach it with a Recipe I can't tell for Covetousness is generally incurable Dem. I own 't is difficulty removed and uncreditable into the bargain and therefore I hope you will not Report it upon any Person unless the Symptoms are very clear and undisputed Give me Leave to tell you there are often great Mistakes in this Matter Some think to screen their own Profuseness from Censure by reproaching the Frugality of their Neighbours And others pronounce rashly out of Ignorance With their good Favour wise Men will look beyond their Nose and take care of the main Chance and provide for Accidents and Age. They know that Poverty is unfashionable and Dependance uneasy and that a generous Mind cannot live upon Curtesy with any great Relish Besides some People do not decline Expence out of Parsimony but because they do not care for the Trouble of a Figure They do not care to be crowded with Visitors to have their Table pestered with Flies and Flatterers and to be always yoked in Ceremony They don't believe any Master the more considerable by keeping a great many idle People about him or that any true Greatness can be made out of that which is Little And because a Man is willing to have his House and his Head cool and to keep his Time and his Liberty to himself must he be called Covetous upon this Account Mit. I have no Intention to condemn a just Value for Money And if any Man has more Sense and Sobriety than his Neighbours I think it great Injustice to burlesque his Prudence or represent him in any Character of Disadvantage But then I must say That some People have the Misfortune to fall into the Extremes and that Covetousness does not lie only in Satyr and Speculation Dem. I perceive you have a Mind to say something upon this Argument With the Precautions above-mentioned I am willing to
Epicureans were all agreed in the folly of forbidden Pleasure They thought the very Question scandalous and that it was in effect to dispute whether 't were better to be a Man or a Beast The general Division of Pleasure is into that of the Mind and the other of the Body The former is the more valuable upon several Accounts I shall mention some of them 1 st The Causes of these Satisfactions are more reputable than the other Corporeal Pleasures are comparatively Ignoble They seem founded in Want and Imperfection There must be something of Uneasiness to introduce them and make them welcom When the Pain of Hunger is once over Eating is but a heavy Entertainment The Senses are some of them so mean that they scarce relish any thing but what they Beg for But Rational Delights have a better Original They spring from noble Speculations or generous Actions from Enlargements of Knowledge or Instances of Virtue from something which argues Worth and Greatness and Improvement 2 ly The Satisfactions of the Mind are more at command A Man may think of of a handsom Performance or a Notion which pleases him at his leisure This Entertainment is ready with little Warning or Expence A short Recollection brings it upon the Stage brightens the Idea and makes it shine as much as when 't was first stamp'd upon the Memory Thoughts take up no Room When they are right they afford a portable Pleasure One may Travel with it without any trouble or Incumbrance The Case with the Body is much otherwise Here the Satisfaction is more confin'd to Circumstance of Place and moves in a narrower Compass We cannot have a pleasant Taste or Smell unless the Object and the Sense are near together A little Distance makes the Delight withdraw and vanish like a Phantosm There is no Perfuming of the Memory or regaling the Palate with the Fancy 'T is true we have some faint confused Notices of these absent Delights but then 't is Imagination and not Sense which giveth it I grant the Eye and Ear command farther but still these have their Limits And besides they can only reach an Object Present but not make it so Whereas the Mind by a sort of natural Magick raises the Ghost of a departed Pleasure and makes it appear without any dependence upon Space or Time Now the almost Omnipresence of an Advantage is a Circumstance of Value it gives opportunity for Use and Repetition and makes it so much the more one's own 3 dly Intellectual Delights are of a nobler kind than the other They belong to Beings of the highest Order They are the Inclination of Heaven and the Entertainments of the Deity Now God knows the choicest Ingredients of Happiness He can command them without Difficulty and compound them to Advantage Omnipotence and Wisdom will certainly furnish out the richest Materials for its own Contentment 'T is natural for every Being to grasp at Perfection and to give it self all the Satisfactions within Thought and Power Since therefore Contemplation is the Delight of the Deity we may be assured the Flower and Exaltation of Bliss lies in the Operation of the Mind To go no higher than the Standard of Humanity Methinks the Satisfactions of the Mind are of a brighter Complexion and appear with a distinguishing Greatness There is a nothing of Hurry and Mistiness in them The Perceptions are all clear and stay for Perusal and Admiration The Scene is dress'd up like a Triumph the Fancy is Illuminated and the Show marches on with Dignity and State If the Senses have any Advantage it lies in the Strength of the Impression But this point may be fairly disputed When the Mind is well awaken'd and grown up to the Pleasures of Reason they are strangly affecting The Luxury of Thought seems no less than that of the Palate The discovery of a great Invention may be as moving as Epicurism The Entertainments of Plato were as high-season'd as those of Apicius And Archimedes by his Behaviour seems to have passed his time as pleasantly as Sardanapalus The Charms of Authority made Cato aver that Old Age was none of the most undiverting Periods of Life And in all likelihood the Victory at Pharsalia transported Caesar beyond all the Delights of the Roman Court. The Senses seem not to be built strong enough for any great Force of Pleasure A sudden Excess of Joy has sometimes prov'd Mortal 'T is as dangerous as Gun-powder charge too high and you split the Barrel It flashes too hard upon the tender Organ and stupifies more than pleases To look upon the Sun strikes us blind Thus a glorious Appearance from the other World has often over-set the best Men. Nature sunk under the Correspondence and was too weak to bear the Lustre of the Object The Body was not made to be Master in this Affair This may appear from Self-denial which has a mixture of something agreeable 'T is a Pleasure to refuse one To arrest an importunate Appetite to silence the Clamour of a Passion and repel an Assault upon our Virtue is a noble Instance of Force a handsom proof of Temper and Discretion A brave Mind must be entertain'd by surveying its Conquests and being conscious of its Soveraignty And thus by frequent Resistance and generous Thinking the Forbearance grows an Equivalent to Fruition And that which at first was almost too big for Opposition is at last too little for Notice These Satisfactions of Restraint are a fair proof of the Distinction of Soul and Body And that we are made up of something greater than Matter and Motion For that Atomes should Discipline themselves at this rate check their own agreeable Progress and clap one another under Hatches is very unconceiveable Atomes don't use to be so cross as this comes to Pleasure of what kind soever is nothing but an Agreement between the Object and the Faculty This Description well applied will give us the true Height of our selves and tell us what size we are of If little Things will please us we may conclude we are none of the biggest People Children are as well known by their Diversions as their Stature Those Satisfactions which require Capacity and Understanding to relish them which either suppose Improvement or promote it are of the better sort On the other side To be pleased with Gawdiness in Habit with Gingles and false Ornament in Discourse with antick Motions and Postures is a sign that the Inclinations are trifling and the Judgment vulgar and unpolish'd There should be some what of Greatness and Proportion and Curiosity in Things to justifie our Appetite To be gain'd by every little pretending Entertainment does but shew our Meaness 'T is some what surprising to observe how easily we are some times engag'd and one would think when we were least in Humour For the purpose Here 's a Man that has lately buried his only Son and is embarrass'd with Debts and Disputes in his Fortune How comes it about that he is so airy and unconcern'd on the sudden No longer ago than this Morning he was extreamly sensible of his Misfortune what has made him forget it in so short a time Why nothing but he is just chop'd in with a Pack of Dogs who are Hunting down a Hare and all Opening upon the View The Man needs no more to change his Passions This Noise has drown'd all his Grief He is Cured and made Happy Extempore And if it would last 't was something But alas 't is quickly over 'T is a Happiness without a Fond 'T is no more than a little mantling of the Spirits upon stirring A Childish Exultation at the Harmony of a Rattle It proceeds not from any thing rich or solid in Nature 'T is meer Levity of Mind which snatches him a little from his Misery The Cause of the Intermission is uncreditable The Entertainment is not big enough for the Occasion 'T is true the trouble is remov'd and so far the Point is gain'd But then the Satisfaction is so Fantastick and Feaverish that the Cure it self is an ill Symptom and almost worse than the Disease Upon the whole I think we ought to be concern'd that such Trifles can provoke our Appetite And that we may be toss'd from one State to another by so weak a Motion The truth is as we manage the Matter our Diversions are oftentimes more uncreditable than our Troubles However since Health is kept up and Melancholy discharg'd by these Amusements they may be tolerable enough within a Rule But to pursue them with Application to make them our Profession and boast of our Skill in these little Mysteries is the way to be useless and ridiculous
probable the Divine Oeconomy has settled such an interchangeable Train of Thoughts and Motions between Soul and Body that as soon as the occasional Hints spring out the other will as constantly follow as if they were produced by the most immediate Causality For Instance If I cut my Finger I shall as certainly feel Pain as if my Soul was co-extended with the Limb and had a Piece of it Sawn through So when I am disposed to Strike the Action will be performed with the same Force and Regularity as if it was conducted and pushed on by the will in the most corporeal Manner I mention this both to illustrate the Point and to shew that we ought to guard upon both Parts of our Composition That there may be nothing done which is unbecoming or disagrees with the Intendments of Providence Luc. If the Soul and Body have no intrinsick or essential Aptness to take or receive Impressions from each other why is the Structure of the later so curiously Framed Why is there such variety of Parts and such admirable Proportion By your Scheme the Soul might have the same compass of Sentiment and Perception and do every jot as well if it were united to a Clod. Hyl. So it might though it had never an Atom belong to it However your Question about the Curiosity of the Body may be answer'd by saying That 't is probably so framed to shew the Wisdom and Power of the Architect and to heighten the Beauty and Dignity of the Creature Luc. Do you say the Soul may be as happy without a Body as with it Hyl. I say 't is possible to be so Though God may order it otherwise if he pleases as in Effect he has done with respect to the Resurrection But let this last Dispute lie undecided And before I take my leave I can't but observe to you that there are a great many strange Appearances in Thoughts Methinks if it might be I would gladly understand the Formation of a Soul run it up to its Punctum Saliens and see it beat the first conscious Pulse These Thoughts whence do they arise What Stuff are they made of And what Vigour is it that gives them such an Instantaneous Production They are conceived in full Maturity and step into Perfection at first They scorn the Gradations of Bodies and the heavy Successions of Motion They gain the Race at a Start out-stretch the Speed of Gunpowder and Distance Light and Lightning Luc. If they come up in that Perfection why are some Thoughts said to be unfinished and to require the working off with Labour and Time Hyl. I grant you Projects Harangues and Chains of Reasoning are not so quickly Wrought up They include Multitude and Order and Choice and therefore must have some Leisure for Ranging and Invention But as to single Ideas Inconnexions and slight Touches my Observation holds good For pray what Time does it take to raise the Notion of a Mountain Or to Think from England to Iapan A Man may set both the Poles together in his Head without trouble and Clutch the whole Globe at one Intellectual Grasp if he pleases To go on Methinks the Conveyance and Disposition of Things in the Mind is very extraordinary What Faculty is it which takes the Model of the largest Objects and draws the Picture in Little That reconciles all disagreing Qualities and lodges Sympathy and Antipathy Fire and Water together without disturbance That contracts the Intervals of Space unites the Distances of Time and draws Past Present and Future into a single View How comes it to pass that such an infinite Number of Things are placed with such Order and Distinction in the Memory notwithstanding the Tumults and Confusions Marches and Counter-marches of the Animal Spirits What room is there for such variety of Characters and length of Records What is the reason some remarkable Passages will remain fresh and entire for Sixty Years together when all the Furniture of the Head has been often renewed in that Period Luc. I confess I can't explain the How to you unless the impregnated Fibres or Spirits at their going off deposit their Charge with those that remain Hyl. They are very just if they do so But I am afraid this handing of Notions from one Piece of Brain to another is somewhat unintelligible In short If you reflect upon the Liberty of Thought the Extent the Abstractions and all the Singularities of its Operations you 'll be obliged to assign it a nobler Original than Matter and Motion Luc. I am satisfied with what you say and upon a through View I find the System of a Mechanical Soul wretchedly ridiculous Hyl. All the Branches of Scepticism are so If the Success of our Hobbists were no better than their Reasoning they would have few Disciples But some People are willing to be imposed upon For loose Practises must have supporting Principles otherwise there will be no Quiet Adieu OF THE ENTERTAINMENT OF BOOKS THE Diversions of Reading though they are not always of the strongest Kind yet they generally Leave a better Effect than the grosser Satisfactions of Sense For if they are well chosen they neither dull the Appetite nor strain the Capacity On the contrary they refresh the Inclinations and strengthen the Power and improve under Experiment And which is best of all they Entertain and Perfect at the same time and convey Wisdom and Knowledge through Pleasure By Reading a Man does as it were Antedate his Life and makes himself contemporary with the Ages past And this way of running up beyond ones Nativity is much better than Plato's Pre-existence because here a Man knows something of the State and is the wiser for it which he is not in the other In conversing with Books we may chuse our Company and disengage without Ceremony or Exception Here we are free from the Formalities of Custom and Respect We need not undergo the Penance of a dull Story from a Fop of Figure but may shake off the Haughty the Impertinent and the Vain at Pleasure Besides Authors like Women commonly Dress when they make a Visit. Respect to themselves makes them polish their Thoughts and exert the Force of their Understanding more than they would or can do in ordinary Conversation So that the Reader has as it were the Spirit and Essence in a narrow Compass which was drawn off from a much larger Proportion of Time Labour and Expence Like an Heir he is born rather than made Rich and comes into a Stock of Sense with little or no trouble of his own 'T is true a Fortune in Knowledg which Descends in this manner as well as an inherited Estate is too often neglected and squandered away because we do not consider the difficulty in Raising it Books are a Guide in Youth and an Entertainment for Age. They support us under Solitude and keep us from being a Burthen to our selves They help us to forget the Crosness of Men and Things compose our