CHAPTER XVII. 117 natural power of retaining what we learn, and of recalling it on every occasion. Therefore we can never be said to remember any thing, whether it be ideas or propositions, words or things, notions or arguments, of which we have not had some former idea or perception, either by sense or imagination, thought or reflection. ; but whatsoever we learn from observation, books or conversation, &c. it must all be laid up and preserved in the memory, if we would make it really useful. So necessary and so excellent a faculty is the memory of man, that all other abilities of the mind borrow from hence their beauty and perfection : for other capacities of the soul are al- most useless without this. Towhat purpose are all our labours in knowledge and wisdom, if we want memory to preserve and use what we have acquired ? What signify all other intellectual or spiritual improvements, if they are lost as soon as they are obtained ? It is memory alone that enriches the mind, by pre- serving what our labour and industry dailycollect. In a word, there can be neither knowledge, nor arts, nor sciences without memory : nor can there be any improvement of mankind in vir- tue or morals, or the practice of religion without the assistance and influence of this power. Without memory the soul of man would be but a poor destitute, naked being, with an everlast- ing blank spread over it, except the fleeting ideas of the pre- sent moment. Memory is very useful to those who speak, as well as to those who learn. It assists the teacher and the orator, as well as the scholar or the hearer. The best speeches and instructions are almost lost, if those who hear them immediately forget them. And those who are called to speak in public are much better heard and accepted, when theycan deliver their discourseby the help of a lively genius and a ready memory, than when they are forced to read all that they would communicate to their hearers. Reading is certainly a heavier way of the conveyance of our sentiments ; and there are very few mere readers, who have the felicity of penetrating thesoul and awakening the passions of those who hear, by such a grace of power and oratory, as the man who seems to talk every word from his very heart, and pours out the riches of his own knowledge upon the people round about him by the help of a free and copious memory. This gives life and spirit to every thing that is spoken, and has a natural ten- dency to make a deeper impression on the minds of men : it awakens the dullest spirits, causes them to receive a discourse with more affection and pleasure, and adds a singular grace and excellency both to the person and his oration. A good judgment, and a good memory are very different qualifications. A person may have a very strong, capacious, and retentive memory, where the judgment is very poor and weak ; It
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