ambridge, had been
remembered or forgotten. There was a man[46] who undertook, in going
from Temple Bar to the furthest part of Cheapside and back again, to
enumerate at his return every sign on each side of the way in its
order, and to repeat them, if it should be required, either backwards
or forwards. This he exactly accomplished. As a playful trial of
memory, this affords us a moments entertainment; but if we were to be
serious upon the subject, we should say it was a pity that the man did
not use his extraordinary memory for some better purpose. The late
king of Prussia, when he intended to advance Trenck in the army, upon
his first introduction, gave him a list of the strangest names which
could be picked out, to learn by rote. Trenck learned them quickly,
and the king was much pleased with this instance of his memory; but
Frederick would certainly never have made such a trial of the
abilities of Voltaire.

We cannot always foresee what facts may be useful, and what may be
useless to us, otherwise the cultivation of the memory might be
conducted by unerring rules. In the common business of life, people
regulate their memories by the circumstances in which they happen to
be placed. A clerk in a counting-house, by practice, learns to
remember the circumstances, affairs, and names of numerous merchants,
of his master's customers, the places of their abode, and, perhaps,
something of their peculiar humours and manners. A fine lady remembers
her visiting list, and, perhaps, the dresses and partners of every
couple at a crowded ball; she finds all these particulars a useful
supply for daily conversation, she therefore remembers them with
care. An amateur, who is ambitious to shine in the society of literary
men, collects literary anecdotes, and retails them whenever occasion
permits. Men of sense, who cultivate their memories for useful
purposes, are not obliged to treasure up heterogeneous facts: by
reducing particulars to general principles, and by connecting them
with proper associations, they enjoy all the real advantages, whilst
they are exempt from the labour of accumulation.

Mr. Stewart has, with so much ability, pointed out the effects of
systematic arrangement of writing, reading, and the use of technical
contrivances in the cultivation of the memory, that it would be a
presumptuous and unnecessary attempt to expatiate in other words upon
the same subject. It may not be useless, however, to repeat a few of