Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Of Memory and Imagination [from Dissertations Moral and Critical]

London

Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell ... and W. Creech

1783

"[W]hat Horace observes of words is equally true of thoughts ... every superfluity is lost, like water poured into a vessel already full."

2. The discourse we are to get by heart we must ourselves compose; otherwise, the labour of committing it to Memory will be such as to most minds would be insurmountable. And it must be accurately composed, and have in it nothing obscure or superfluous. For whatever puzzles the understanding is an incumbrance to the Memory; and what Horace observes of words is equally true of thoughts,

Omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat;
"every superfluity is lost, like water poured into a vessel already full."
(III, p. 48)

Container Liquid::Water Liquid::Pouring

Reading

At least 2 entries in ESTC (1783).

Beattie, James. Dissertations Moral and Critical (London: Printed for Strahan, Cadell, and Creech, 1783). Facsimile-Reprint: Friedrich Frommann Verlag, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, 1970. <Link to Google Books>

07/25/2005

01/28/2012