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

"If the mind is not vacant, Attention will be painful, and interrupted, and the Memory slow to receive any durable impression"

5. The task of committing to Memory should be entered upon, when the mind is disengaged from business, and the body in health. If the mind is not vacant, Attention will be painful, and interrupted, and the Memory slow to receive any durable impression. And if the health be disordered, intellectual exertion, without conveying any improvement to the mind, will only do harm to the body. There are certain hours of the day, during which one is better qualified, than at any other time, for invention, remem- [end page 49] brance, and other mental exercises. But the same hours will not suit all constitutions, as already observed; and therefore no general rule can be given in regard to the time that may be most successfully employed in the work we now speak of. [...]
(III, p. 49-50)

Impressions

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