The Consolidator | Page 5

sublime Knowledge, when this Famous Author has

blest them with such unaccountable Methods of Improvement.
There was abundance of vast Classes full of the Works of this
wonderful Philosopher: He gave the how, the modus of all the secret
Operations of Nature; and told us, how Sensation is convey'd to and
from the Brain; why Respiration preserves Life; and how Locomotion
is directed to, as well as perform'd by the Parts. There are some
Anatomical Dissections of Thought, and a Mathematical Description of
Nature's strong Box, the Memory, with all its Locks and Keys.
There you have that part of the Head turn'd in-side outward, in which
Nature has placed the Materials of reflecting; and like a Glass Bee-hive,
represents to you all the several Cells in which are lodg'd things past,
even back to Infancy and Conception. There you have the Repository,
with all its Cells, Classically, Annually, Numerically, and
Alphabetically Dispos'd. There you may see how, when the perplext
Animal, on the loss of a Thought or Word, scratches his Pole: Every
Attack of his Invading Fingers knocks at Nature's Door, allarms all the
Register-keepers, and away they run, unlock all the Classes, search
diligently for what he calls for, and immediately deliver it up to the
Brain; if it cannot be found, they intreat a little Patience, till they step
into the Revolvary, where they run over little Catalogues of the
minutest Passages of Life, and so in time never fail to hand on the thing;
if not just when he calls for it, yet at some other time.
And thus, when a thing lyes very Abstruse, and all the rumaging of the
whole House cannot find it; nay, when all the People in the House have
given it over, they very often find one thing when they are looking for
another.
Next you have the Retentive in the remotest part of the Place, which,
like the Records in the Tower, takes Possession of all Matters, as they
are removed from the Classes in the Repository, for want of room.
These are carefully Lockt, and kept safe, never to be open'd but upon
solemn Occasions, and have swinging great Bars and Bolts upon them;
so that what is kept here, is seldom lost. Here Conscience has one large
Ware-house, and the Devil another; the first is very seldom open'd, but
has a Chink or Till, where all the Follies and Crimes of Life being

minuted are dropt in; but as the Man seldom cares to look in, the Locks
are very Rusty, and not open'd but with great Difficulty, and on
extraordinary Occasions, as Sickness, Afflictions, Jails, Casualties, and
Death; and then the Bars all give way at once; and being prest from
within with a more than ordinary Weight, burst as a Cask of Wine upon
the Fret, which for want of Vent, makes all the Hoops fly.
As for the Devil's Ware-house, he has two constant Warehouse-keepers,
Pride and Conceit, and these are always at the Door, showing their
Wares, and exposing the pretended Vertues and Accomplishments of
the Man, by way of Ostentation.
In the middle of this curious part of Nature, there is a clear
Thorough-fare, representing the World, through which so many
Thousand People pass so easily, and do so little worth taking notice of,
that 'tis for no manner of Signification to leave Word they have been
here. Thro' this Opening pass Millions of things not worth remembring,
and which the Register-Keepers, who stand at the Doors of the Classes,
as they go by, take no notice of; such as Friendships, helps in Distress,
Kindnesses in Affliction, Voluntary Services, and all sorts of
Importunate Merit; things which being but Trifles in their own Nature,
are made to be forgotten.
In another Angle is to be seen the Memory's Garden, in which her most
pleasant things are not only Deposited, but Planted, Transplanted,
Grafted, Inoculated, and obtain all possible Propagation and Encrease;
these are the most pleasant, delightful, and agreeable things, call'd
Envy, Slander, Revenge, Strife and Malice, with the Additions of
Ill-turns, Reproaches, and all manner of Wrong; these are caressed in
the Cabinet of the Memory, with a World of Pleasure never let pass,
and carefully Cultivated with all imaginable Art.
There are multitudes of Weeds, Toys, Chat, Story, Fiction, and Lying,
which in the great throng of passant Affairs, stop by the way, and
crowding up the Place, leave no room for their Betters that come
behind, which makes many a good Guess be put by, and left to go clear
thro' for want of Entertainment.

There are a multitude of things very curious and observable, concerning
this little, but very accurate thing, called Memory; but above all, I see
nothing so very curious, as the wonderful Art of Wilful Forgetfulness;
and