21 4 Ebi Essay on thz

absent. When they a5l again, if the fifft i 01 'preffion be not quite worn out, they retouch

and

with an instantaneous knotvledge of things we neV^thought of while awake, and a ready familiarity tutohjeSts altogether new ; I must refer to men’s cwn c*P erience for the truth of it. I cannot indeed bring an aUthority from any Writer on this subject whom I ha veseen, to vouch the justness of this observation; but i^may be determined by experience, authority wili not »P'pear absolutely necessary. We seem to know a person I* 1a Dream, and the character he bears, at first sight; ord^circumstances he is in, and his inclinations to us; thoughon awaking, we can find nothing in our former know-ledge that can agree to him. W e rarely admire any thiu&then for its novelty, and seem never to be uneasy s ,fwant of information, let the circumstances be evernew; though we should certainly be uneasy in a wali r 4state, till we had informed ourselves about every thifowe saw. In short, we enter so readily and easily irli °every thing heard and seen while we fleep, that notifysurprises us, merely because it is strange and new.this itself seems surprising and wonderful, if we comp areit with the way how the mind is differently assected,while we are awake. It is true, they who ridicule ofdespise this whole appearance, and every circumst anceobservable in it, as below a philosophical consideration,may perhaps be dissatisfied; but that is not to be p re ^vented. It is notwithstanding a real phænomenon, anthis is a real circumstance of it; and since some of