Elements of the philosophy of the human mind. By Dugald Stewart. Rev. and abridged, with critical and explanatory notes, for the use of colleges and schools. By Francis Bowen ...

152 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS.
tions which we have been accustomed to connect with them in
the course of our studies, the fancy is more awakened by the
actual perception of the scene itself; than by the mere conception or imagination of it. Hence the pleasure we enjoy in
visiting classical ground; in beholding the retreats which inspired the genius of our favorite authors, or the fields which
have been dignifiedd by exertions of heroic virtue. How feeble
are the emotions produced by the liveliest conception of modern
Italy, to what the poet felt, when, amidst the ruins of Rome,
"He drew th' inspiring breath of ancient arts,
And trod the sacred walks
Where, at each step, imagination burns!"
The well-known effect of a particular tune on Swiss regi
ments, when at a distance from home, furnishes a very striking
illustration of the peculiar power of a perception, or of an
impression on the senses, to awaken associated thoughts and
feelings; and numberless facts of a similar nature must have
occurred to every person of moderate sensibility, in the course
of his own experience.
"'Whilst we were at dinner," says Captain King, "in this
miserable hut, on the banks of the river Awatska, the guests
of a people with whose existence we had before been scarce acquainted, and at the extremity of the habitable globe; a solitary,
half-worn pewter spoon, whose shape wras famniliar to us, attracted
our attention; and, on examination, we found it stamped on
the back with the word London. I cannot pass over this circumstance in silence, out of gratitude for the many pleasant
thoughllts, he anxious hopes, and tender remembrances, it
excited in us. Those who have experienced the effects that
long absence, and extreme distance from their native country,
produce on the mind, will readily conceive the pleasure such
a trifling incident can give."
The difference between the effect of a perception and an
idea, in awakening associated thoughts and feelings, is finely
described in the introduction to the fifth book De Finibus.
"We agreed," says Cicero, "that we should take our after