BOOK I PART III
the place of an impression, and is entirely the
same, so far as regards our present purpose.
Upon the same principles we need not be
surprized to hear of the remembrance of an
idea: that is, of the idea of an idea, and of its
force and vivacity superior to the loose concep-
tions of the imagination. In thinking of our past
thoughts we not only delineate out the objects,
of which we were thinking, but also conceive
the action of the mind in the meditation, that
certainje ne sais quoi, of which it is impossible
to give any definition or description, but which
every one sufficiently understands. When the
memory offers an idea of this, and represents it
as past, it is easily conceived how that idea may
have more vigour and firmness, than when we
think of a past thought, of which we have no
remembrance.