when there is not access to the fun. The only natural measure is the fucceffion of our thoughts; for we always judge the time to be long or short, in proportion to the number of perceptions and ideas that have paffed during that interval. This measure is indeed far from being accurate; because in a quick and in a flow fucceffion, it must evidently produce different computations of the fame time but, however inaccurate, it is the only measure by which we naturally calculate time; and that measure is applied on all occafions, without regard to any cafual variation in the rate of fucceffion.

That measure would however be tolerable, did it labour under no other imperfection befide that mentioned: but in many inftances it is much more fallacious; in order to explain which diftinctly, an analyfis will be neceffary. Time is computed at two different periods; one while it is paffing, another after it is paft: these computations fhall be confidered feparately, with the errors to which each of them is liable. Beginning with computation of time while it is paffing, it is a common and trite observation, That to lovers abfence appears immeafurably long, every minute an hour, and every day a year the fame computation is made in every cafe where we long for a diftant event; as where one is in expectation of good news, or where a profligate heir watches for the death of an old rich mifer. Oppofite to thefe are inftances not

fewer

1

fewer in number: to a criminal the interval be-
tween fentence and execution appears wofully
fhort and the fame holds in every cafe where
one dreads an approaching event; of which even
a fchool-boy can bear witnefs: the hour allow-
ed him for play, moves, in his apprehenfion,
with a very
fwift pace; before he is thoroughly
engaged, the hour is gone. A computation
founded on the number of ideas, will never pro-
duce eftimates fo regularly oppofite to each o-
ther; for our wishes do not produce a flow fuc-
ceffion of ideas, nor our fears a quick fucceffion.
What then moves nature, in the cafes mention-
ed, to defert her ordinary measure for one very
different? I know not that this question ever
has been refolved; the falfe eftimates I have
fuggefted being fo common and familiar, that
no writer has thought of their caufe. And, in-
deed, to enter upon this matter without prepa-
ration, might occafion fome difficulty; to en-
counter which, we luckily are prepared, by what
is faid upon the power of paffion to bias the
mind in its perceptions and opinions. Among
the circumstances that terrify a condemned cri-
minal, the fhort time he has to live is one;
which time, by the influence of terror, is made
to appear still shorter than it is in reality. In
the same manner, among the diftreffes of an ab-
fent lover, the time of feparation is a capital cir-
cumstance, which for that reason is greatly mag-
nified by his anxiety and impatience: he ima-
gines

L 4

gines that the time of meeting comes on very flow, or rather that it will never come: every minute is thought of an intolerable length. Here is a fair, and, I hope, fatisfactory reason, why time is thought to be tedious when we long for a future event, and not lefs fleet when we dread the event. The reason is confirmed by other inftances. Bodily pain, fixt to one part, produceth a flow train of perceptions, which, according to the common measure of time, ought to make it appear fhort: yet we know, that, in such a state, time has the opposite appearance; and the reason is, that bodily pain is always attended with a degree of impatience, which makes us think every minute to be an hour. The fame holds where the pain fhifts from place to place; but not fo remarkably, because such a pain is not attended with the fame degree of impatience. The impatience a man hath in travelling through a barren country, or in a bad road, makes him think, during the journey, that time goes on with a very flow pace. We fhall fee afterward, that a very different computation is made when the journey is over.

How ought it to ftand with a perfon who apprehends bad news? It will probably be thought, that the cafe of this perfon refembles that of a criminal, who, terrified at his approaching execution, believes every hour to be but a minute: yet the computation is directly oppofite. Reflecting upon the difficulty, there appears one capital diftinguishing

tinguishing circumstance: the fate of the criminal is determined; in the cafe under confideration, the person is ftill in fufpenfe. Every one has felt the diftrefs that accompanies fuspense we wish to get rid of it at any rate, even at the expence of bad news. 'This cafe, therefore, upon a more narrow inspection, refembles that of bodily pain: the prefent distress, in both cafes, makes the time appear extremely tedious.

The reader probably will not be displeased, to have this branch of the subject illustrated, by an author who is acquainted with every maze of the human heart, and who beftows ineffable grace and ornament upon every fubject he handles :

Rofalinda. I pray you, what is't a-clock?

Orlando. You should ask me, what time o'day; there's no clock in the foreft.

Ref. Then there is no true lover in the foreft; elfe, fighing every minute, and groaning every hour, would detect the lazy foot of Time, as well as a clock.

Orla. Why not the fwift foot of Time? Had not that been as proper ?

Rof. By no means, Sir. Time travels in diverfe paces with diverse perfons. I'll tell you who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, who time gallops withal, and who he ftands ftill withal.

Orla. I pr'ythee whom doth he trot withal?

Rof. Marry, he trots hard with a young maid between the contract of her marriage and the day it is folemnized:

folemnized if the interim be but a fe'ennight, Time's

:

pace is fo hard, that it seems the length of seven years. Orla. Who ambles Time withal ?

Rof. With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not the gout: for the one fleeps eafily, because he cannot ftudy; and the other lives merrily, because he feels no pain: the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning: the other knowing no burthen of heavy tedious penury. Thefe Time ambles withal.

Orla. Whom doth he gallop withal!

Rof. With a thief to the gallows: for, tho' he go as foftly as foot can fall, he thinks himself too soon there. Orl. Whom stays it still withal?

Rof. With lawyers in the vacation: for they fleep between term and term, and then they perceive not how Time moves.

As you like it, at 3. fc. 8.

The natural method of computing present time, fhows how far from truth we may be led by the irregular influence of passion: nor are our eyes immediately opened when the scene is paft; for the deception continues while there remain any traces of the paffion. But looking back upon past time when the joy or distress is no longer remembered, the computation is very different in that condition, we coolly and deli. berately make use of the ordinary measure, namely, the course of our perceptions. And I fhall now proceed to the errors that this meafure is fubjected to. Here we must distinguish between a train of perceptions, and a train of

ideas :