fere.]
An absent Man often acts out of the Way of common Life, when the Fit
of Absence is upon him; but that this Fit should dwell upon a Man,
so long as it does upon Mr. _de la Bruyere_'s[L] _Menalcas_ I confess,
passes my Belief.--_Menalcas_ rises in the Morning; and from that Time
till he goes to Bed again, he never recovers from his Fit of Absence:
The Distractions of his Mind admit of no Cessation or Interruption:
His whole Life is a continued Series of the greatest Follies.
_Menalcas_ is really never _Menalcas_; he has no lucid Intervals;
he is always another Man.
[L: C. de l'Homme.]
If we consult the Operations of our Soul, to discover the proper
Causes of what is call'd _Absence of Mind_, we shall perceive that
the Powers of it are sometimes contracted within themselves by a
Multiplicity of Thought: In these Cases the inward Exercise of the
Soul makes it unable to attend to any outward Object. But at other
Times the Soul wanders from itself; and in these Cases the Soul being
conversant about remote Objects, cannot immediately recover itself, so
as to reflect duly on those which are present.
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