Sterne pitied the man who could travel from Dan to Beersheba, and say
all "was barren:" however delighted travellers or tourists may be on
their journey, it is surprising how few details are preserved in their
memory. This occasioned Dr. Johnson to remark, in his "Tour to the
Hebrides," how much the lapse even "of a few hours takes from the
certainty of knowledge, and the distinctness of imagery;" and that
"those who trust to memory what cannot be safely trusted but to the
eye, must tell by guess, what a few hours before they had known with
certainty." We were never more convinced of the importance of these
observations than after our first visit to the dock-yard, at
Portsmouth. In collating some little memoranda made on the spot, we
referred to our party, (_seven_ in number) on our return to the inn,
for the _extent_ of the dock-yard: not one of them could give a
correct answer, though all had just heard it detailed and explained
with accuracy. Dr. Kitchener may well recommend tourists to walk about
with note-books in their hands! and such inadvertence as the preceding
almost warrants the oddity of his suggestion.
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