"If the mind is not vacant, Attention will be painful, and interrupted, and the Memory slow to receive any durable impression"
Of Memory and Imagination [from Dissertations Moral and Critical]
At least 2 entries in ESTC (1783).<br>
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Beattie, James. <u>Dissertations Moral and Critical</u> (London: Printed for Strahan, Cadell, and Creech, 1783). Facsimile-Reprint: Friedrich Frommann Verlag, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, 1970. &lt;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=xP5BAAAAYAAJ">Link to Google Books</a>&gt;