The strive to be burned with the corpse of their husbands. lads of Sparta,' of ancient time, were wont to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, without so much as queching. I remember, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's time of England, an Irish rebel condemned, put up a petition to the deputy that he might be hanged in a withe,3 and not in a halter, because it had been so used with former rebels. There be monks in Russia, for penance, that will sit a whole night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged with hard ice. Many examples may be put of the force of custom, both upon mind and body: therefore, since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavour to obtain good customs. Certainly, custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years this we call education, which is, in effect, but an early custom. So we see in languages, the tone is more pliant to all expressions and sounds, the joints are more supple to all feats of activity and motions in youth than afterwards; for it is true, the late learners cannot so well take up the ply, except it be in some minds, that have not suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves open and prepared to receive continual amendment, which is exceeding rare but if the force of custom, simple and separate, be great, the force of custom, copulate and conjoined, and collegiate, is far greater; for there example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth; so as in such places the force of custom is in his exaltation. Certainly, the great multiplication of virtues upon. human nature resteth upon societies well ordained and dis 1 Cic. Tuscul. Dial. ii. 14. 2 Quech (properly quich). To move; to stir. 'Underre her feet, there as she sate, An huge great lyon laye, that mote appalle With a strong iron chain and collar bounde Not once he could nor move nor quich.'-Spenser. 3 Withs. Twigs, or bands of twigs. If they bind me with seven green withs, then shall I be weak.'-Judges xvi. 7. 4 Comfort. To strengthen as an auxiliary; to help. (The meaning of the original Latin word, Conforto.) 'Now we exhort you brethren, comfort the feebleminded.'-1 Thess. v. 14. His. Its. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body.'-1 Cor. xv. 38. 6 Multiplication upon. Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy.'-Collect for the 4th Sunday after Trinity. ciplined; for commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds: but the misery is, that the most effectual means are now applied to the ends least to be desired. ANNOTATIONS. 'Men's thoughts are much according to their inclinations: their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions, but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed!' This remark, like many others, Bacon has condensed in Latin into the very brief and pithy apophthegm which I have given in the Antitheta on Nature in Men.' 'Cogitamus secundum naturam; loquimur secundum præcepta; sed agimus secundum consuetudinem.' Of course, Bacon did not mean his words to be taken literally in their utmost extent, and without any exception or modification; as if natural disposition and instruction had nothing to do with conduct. And, of course, he could not mean anything so self-contradictory as to say that all action is the result of custom: for it is plain that, in the first instance, it must be by actions that a custom is formed. But he uses a strong expression, in order to impress it on our mind that, for practice, custom is the most essential thing, and that it will often overbear both the original disposition, and the precepts which have been learnt: that whatever a man may inwardly think, and (with perfect sincerity) say, you cannot fully depend on his conduct till you know how he has been accustomed to act. For, continued action is like a continued stream of water, which wears for itself a channel that it will not easily be turned from. The bed which the current had gradually scooped at first, afterwards confines it. Bacon is far from meaning, I conceive, when he says that men speak as they have learned '-to limit himself to the case of insincere professions; but to point out how much easier it is to learn to repeat a lesson correctly, than to bring it into practice, when custom is opposed to it. D D This is the doctrine of one whom Bacon did not certainly regard with any undue veneration-Aristotle; who, in his Ethics, dwells earnestly on the importance of being early accustomed to right practice, with a view to the formation of virtuous habits. And he derives the word 'ethics' from a Greek word signifying custom; even as the word 'morality' is derived from the corresponding Latin word 'mos.' It is to be observed that, at the present day, it is common to use the words 'custom' and 'habit' as synonymous, and often to employ the latter where Bacon would have used the former. But, strictly speaking, they denote respectively the cause and the effect. Repeated acts constitute the 'custom;' and the 'habit' is the condition of mind or body thence resulting. For instance, a man who has been accustomed to rise at a certain hour, will have acquired the habit of waking and being ready to rise as soon as that hour arrives. And one who has made it his custom to drink drams will have fallen into the habit of craving for that stimulus, and of yielding to that craving; and so of the rest. Those are, then, in error who disparage (as Mrs. Hannah More does) all practice that does not spring from a formed habit. For instance, they censure those who employ children as almoners, handing them money or other things to relieve the poor with. For, say they, no one can give what is not his own: there is no charity unless you part with something that you might have kept, and which it is a self-denial to part with. The answer is, that if the child does this readily and gladly, he has already learnt the virtue of charity; but if it is a painful selfdenial which you urge him to, as a duty, you are creating an association of charity with pain. On the contrary, if you accustom him to the pleasure of seeing distress relieved, and of being the instrument of giving pleasure, and doing good, the desire of this gratification will lead him, afterwards, to part with something of his own rather than forego it. Thus it is-to use Horace's comparison-that the young hound is trained for the chase in the woods, from the time that he barks at the deerskin in the hall.1 Tempore cervinam pellam latravit in aula, Militat in silvis catulus.'-Horace, Book i. ep. 2, 1. 65. The precept is very good, to begin with swimming with corks. There is an error somewhat akin to the one I have been combating, which may be worth noticing here. Declamations are current in the present day against the iniquity of giving a bias to the minds of young persons, by teaching them our own interpretation of the Sacred Volume, instead of leaving them to investigate for themselves; that is, against endeavouring to place them in the same situation with those to whom those very Scriptures were written; instead of leaving them to struggle with difficulties which the Scriptures nowhere contemplate or provide against. The maintainers of such a principle would do well to consider, whether it would not, if consistently pursued, prove too much. Do you not, it might be asked, bias the minds of children by putting into their hands the Scriptures themselves, as the infallible word of God? If you are convinced that they are so, you must be sure that they will stand the test of unprejudiced inquiry. Are you not, at least, bound in fairness to teach them, at the same time, the systems of ancient Mythology, the doctrines of the Koran, and those of modern philosophers, that they may freely chuse amongst all? Let any one who is disposed to deride the absurdity of such a proposal, consider whether there is any objection to it, which would not equally lie against the exclusion of systematic religious instruction, or indeed systematic training in any science or art. It is urged, however, that since a man must wish to find the system true in which he has been trained, his judgment must be unduly biassed by that wish. It would follow from this principle, that no physician should be trusted who is not utterly indifferent whether his patient recovers or dies, and who is not wholly free from any favourable hope from the mode of treatment pursued; since else his mind must be unfairly influenced by his wishes! The predominancy of custom is everywhere visible; insomuch as a man would wonder to hear men profess, protest, engage, give great words, and then do just as they have done before; as if they were dead images and engines, moved only by the wheels of custom.' This predominancy of custom' is remarkably exemplified in the case of soldiers who have long been habituated to obey, as if by a mechanical impulse, the word of command. It happened, in the case of a contemplated insurrection in a certain part of the British Empire, that the plotters of it sought to tamper with the soldiers who were likely to be called out against them; and, for this purpose, frequented the publichouses to which the soldiers resorted, and drew them into conversation. Reports of these attempts reached the officers; who, however, found that so little impression was made, that they did not think it needful to take any notice of them. On one occasion it appeared that a sergeant of a Scotch regiment was so far talked over as to feel and express great sympathy with the agitators, on account of their alleged grievances, as laid before him by the seducer. Weel, now, I did na ken that ; indeed that seems unco hard; I can na wonder that complain o' that,' &c., &c. ye should The other, seeking to follow up his blow, then said-'I suppose now such honest fellows as you, if you were to be called out against us, when we were driven to rise in a good cause, would never have the heart to fire on poor fellows who were only seeking liberty and justice.' The sergeant replied (just as he was reaching down his cap and belt, to return to barracks), 'I'd just na advise ye to try!' He felt conscious-misled as he had been respecting the justice of the cause, that, whatever might be his private opinions and inward feelings, if the word of command were given to make ready, present, fire,' he should instinctively obey it. And this is very much the case with any one who has been long drilled in the ranks of a party. Whatever may be his natural disposition-whatever may be the judgment his unbiassed understanding dictates on any point-whatever he may inwardly feel, and may (with perfect sincerity) have said, when you come to action, it is likely that the habit of going along with his party will prevail. And the more general and indefinite the purpose for which the party, or society (or by whatever name it may be called) is framed, and the less distinctly specified are its objects, the more will its members be, usually, under the control and direction of its leaders.' I was once conversing with an intelligent and liberal-minded 1 See the Annotations' on the Essay on Unity in Religion,' and on 'Factions.' |