THEME XXIV. Habit is second Nature.

INTRODUCTION.-Man is not a creature of instinct, like birds and quadrupeds, but a creature of habit; and is, therefore, possessed of two natures, the one inherent or indigenous, and the other induced or ingrafted.

1ST REASON.-The "spirit of the mind" is more indebted to habit and education, than to birth.

2ND REASON. The will, which actuates and rules the man, is itself actuated and ruled by habit: for that which a person is most accustomed to he likes the best, and that which he best likes his choice will impel him to do.

3RD REASON. The animal passions are so much the slaves of habit, that they are less indebted to nature for their direction and even existence, than to indulgence.

4TH REASON. The five senses are for the most part the creatures of habit: Thus a surgeon from habit derives pleasure from the most revolting operations; a blacksmith is not sensible of the noise of his own hammer; and a drunkard actually enjoys the stupifying influence of his strong drinks. As habit can thus mould at will the eye, the ear, the palate, and even in some measure the sense of feeling, it may most aptly be called a second or quasi

nature.

5TH REASON. The very fashion of the body is somewhat due to habit and education: Thus the foot of the Chinese lady is stunted into a " club;" the head of certain American savages flattened; and the shoulders of a miller are made broad by his trade. But if habit can so modify the conformations of the body, and the disposition of the mind, it may well be called an extra-natal or second nature.

6TH REASON.-Custom will render certain operations as familiar and easy to perform, as the proper functions of our nature: Thus habit imitates nature so exquisitely, that the copy may be called a second original.

7TH REASON.-Long habits are as difficult to eradicate, as to change the fashion of our body. They have so

"grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength," as to become ingrafted upon our proper nature.

SIMILES. As the scion of one tree, grafted into the stock of another, changes the nature of its fruit; so habit changes the propensity of our natural disposition.

Socrates bred two dogs. A hunting-dog he kept in his kitchen, and a house-dog he bred to the chase. On a certain day he started a hare, and set a dish of meat before the two dogs, at the same moment; upon which, the house-dog pursued the game, and the hunting-dog quietly attended to the mess of pottage.

A tree may be trained into any shape, to which the twig is bent.

In what is called "The Happy Families," dogs and cats, hawks and sparrows, owls and mice, and various other birds and beasts of antagonistic natures, are trained to dwell together in the utmost harmony and peace.

The story of the blacksmith's dog is well known; which used at one time to howl most piteously when the sparks from the beaten iron fell upon him; but, after a while, he would lie at the anvil and sleep, without manifesting the least distress from the hot scintillations.

When a brier is inoculated with a rosebud, the nature of the stock is changed; so that it produces roses instead of its native flowers.

If a magnet be drawn across a piece of common steel, it will impart a magnetic power to it.

A straight glove, by being often drawn upon the hand, will become easy.

A stick, by use and continuance, will acquire and retain a bend contrary to its natural one.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Savages have changed all their habits by civilization, and have so completely altered their mode of life, as to be possessed of a new nature.

Mithridates, the king of Pontus, so habituated himself

to antidotes, that when he wished to destroy himself after his overthrow by Pompey and the revolt of Pharnaces, he found that poison had no effect upon him; and he was compelled to call in a Gaulish mercenary to despatch him with a sword.

Count de Lorge was confined, for some political offence, for thirty years in the Bastile; and when liberated (July 14th, 1789), declared that freedom had no joys for him, for habit had made him long for the solitude from which he had been taken. After imploring over and over again to be permitted to return to his dungeon, and being refused, he lingered for six weeks, and pined to death.

A prisoner once being condemned to die, had his sentence exchanged for seven years close confinement on a bed of nails, so sharp as to penetrate the skin. After the expiration of five years he declared, "if ever he were released, he should adopt from choice, what habit had rendered so agrecable to him."

A certain soap-boiler, retiring on his fortune, made arrangements with his successor, to be allowed to attend gratuitously on melting days, as long habit had rendered this offensive process a source of pleasure to him.

The English speak one language, the French another, and the Germans another, simply from habit. By habit the organs of speech are so modified, and the ear so educated, that very few persons can ever change their vernacular tongue without being detected by a native.

Mr. Cogan once visited a prisoner of distinction in the Bench prison, ill of typhus fever; who told him, that custom had so reconciled him to the gloomy twilight of the grated cell, its filthy spots and patches, the hardness of his bed, and even the confinement itself, that he could never feel happy in any other place.

The love of home is due to habit, much more than to its accommodations.

A woman of Leyden, on the expiration of a long imprisonment, applied for readmission to her solitary cell, declaring to the magistrate, that if this request could not

be granted as a favour, she would commit some offence to give her a title to her old quarters.

Custom regulates our perception of beauty, taste, and decorum: Thus a fair complexion is accounted a deformity in Guinea, but thick lips and a flat nose are reckoned beautiful; black teeth are preferred to white in Japan; tatooing is thought to add charms to a New Zealand chief; a club foot in China is esteemed a female ornament; and some of the North American savages squeeze the heads of their children almost square in order to enhance their supposed beauty. The ladies of England and America think it by no means indecorous to be seen with unveiled faces, but they would be shocked to enter a room full of company with naked feet and legs like the Egyptians.

The same observations may be applied to dress-the long shoes, turned up like skates and fastened to the knee, during the contests of the York and Lancaster factions-the broad trenchers worn upon the feet in the reign of Henry VIII-the. frightful gorget worn by ladies in the reign of Edward II.-the patchwork foppery in the reign of Richard II.—the steeple caps and ridiculous sleeves in the reign of Edward IV., and the frightful costume of the last century, would now be thought preposterous; but our present style of dress would have appeared equally ridiculous, when those fashions prevailed.

QUOTATIONS.-Pitch upon that course of life which is most excellent, and habit will render it the most agreeable.-Pythagoras.

There is no trusting to the force of nature, nor to the bravery of words, except it be corroborated by habit.Machiavel.

Man is a bundle of habits.

To a fond parent that would not have his child corrected for a perverse trick, but excused it, saying it was a "small matter," Solon very well replied, "Ay, but custom is a great one!"-Locke.

Prov. xxii. 6.

The force of education is so great, that we may mould the minds and manners of the young into what shape we please, and give the impression of such habits as shall ever afterwards remain.—Atterbury.

The mind acquires an invincible attachment to whatever has been familiar to it for any length of time.— Cogan.

Men's thoughts are according to their inclinations, their discourse according to their opinions, but their actions according to their habits.-Lord Bacon.

The ear inured to charitable sounds

And pitying love, must feel the hateful wounds
Of jest obscene, and vulgar ribaldry,
The ill-bred question, and the loud reply:
But, brought by habitude from bad to worse,
Men hear unmoved the oath, and direful curse.

Prior.

Habit does much; I do begin to think,
Since grief has been so close an inmate with me,
That I have strained her nearer to my bosom
Than I had pressed her in the crowd of life.

Colman.

As flakes of snow that fall unperceived upon the earth, the seemingly unimportant events of life succeed one another. As the snow gathers together, so our habits are formed. No single flake that is added to the pile produces a sensible change; no single action creates, however it may exhibit, a man's character: but as the tempest hurls the avalanche down the mountain, and overwhelms the inhabitant and his habitation, so passions, acting upon the elements of mischief, which pernicious habits have brought together by imperceptible accumulation, may overthrow the edifice of truth and virtue.-Jeremy Bentham.

Nature is a kind of schoolmaster; custom, a magistrate. -Lord Bacon.

L'abito e una seconda natura.

Vetustatis et consuetudinis vis maxima est.-Cicero.