ESSAY 1.

ON CUSTOM.

THAT man appears to have conceived a true idea of the power of Custom, who invented the ftory of a countrywoman, who having accuftomed herself to carry a calf in her arms from the hour of its birth, and daily continuing to do so, was able to bear it when it was grown to be a large ox.

Truly Custom is an arbitrary and treacherous fchool-miftrefs; the establishes her indifputable authority gradually and imperceptibly; when, unmasking, fhe displays a furious and tyrannic countenance, which we have neither the power nor courage to refift, though we perceive her fubvert and violate all the rules of nature: and we may cry out with Plato, "Cuftom is the great miftrefs of all things." This leads me to believe that Plato, in the government

B

government of his republic, not unfrequently submitted his authority to this power; and that physicians also yield to its sway. It is recorded that a king, by degrees, rendered his stomach capable of bearing poison; and that a young female brought herself to live upon spiders. We perceive that the same food which is necessary to support some men, is death to others. How often have we seen Custom supply even the defects of nature? A little man, a native of Nantz, born without arms, has nearly rendered his feet as serviceable as other people's hands; and, indeed, they seem partly to have forgotten their natural office, and the uses for which they were designed: he even calls them his hands, which is allowable, as he uses scissars and knives, charges and fires off a pistol, threads a needle, sews, writes, and puts on his hat, combs his head, plays at cards and dice, and received the money I gave him, and all this with as perfect ease and dexterity as if he was formed like other men.

The power of Custom is so great, that at one time huntsmen will lie out all night in the snow, and at another suffer themselves to be

parched

parched with the heat of the meridian sun. Gladiators and wrestlers will endure, without a groan, the heaviest blows and most penetrating wounds. Strange as these examples may appear, they are not so strange if we consider what even passes under our own observation. Smiths, millers, and armourers, could not endure the perpetual noise of their own trades, if they continued to strike their ears with the same noise as they do ours. My perfumed doublet gratifies my sense of finelling at first, as well as that of others; but after having worn it successively three or sour days, I no longer perceive its effects. Yet it is still more strange, that Custom, notwithstanding the long intermission of intervals, should have the power to establish its effects upon our senses; as is manifest to those who live near the frequent noise of bells. My lodging is very near a great bell, which every morning and evening rings out Ave Maria, the noise of which shakes my very tower, and at first seemed insupportable to me; but having long resided in these lodgings, I hear it without disgust, and sometimes am not even awakened by it.

Plato reprehended a boy for playing at a

childish game:

"Thou reprovest me," says

the boy," for a trifle."

"Custom," replied Plato, "is no trifle;" and he spoke right, for our greatest vices derive their first propensity from our most tender infancy, and our education commences with our nurse. Mothers frequently permit a child to writhe off the neck of a chicken, or please itself by hurting a dog or a cat and there are some fathers so weak as to think that it augurs a martial spirit, when their sons domineer over a poor peasant or lacquey, who cannot resent the injury. Others esteem it a mark of wit, when their children over-reach their play-fellows; but these are the seeds and roots of cruelty, tyranny, and treason they bud, shoot out, and grow vigorously afterwards to a prodigious stature, being cultivated and improved by Custom. It is a dangerous mistake, to excuse these vile in

* Ye therefore who love mercy, teach your fons To love it too. The fpring-time of our years Is foon difhonour'd, and defil'd in most

By budding ills, that afk a prudent hand to check them.

COWPER'S TASK, Book 6. page 261. clinations