134 



^ I'elish of attraction evaporates vvith it. We may however 



remark that habit is sooner deprived of its influence, and 

 the intercurrence of novelt}-- longer required to engage our 

 attention, when we are passive, than when Ave are active. 

 Even the most exquisite singers and facetious of story-tellers 

 are seldom sensible of the tedium of repeating the same 



t', songs, and recapitulating the same stories, so soon as the po- 



litest of their auditors ; whose amenity is sometimes subjected 

 to no trifling test of endurance, if the air be not varied by 

 some lively touches of Pathos, or the anecdote by some unex- 

 pected effusion of humour: or in fine, unless some additional 

 auditor is present ; when a new sense of sympathy with the in- 

 terest he feels, may postpone for the time the impatience of 



\ lassitude. Old Homer's rule of the twice-told tale has never 



' been reversed ; nor do the annals of song afford an excep- 



tion ; unless it is, perhaps, to be found in such ever-varying 

 ' and fascinating modulations as are disclosed in the notes of 



" Lungi dal caro bene," and Viola's still more affecting ap- 

 peal to the heart of Orsino, " She never told her love." * These 

 have the privilege, if it is possessed by music, of feasting " the 

 ravished ear" to excess, but never to satiety. 



The influence of habit is commonly exercised in matters 

 of a general nature, while the love of novelty deals in par- 

 ticulars. A taste for reading may become an indispensable 

 habit : we may even with pleasure confine our studies to one 



* The former by Sarti, the ktter by Haydn. 



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