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the hand, will become easy; that a stick, by use and con 

 tinuance, will acquire and retain a bend contrary to its 

 natural one; that the voice, by exercise, becomes stronger 

 and more sonorous; that heat and cold grow more tolerable 

 by custom, etc. And these last two examples come nearer 

 to the point than those he has produced. Be this as it will, 

 the more certain he had found it that virtues and vices 

 depended upon habit, the more he should have endeavored 

 to prescribe rules how such habits were to be acquired or 

 left off; since numerous precepts may be formed for the 

 prudent directing of exercises, as well those of the mind as 

 the body. We will here mention a few of them. 



And the first shall be, that from the beginning we be 

 ware of imposing both more difficult, and more superficial 

 tasks than the thing requires. For if too great a burden be 

 laid upon a middling genius, it blunts the cheerful spirit of 

 hope ; and if upon a confident one, it raises an opinion, from 

 which he promises himself more than he can perform, which 

 leads to indolence: and in both cases the experiment will 

 not answer expectation. And this always dejects and con 

 founds the mind. But if the tasks are too light, a great 

 loss is sustained in the amount of the progress. 



Secondly, to procure a habit in the exercise of any fac 

 ulty, let two seasons be principally observed: the one when 

 the mind is best, and the other when it is worst disposed 

 for business ; that by the former, the greater despatch may 

 be made; and by the latter, the obstructions of the mind 

 may be borne down with a strenuous application; whence 

 the intermediate times slide away the more easily and 

 agreeably. 



The third example shall be the precept which Aristotle 

 transiently mentions; viz., to endeavor our utmost against 

 that whereto we are strongly impelled by nature; thus, as 

 it were, rowing against the stream, or bending a crooked 

 stick the contrary way, in order to bring it straight. 17 



17 Nicom. Eth. ii. 95, toward the end. 



