228 BACON 



the manners. And here philosophers should diligently inquire 

 into the powers and energy of custom, exercise, habit, edu- 

 cation, example, imitation, emulation, company, friendship, 

 praise, reproof, exhortation, reputation, laws, books, studies, 

 etc. ; for these are the things which reign in men's morals. By 

 these agents the mind is formed and subdued ; and of these in- 

 gredients remedies are prepared, which, so far as human means 

 can reach, conduce to the preservation and recovery of the 

 health of the mind. 



To give an instance or two in custom and habit, the opinion 

 of Aristotle seems narrow and careless, which asserts that " cus- 

 tom has no power over those actions which are natural " ;w using 

 this example, that if a stone be a thousand times thrown up into 

 the air, yet it will acquire no tendency to a spontaneous ascent. 

 And again, that " by often seeing or hearing, we see and hear 

 never the better." For though this may hold in some things, 

 where nature is absolute, yet it is otherwise in things where nat- 

 ure admits intention and remission in a certain latitude. He 

 might have seen, that a strait glove, by being often drawn upon 

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

 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 two last 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 beware 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 prom- 

 ises himself more than he can perform, which leads to indo- 

 lence ; and in both cases the experiment will not answer expec- 

 tation. And this always dejects and confounds 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 faculty, let 



