156 LIFE AND HABIT. 



I. That as a general rule we remember only the 

 individual features of the last few repetitions of 

 the act — if, indeed, we remember this much. The 

 influence of preceding ones is to be found only in the 

 general average of the procedure, which is modified 

 by them, but unconsciously to ourselves. Take, for 

 example, some celebrated singer, or pianoforte player, 

 who has sung the same air, or performed the same 

 sonata several hundreds or, it may be, thousands of 

 times : of the details of individual performances, he 

 can probably call to mind none but those of the last 

 few days, yet there can be no question that his 

 present performance is affected by, and modified by, 

 all his previous ones ; the care he has bestowed on 

 these being the secret of his present proficiency. 



In each performance (the performer being supposed 

 in the same state of mental and bodily health), the 

 tendency will be to repeat the immediately preceding 

 performances more nearly than remoter ones. It is 

 the common tendency of living beings to go on doing 

 what they have been doing most recently. The last 

 habit is the strongest. Hence, if he took great pains 

 last time, he will play better now, and will take a like 

 degree of pains, and play better still next time, and so 

 go on improving while life and vigour last. If, on the 

 other hand, he took less pains last time, he will play 

 worse now, and be inclined to take little pains next 

 time, and so gradually deteriorate. This, at least, is 

 the common everyday experience of mankind. 



So with painters, actors, and professional men of 

 every description ; after a little while the memory of 



