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He that imposes an oath makes it,

Not he that for convenience takes it;
Then how can any man be faid
To break an oath he never made?

Hudibras, Part 2. Canto 2.

The seventh fatire of the first book of Horace is purposely contrived to introduce at the clofe a most execrable pun. Talking of fome infamous wretch whofe name was Rex Rupilius,

Perfius exclamat, Per magnos, Brute, deos te
Oro, qui reges confueris tollere, cur non

Hunc regem jugulas? Operum hoc, mihi crede, tuorum eft.

Though playing with words is a mark of a mind at ease, and difpofed to any fort of amufement, we must not thence conclude that playing with words is always ludicrous. Words are fo intimately connected with thought, that if the fubject be really grave, it will not appear ludicrous even in that fantaftic drefs. I am, however, far from recommending it in any ferious performance on the contrary, the difcordance between the thought and expreffion must be difagreeable; witness the following specimen.

He hath abandoned his phyficians, Madam, under whose practices he hath perfecuted time with hope: and

finds

finds no other advantage in the process, but only the lofing of hope by time.

All's well that ends well, Act 1. Sc. 1.

K. Henry. O my poor kingdom, fick with civil blows! When that my care could not with-hold thy riots, What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?

Second Part, K. Henry IV.

If any one shall obferve, that there is a third fpecies of wit, different from those mentioned, confifting in founds merely, I am willing to give it place. And indeed it must be admitted, that many of Hudibras's double rhymes come under the definition of wit given in the beginning of this chapter they are ludicrous, and their fingularity occafions fome degree of surprise. Swift is no lefs fuccefsful than Butler in this fort of wit; witness the following inftances: GoddefsBoddice. Pliny-Nicolini. Ifcariots-Chariots. Mitre-Nitre. Dragon-Suffragan,

A repartee may happen to be witty but it cannot be confidered as a fpecies of wit; because there are many repartees extremely fmart, and yet extremely serious. I give the following example. A certain petulant Greek, objecting to Anacharfis that he was a Scythian: True, fays Anacharfis, my country difgraces me, but you difgrace your country. This fine turn gives furprife; but it is far from being ludicrous.

CHAP,

CHAP. XIV.

CUSTOM AND HABIT.

V

IEWING man as under the influence of novelty, would one fufpect that custom alfo fhould influence him? and yet our nature is equally fufceptible of each; not only in different objects, but frequently in the fame. When an object is new, it is enchanting familiarity renders it indifferent; and custom, after a longer familiarity, makes it again difagreeable. Human nature, diverfified with many and various fprings of action, is wonderfully, and, indulging the expreffion, intricately constructed.

Cuftom hath fuch influence upon many of our feelings, by warping and varying them, that we must attend to its operations if we would be acquainted with human nature. This fubject, in itself obfcure, has been much neglected; and a complete analysis of it would be no eafy task. I pretend only to touch it curforily; hoping, however, that what is here laid down, will difpofe diligent inquirers to attempt further difcoveries.

Custom refpects the action, babit the agent. By custom we mean a frequent reiteration of the fame act; and by habit, the effect that cuftom has on the agent. This effect may be either

active,

active, witness the dexterity produced by cuftom in performing certain exercises; or paffive, as when a thing makes an impreffion on us dif ferent from what it did originally. The latter only, as relative to the fenfitive part of our nature, comes under the prefent undertaking.

This fubject is intricate: fome pleasures are fortified by custom; and yet cuftom begets familiarity, and confequently indifference*: in many inftances, fatiety and difguft are the confequences of reiteration: again, though custom blunts the edge of diftrefs and of pain, yet the want of any thing to which we have been long accustomed, is a fort of torture. A clew to guide us through all the intricacies of this labyrinth, would be an acceptable prefent.

Whatever be the caufe, it is certain that we are much influenced by cuftom: it hath an effect upon our pleasures, upon our actions, and even upon our thoughts and fentiments. Habit makes no figure during the vivacity of youth in middle age it gains ground; and in old age governs without controul. In that period of life, generally fpeaking, we eat at a certain hour, take exercise at a certain hour, go to rest at a certain hour, all by the direction of habit: nay, a particular

* If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work :

But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.

First part Henry IV. A&t 1. Sc. 3.

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ticular feat, table, bed, comes to be effential; and a habit in any of thefe cannot be controlled without uneafinefs.

Any flight or moderate pleasure frequently reiterated for a long time, forms a peculiar connection between us and the thing that caufes the pleasure. This connection, termed habit, has the effect to awaken our defire or appetite for that thing when it returns not as ufual. During the course of enjoyment, the pleasure rifes infenfibly higher and higher till a habit be eftablished; at which time the pleasure is at its height. It continues not however ftationary : the fame customary reiteration which carried it to its height, brings it down again by infenfible degrees, even lower than it was at firft: but of that circumstance afterward. What at prefent we have in view, is to prove by experiments, that those things which at firft are but moderately agreeable, are the apteft to become habitual. Spiritous liquors, at firft fcarce agreeable, readily produce an habitual appetite and cuftom prevails fo far, as even to make us fond of things. originally disagreeable, fuch as coffee, affafotida, and tobacco; which is pleafantly illuftrated by Congreve :

Fainall. For a paffionate lover,methinks you are a man fomewhat too discerning in the failings of your mistress.

Mirabell. And for a difcerning man, fomewhat too paffionate a lover; for I like her with all her faults; nay like her for her faults. Her follies are fo natural,

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