be of fuch a Nature, that People of the moft Senfe and Virtue could not be at it. Whatever Vices are reprefented upon the Stage, they ought to be fo marked and branded by the Poet, as not to appear either laudable or amiable in the Perfon who is tainted with them. But if we look into the English Comedies above-mentioned, we would think they were formed upon a quite contrary Maxim, and that this Rule, tho' it held good upon the Heathen Stage, was not to be regarded in Chriftian Theatres. There is another Rule likewife, which was obferved by Authors of Antiquity, and which thefe modern Genius's have no regard to, and that was never to choofe an improper Subject for Ridicule. Now a Subject is improper for Ridicule, if it is apt to ftir up Horror and Commiferation rather than Laughter. For this Reafon, we do not find any Comedy in fo polite an Author as Terence, railed upon the Violations of the Marriage-Bed. The Falfhood of the Wife or Husband has given Occafion to noble Tragedies, but a Scipio and Lelius would have look'd upon Inceft or Murder to have been as proper Subjects for Comedy, On the contrary, Cuckoldom is the Bafis of most of our Modern Plays. If an Alderman appears upon the Stage, you may be fure it is in order to be Cuckolded. An liusband that is a little grave or elderly, generally meets with the fame Fate. Knights and Baronets, Country Squires, and Juftices of the Quorum, come up to Town for no other Purpofe. I have feen poor Dogger Cuckolded in all thefe Capacities. In fhort, our English Writers are as frequently fevere upon this innocent unhappy Creature, commonly known by the Name of a Cuckold, as the Ancient Comick Writers were upon an eating Parafite, or a vain-glorious Soldier.

AT the fame time the Poet fo contrives Matters, that the two Criminals are the Favourites of the Audience. We fit ftill, and with well to them through the whole Play, are pleafed when they meet with proper Opportunities, and out of humour when they are difappointed. The Truth of it is, the accomplished Gentleman upon the English Stage, is the Perfon that is familiar with other Mens Wives, and indifferent to his own; as the fine Woman is generally a Compofition of Sprightlinefs and Falfhood. I do not know whether it proceeds from Barrennefs of Invention,

Invention, Depravation of Mannners, or Ignorance of Mankind, but I have often wondered that our ordinary Poets cannot frame to themfelves the Idea of a fine Man who is not a Whore-mafter, or of a fine Woman that is not a Jilt.

I have fometimes thought of compiling a Syftem of Ethics out of the Writings of thofe corrupt Poets, under the Title of Stage Morality. But I have been diverted from this Thought, by a Project which has been executed by an ingenious Gentleman of my Acquaintance. He has compos'd, it seems, the Hiftory of a young Fellow, who has taken all his Notions of the World from the Stage, and who has directed himself in every Circumftance of his Life and Conversation, by the Maxims and Examples of the Fine Gentlemen in English Comedies. If I can prevail upon him to give me a Copy of this new fashioned Novel, I will beftow on it a Place in my Works, and question not but it may have as good an Effect upon the Drama, as Don Quixote had upon Romance.

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447.

Saturday, August 2.

Φημὶ πολυχρονίω μελέτων ἔμναι, φίλε καὶ δή
Ταύτων ἀνθρώποισι τελετῶσαν φύσιν .

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HERE is not a Common Saying which has a better Turn of Senfe in it, than what we often hear in the Mouths of the Vulgar, that Cuftom is a fecond Nature. It is indeed able to form the Man anew, and to give him Inclinations and Capacities altogether different from thofe he was born with. Dr. Plot, in his Hiftory of Staffordshire, tells us of an Idiot that chancing to live within the Sound of a Clock, and always amufing himself with counting the Hour of the Day whenever the Clock ftruck, the Clock being spoiled by fome Accident, the Idiot continued to ftrike and count the Hour without the help of it, in the fame manner as he had done when it was intire. Though I dare not vouch for

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the Truth of this Story, it is very certain that Cuftom has a Mechanical Effect upon the Body, at the fame time that it has a very extraordinary Influence upon the Mind.

I fhall in this Paper confider one very remarkable Effect which Custom has upon Human Nature; and which, if rightly oblerved, may lead us into very ufeful Rules of Life. What I fhall here take notice of in Cuftom, is its wonderful Efficacy in making every thing pleatant to us. A Penon who is addicted to Play or Gaming, though he took but little delight in it at firft, by degrees contracts fo ftrong an Inclination towards it, and gives himfelt up fo intely to it, that it feems the only End of his Being. The Love of a retired or buly Life will grow upon a Man intenfibly, as he is converfant in the one or the other, till he is utterly unqualified for relifhing that to which he has been for fome time difufed. Nay, a Man may Smoke, or Drink, or take Snuff, till he is unable to pafs away his Time without it; not to mention how our Delight in any particular Study, Art, or Science, rifes and improves in Proportion, to the Application which we beftow upon it. Thus what was at firit an Exercife, becomes at length an Entertainment. Our Employ ments are changed into our Diverfions. The Mind grows fond of thofe Actions fhe is accuftomed to, and is drawn with Reluctancy from thofe Paths in which he has ufed to walk.

NOT only fuch Actions as were at firft Indifferent to us, but even fuch as were Painful, will by Cuftom and Practice become pleasant. Sir Francis Bacon obferves in his natural Philofophy, that our Tafte is never pleased better than with those things which at first created a Difguft in it. He gives particular Inilances of Claret, Cofice, and other Liquors, which the Palate feldom arproves upon the firft Tafte; but when it has once got a Relith of them, generally retains it for Life. The Mind is conflituted after the fame manner, and after having habituated her felf to any particular Exercife or Employment, not only lotes her firft Averfion towards it, but conceives a certain Fondness and Affection for it. I have heard one of the greatest Genius's this Age has produced, who had been trained up in all the Polite Studies of Antiquity affure me, upon his being obliged to fearch into feveral

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Rolls and Records, that notwithstanding fuch an Employment was at first very dry and irkfom to him, he at last took an incredible Pleasure in it, and preferred it even to the reading of Virgil or Cicero. The Reader will obferve, that I have not here confidered Cuftom as it makes things eafy, but as it renders them delightful; and though others have often made the fame Reflexions, it is poffible they may not have drawn thofe Ufes from it, with which I intend to fill the remaining Part of this Paper.

IF we confider attentively this Property of Human Nature, it may inftruct us in very fine Moralities. In the first Place, I would have no Man difcouraged with that kind of Life or Series of Action, in which the Choice of others, or his own Neceffities, may have engaged him. It may perhaps be very difagreeable to him at firft; but Ufe and Application will certainly render it not only less painful, but pleafing and fatisfactory.

IN the fecond place I would recommend to every one that admirable Precept which Pythagoras is faid to have given to his Difciples, and which that Philofopher muft have drawn from the Obfervation I have enlarged upon. Optimum vitæ genus eligito, nam confuetudo faciet jucundif fimum, Pitch upon that Courfe of Life which is the most Excellent, and Custom will render it the moft Delightful. Men, whofe Circumftances will permit them to choose their own way of Life, are inexcufable if they do not purfue that which their Judgment tells them is the most laudable. The Voice of Reafon is more to be regarded than the Bent of any prefent Inclination, fince by the Rule above-mentioned, Inclination will at length come over to Reason, though we can never force Reason to comply with Inclination.

IN the third place, this Obfervation may teach the moft fenfual and irreligious Man, to overlook thofe Hardfhips and Difficulties, which are apt to difcourage him from the Profecution of a virtuous Life. The Gods, faid Hefiod, have placed Labour before Virtue, the Way to her is at firft rough and difficult, but grows more smooth and eafy the further you advance in it. The Man who proceeds in it, with Steddinefs and Refolution, will in a little time find that her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness, and that all her Paths are Peace.

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TO enforce this Confideration, we may further obferve, that the Practice of Religion will not only be attended with that Pleasure, which naturally accompanies thofe actions to which we are habituated, but with those Supernumerary Joys of Icart, that rife from the Coniciouinefs of fuch a Pleafure, from the Satisfaction of acting up to the Dictates of Reafon, and from the Profpect of an happy Immortality.

IN the fourth place, we may learn from this Obfer. vation which we have made on the Mind of Man, to take particular Care, when we are once fettled in a regu lar Courfe of Life, how we too frequently indulge our felves in any the most innocent Diverfions and Entertainments, fince the Mind may infenfibly fall off from the Relifh of virtuous Actions, and, by degrees, exchange that Pleasure which it takes in the Performance of its Du ty, for Delights of a much more inferior and unprofitable Nature.

THE last Use which I shall make of this remarkable Property in Human Nature, of being delighted with thofe Actions to which it is accustomed, is to fhew how abfolutely neceflary it is for us to gain Habits of Virtue in this Life, if we would enjoy the Pleafures of the next. The State of Blifs we call Heaven will not be capable of affecting thole Minds, which are not thus qualified for it; we muft, in this World, gain a Relifh of Truth and Virtue, if we would be able to tafle that Knowledge and Perfection, which are to make us happy in the next. The Seeds of thofe fpiritual Joys and Raptures, which are to rife up and flourish in the foul to all Eternity, muft be planted in her, during this her prefent State of Probation. In fhort, Heaven is not to be look'd upon only as the Reward, but as the natural Effect of a religious Life.

On the other hand, thofe evil Spirits, who, by long Cullom, have contracted in the Body Habits of Luft and Senfuality, Malice and Revenge, an Averfion to every thing that is good, juft or laudable, are naturally feafoned and prepared for Pain and Mifery. Their Toriments have already taken root in them, they cannot be happy when dis velled of the Body, unlefs we may fuppofc, that Providence will, in a manner, create them anew, and work a Miracle in the Rectification of their Faculties. They may, VOL. VI. indeed,

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