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NAture is Often Hidden; Sometimes Ouercome; Seldome
Extinguished. Force maketh
Nature more violent in the
Returne: Doctrine and Discourse maketh Nature lesse Importune: But Custome onely doth alter and subdue Nature. Hee that seeketh Victory ouer his
Nature, let him not set Himselfe too great,
nor too small Tasks: For the first, will
make him deiected by often Faylings;
And the Second will make him a small
Proceeder, though by often Preuailings.
And at the first, let him practise with
Helps, as Swimmers doe with Bladders, or
Rushes: But after a Time, let him practise
with disaduantages, as Dancers doe with
thick Shooes. For it breeds great Perfection, if the Practise be harder then the vse.
Where Nature is Mighty, and therefore
the Victory hard, the Degrees had need
be; first to Stay and Arrest Nature in
Time; Like to Him, that would say ouer
the Foure and Twenty Letters, when he
was Angry: Then to Goe lesse in Quantity; As if one should, in forbearing Wine,
come from Drinking Healths, to a
Draught at a Meale: And lastly, to Discontinue altogether. But if a Man haue
the Fortitude, and Resolution, to enfranchise Himselfe at once, that is the best;
Optimus ille Animi Vindex, led\-etia pectus
Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel,
Neither is the Ancient Rule amisse, to
bend Nature as a Wand, to a Contrary
Extreme, whereby to set it right: Vnderstanding it, where the Contrary Extreme
is no Vice. Let not a man force a Habit
vpon himselfe, with a Perpetuall Continuance, but with some Intermission. For
both the Pause, reinforceth the new Onset; And if a Man, that is not perfect, be
euer in Practise, he shall as well practise
his Errours, as his Abilities; And induce
one Habite of both: And there is no
Meanes to helpe this, but by Seasonable
Intermissions. But let not a Man trust
his Victorie ouer his Nature too farre;
For Nature will lay buried a great Time,
and yet reuiue, vpon the Occasion or
Temptation. Like as it was with AEsopes
Damosell, turned from a Catt to a Woman;
who sate very demurely, at the Boards
End, till a Mouse ranne before her. Therefore let a Man, either auoid the Occasion
altogether; Or put Himselfe often to it,
that hee may be little moued with it. A
Mans Nature is best perceiued in Priuatenesse, for there is no Affectation; In Passion, for that putteth a Man out of his Precepts; And in a new Case or Experiment,
for there Custome leaueth him. They are
happie Men, whose Natures sort with
their Vocations; Otherwise they may
say, Multùm Incola fuit Anima mea: when
they conuerse in those Things, they doe
not Affect. In Studies, whatsoeuer a Man
commandeth vpon himselfe, let him set
Houres for it: But whatsoeuer is agreeable to his Nature, let him take no Care,
for any set Times: For his Thoughts, will
flie to it of Themselues; So as the Spaces
of other Businesse, or Studies, will suffice.
A Mans Nature runnes either to Herbes,
or Weeds; Therefore let him seasonably
Water the One, and Destroy the Other.
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