rchased by long suffering, and the
result is an addition to our stock, not of pleasure, but of pain.

The next topic to which our attention is directed is the influence of
habit. Habit is thus defined:--

"Habit is the aptitude for any actions or impressions produced by
frequent repetition of them."

The word impressions is used to designate affections of mind and body that
are involuntary, in contradistinction to those which we can originate and
control. For instance, we may choose whether or not we will enter into any
particular enquiry; but when we have entered upon it, we cannot prevent
the result that the evidence concerning it will produce upon our minds. A
person conversant with mathematical studies can no more help believing
that the diagonal of a square is incommensurable with its side, than, if
his hand had been thrust in the fire, he could help feeling heat. The
remarks which follow are ingenious and profound:--

"The more amusements," continues the writer, "partake of an useful
character, the more lasting they are. This is never the case with
trifles; when the enjoyment is over, they leave little or nothing
in the mind. They are not steps to something else, they have no
connexion with other and further _results, to be brought out by
further endeavours. The attempt to make life a series of quickly
succeeding emotions, will ever prove a miserable failure;_
whereas, when the chief part of our time is spent in labour,
active power increases--the exertion of it becomes habit--the
mind gathers strength; and emotion being husbanded, retains its
freshness, and the spirits preserve their alacrity through life.
It follows that the most agreeable labours are those which
superadd to an object of important and lasting interest a due
mixture of intermediate and somewhat diversified results. To a
mechanic, making a set of chairs and tables, for example, is more
agreeable than working daily at a sawpit. But nothing can deprive
the industrious man (however undiversified his employment) of the
advantage of having a constant and important pursuit--viz.
earning the necessaries and comforts of life; and when we
consider the uneasiness of a life without any steady pursuit, and
how slight is the influence that such as one merely voluntary has
over most men, it seems certain that, as a general rule, we do
not err in representing