been brought up in my childhood to a plain and straightforward way
of dealing, and from having had an aversion to all manner of
juggling and foul play in my childish sports and recreations (and,
indeed, it is to be noted, that the plays of children are not
performed in play, but are to be judged in them as their most
serious actions), there is no game so small wherein from my own
bosom naturally, and without study or endeavor, I have not an
extreme aversion for deceit. I shuffle and cut and make as much
clatter with the cards, and keep as strict account for farthings, as
it were for double pistoles; when winning or losing against my wife
and daughter, 'tis indifferent to me, as when I play in good earnest
with others, for round sums. At all times, and in all places, my own
eyes are sufficient to look to my fingers; I am not so narrowly
watched by any other, neither is there any I have more respect to.

    I saw the other day, at my own house, a little fellow, a native of
Nantes, born without arms, who has so well taught his feet to
perform the services his hands should have done him, that truly
these have half forgotten their natural office; and, indeed, the
fellow calls them his hands; with them he cuts anything, charges and
discharges a pistol, threads a needle, sews, writes, puts off his hat,
combs his head, plays at cards and dice, and all this with as much
dexterity as any other could do who had more, and more proper, limbs
to assist him. The money I gave him- for he gains his living by
showing these feats- he took in his foot, as we do in our hand. I have
seen another who, being yet a boy, flourished a two-handed sword, and,
if I may so say, handled a halberd with the mere motions of his neck
and shoulders for want of hands; tossed them into air, and caught them
again, darted a dagger, and cracked a whip as well as any coachman
in France.

    But the effects of custom are much more manifest in the strange
impressions she imprints in our minds, where she meets with less
resistance. What has she not the power to impose upon our judgements
and beliefs? Is there any so fantastic opinion (omitting the gross
impostures of religions, with which we see so many great nations, and
so many understanding men, so strangely besotted; for this being
beyond the reach of human reason, any error is more excusable in
such as are not endued, through the divine bounty, with an
extraordinary illumination from above), but, of other opinions, are
there any so extravagant, that she has not planted and established for
laws in those parts of the world upon which she has been pleased to
exercise her power? And therefore that ancient exclamation was
exceeding just: "Non pudet physicum, id est speculatorem
venatoremque naturae, ab animis consuetudine imbutis quaerere
testimonium veritatis?"

    I do believe, that no so absurd or ridiculous fancy can enter into
human imagination, that does not meet with some example of public
practice, and that, consequently, our reason does not ground and
back up. There are people, among whom it is the fashion to turn
their backs upon him they salute, and never look upon the man they
intend to honor. There is a place, where, whenever the king spits, the
greatest ladies of his court put out their hands to receive it; and
another nation, where the most eminent persons about him stoop to take
up his ordure in a linen cloth. Let us here steal room to insert a
story.

    A French gentleman was always wont to blow his nose with his
fingers (a thing very much against our fashion), and he justifying
himself for so doing, and he was a man famous for pleasant
repartees, he asked me, what privilege this filthy excrement had, that
we must carry about us a fine handkerchief to receive it, and, which
was more, afterward to lap it carefully up and carry it all day
about in our pockets, which, he said, could not but be much more
nauseous and offensive, than to see it thrown away, as we did all
other evacuations. I found that what he said was not altogether
without reason, and by being frequently in his company, that
slovenly action of his was at last grown familiar to me; which
nevertheless we make a face at, when we hear it reported of another
country. Miracles appear to be so, according to our ignorance of
nature, and not according to the essence of nature: the continually
being accustomed to anything, blinds the eye of our judgment.
Barbarians are no more a wonder to us, than we are to them; nor with
any more reason, as every one would confess if after having traveled
over those remote examples, men could settle themselves to reflect
upon, and rightly to confer them with their own. Human reason is a
tincture almost equally infused into all our opinions and manners,
of what form soever they are; infinite in matter, infinite in
diversity. But I return to my subject.

    There are peoples, where, his wife and children excepted, no one
speaks to the king but through a tube. In one and the same nation, the
virgins discover those parts that modesty should persuade them to
hide, and the married women carefully cover and conceal them. To
which, this custom, in another place, has some relation, where
chastity, but in marriage, is of no esteem, for unmarried women may
prostitute themselves to as many as they please, and being got with
child, may lawfully take physic, in the sight of every one, to destroy
their fruit. And, in another place, if a tradesman marry, all of the
same condition, who are invited to the wedding, lie with the bride
before him; and the greater number of them there is, the greater is
her honor, and the opinion of her ability and strength: if an
officer marry, 'tis the same, the same with a laborer, or one of
mean condition, but then, it belongs to the lord of the place to
perform that office; and yet a severe loyalty during marriage is
afterward strictly enjoined. There are places where brothels of
young men are kept for the pleasure of women; where the wives go to
war as well as the husbands, and not only share in the dangers of
battle, but, moreover, in the honors of command. Others, where they