will be found, when examined into more narrowly, to be the product of exercise, and to be raised to that pitch only by repeated actions. Some men are remarked for pleasantness in raillery; others for apologues and apposite diverting stories. This is apt to be taken for the effect of pure nature, and that the rather because it is not got by rules, and those who excel in either of them never purposely set themselves to the study of it as an art to be learnt. But yet it is true, that at first some lucky hit, which took with somebody and gained him commendation, encouraged him to try again, inclined his thoughts and endeavors that way, till at last he insensibly got a facility in it, without perceiving how; and that is attributed wholly to nature which was much more the effect of use and practice. I do not deny that natural disposition may often give the first rise to it, but that never carries a man far without use and exercise, and it is practice alone that brings the powers of the mind, as well as those of the body, to their perfection. Many a good poetic Vein is buried under a trade, and never produces anything for want of improvement. We see the ways of discourse and reasoning are very different, even concerning the same matter, at court and in the university, And he that will go but from Westminster hall to the Exchange[1] will find a different genius and
- ↑ Westminster-hall to the Exchange. The first building now serves a8 the vestibule to the Houses of Parliament. In Locke's time it was itself the legislative hall. Here Charles I. was condemned and Cromwell hailed as Lord Protector. Coronations took place here until the time of George IV. ‘The Exchange is a meeting-place for merchants located near St. Paul’s. The first Royal Exchange in London was opened in the sixteenth century, the idea being introduced from Antwerp by Sir Thomas Gresham.
