The Virginia Gazette

Of the Power of Custom.

C U S T O M is not ill defin'd to be another Nature, and certainly there is not any Thing so much Mistress of our Inclinations and Manners, or that hath so long a Being with Mankind. Therefore it is with so much Difficulty, Persons change their Notions of Policy or Religion, which have been establish'd in their Minds from their early Infancy.; there Opinions however wrong; seem true, and the pleasing Familiarity with them takes off all those Deformities which another may Behold. From hence it is, that almost every Nation censures the Laws, Customs, and Doctrines of every other, as strange and unjust: but are confirmed in their own Follies beyond a Possibility of Conviction. The Difference of Customs and Laws of Nations is so prodigious, that it may not be unpleasant to instance some, which are esteemed by those who are educated in them as intirely consistent with Justice, Humanity, and Politeness. There are a People, who account it the greatest Act of Tenderness, Piety, and Religion, to kill their Parents when they come to such an Age, and then eat them. There are Kingdoms, where Children have no Right to Inheritance, and Brothers and Nephews are accounted the next Heirs: Where Chastity in unmarried Women is in no Esteem; they may lawfully, and without Loss of Reputation, be Prostitutes, yet when married, they are Miracles of Chastity and Fidelity to their Husbands: Where they never have any Marriages, and therefore Children only own their Mothers, not being able to guess at the Father: Where Women are look'd on with such Contempt, that they kill all the native Women, and purchase Wives of their Neighbours to supply their Use: Where it is the Fashion to turn their Backs to him they salute, and never look upon the Man they intend to honour: Where the greatest Beaus stink most, and instead of a Ribband they wear cross their Shoulders as a Badge of Honour, the Guts of a Sheep. It would be endless to quote all the Absurdities which Custom, in different Places, warrants to be reasonable. By these Instances, we see the grossest Follies are accounted sacred if customary, and the Fashion handsome and agreeable, tho' never so shocking to an unbias'd Spectator.

As Custom and Education have such strong Prevalency over the Minds of Men, how careful should Parents be in giving their Children not a narrow and confin'd Method, but a generous and noble Way of Thinking; to teach them even from their Youth, that there are Errors, and that when, with an impartial Enquiry, they find them, they Should know how to retract them, and not let the false Step they made at their first setting out keep them in a wrong Path thro' the whole Journey of Life afterwards; for too often, as Mr. Dryden tells us,

By Education most Men are mis-led,
We so believe because we so were bred:
The Priest continues what the Nurse began,
And thus the Child imposes on the Man.