sooner bring ouer from beyond the Seas any new forme of apparell, but that hee cannot bee thought a man of spirit, that would not presently imitate the same? And so from hand to hand it spreades, till it be practised by all, not for any commoditie that is in it, but only because it is come to be the fashion. For such is the force of that naturall Selfe-loue in euery one of vs, and such is the corruption of enuie bred in the brest of euery one, as we cannot be content vnlesse we imitate euerything that our fellowes doe, and so prooue our selues capable of euerything whereof they are capable, like Apes, counterfeiting the maners of others, to our owne destruction.[1] For let one or two of the greatest Masters of Mathematickes in any of the two famous Vniuersities, but constantly affirme any cleare day, that they see some strange apparition in the skies: they will I warrant you be seconded by the greatest part of the Students in that profession: So loath will they be, to bee thought inferiour to their fellowes, either in depth of knowledge or sharpnesse of sight: And therefore the generall good liking and imbracing of this foolish custome, doeth but onely proceede
- ↑ The previous arguments can of course have no weight in our day, but this tendency to imitate others is as true now as then. Evidently, if the Darwinian theory holds good, a matter of three centuries is not sufficient to cause any perceptible diminution in the strength of original instinct inherited from the ape.
