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‘As it is in the body,’—observes Mr. Locke—‘so it is in the mind: practice makes it what it is; and even most of those excellences which are looked at as natural endowments, will be found (when examined more minutely) to be the product of exercise, and to be raised to that pitch by repeated actions’—Again—‘The faculties of the soul are improved and made useful to us, in just the same way that our bodies are. Would you have a man write or paint well, or perform any other mechanical operation dexterously and with ease? However much vigour and activity, suppleness, and address he has, nobody expects this from him, unless he has been used to it, and has employed time and pains in fashioning and forming his hand or other parts to these motions. Just so it is in the mind—Would you have a man reason well? You must get him used to it early, exercise his mind in it.’—Conduct of the Understanding.