servants receive is after the model of their own fortune; but the hurt they sell for that good is after the model of their master's fortune. And certainly it is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and1 it were but to roast their eggs; 2 and yet these men many times hold credit with their masters, because their study is but to please them and profit themselves; and for either respect they will abandon the good of their affairs. Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour.3 But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes sine rivali,5 are many 1 And. If. 2 The motive of Lamb's essay, A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, turns on the drollery that the art of roasting was discovered in China by the accidental burning of a cottage containing “a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs, no less than nine in number." 3 "His nature is ever when he would have his prey to cry and sob like a Christian body, to provoke them to come to him, and then he snatcheth at them." Master John Hawkins's Second Voyage. Hakluyt. p. 534. ed. 1598. "the mournful crocodile With sorrow snares relenting passengers;" iii. 1. Cneius Pompeius Magnus, surnamed 'the Great,' 106-48 B.C. With Caesar and Crassus, Pompey formed the first triumvirate, 60 B.C. He was defeated by Caesar in the battle of Pharsalus, in Thessaly, 48 B.C. 5 Lovers of themselves, without a rival (quam se ipse amans sine rivali). Cicero, Ad Quintum Fratrem. III. 8. 4. The Correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero. Robert Yelverton Tyrrell, Vol. II. p. 194. times unfortunate. And whereas they have all their times sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned. XXIV. OF INNOVATIONS. As the births of living creatures at first are illshapen, so are all Innovations, which are the births of time. Yet notwithstanding, as those that first bring honour into their family are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, so the first precedent (if it be good) is seldom attained by imitation. For Ill, to man's nature as it stands perverted, hath a natural motion, strongest in continuance; but Good, as a forced motion, strongest at first. Surely every medicine1 is an innovation; and he that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator; and if time of course alter things to2 the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end? It is true, that what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit; and those things which have long gone together, are as it were confederate within themselves; whereas new things piece not so well; but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their inconformity.3 Be 3 Inconformity. Want of conformity 'to' ('unto') or 'with' a pattern; dissimilarity. sides, they are like strangers; more admired and less favoured. All this is true, if time stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round,1 that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation; and they that reverence too much old times, are but a scorn to the new. It were good therefore that men in their innovations would follow the example of time itself; which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived. For otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlooked for; and ever it mends some, and pairs2 other; and he that is holpen takes it for a fortune, and thanks the time; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and imputeth it to the author. It is good also not to try experiments in states, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident; and well to beware that it, be the reformation that draweth on the change, and not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation. And lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet be held for a suspect; and, as the Scrip 1 Round, flat adverb, quick, swift; the idea is of an easy, smooth, brisk motion, like that of a wheel. "Round was their pace at first, but slacken'd soon." Tennyson. Geraint and Enid. 2 Pairs. Impairs, injures. "No faith so fast (quoth she) but flesh does paire. Flesh may empaire (quoth he) but reason can repaire." Spenser. The Faery Queene. Book I. Canto vii. Stanza 41. "The holy blisful martir for to seeke, That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke." Suspect. Suspicion. "My Lord of Gloster, 't is my special hope, Shakspere. II. King Henry VI. iii. 1. ture saith, that we make a stand upon the ancient way, and then look about us, and discover what is the straight and right way, and so to walk in it.1 XXV. OF DISPATCH. AFFECTED dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities and secret seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And as in races it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed; so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of some only to come off speedily for the time; or to contrive some false periods of business, because they may seem men of dispatch. But it is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off. And business so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth commonly backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten 1 "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." Jeremiah vi. 16. 2 Because. That, in order that, usually followed by a redundant 'that.' "But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." John vii. 39. to a conclusion, Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.1 On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For time is the measure of business, as money is of wares; and business is bought at a dear hand where there is small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small dispatch; Mi venga la muerte de Spagna;2 Let my death come from Spain; for then it will be sure to be long in coming. Give good hearing to those that give the first information in business; and rather direct them in the beginning, than interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches; for he that is put out of his own order will go forward and backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, than he could have been if he had gone on in his own course. But sometimes it is seen that the moderator is more troublesome than the actor. Iterations3 are commonly loss of time. But there is no such gain of time as to iterate often the state of the question; for it chaseth away many a frivolous speech as it is coming forth. Long and curious speeches are as fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle with a long train is for race. Prefaces and passages,* 1 "Sir Amice Pawlet, when he saw too much haste made in any matter, was wont to say, Stay a while, that we may make an end the sooner." Bacon. Apophthegmes New and Old. 76 (71). Sir Amias Paulet or Poulet, 1536 (?)-1588, was keeper of Mary Queen of Scots from 1585 to her execution in 1587-1588. When Paulet was sent as the Queen's ambassador to France, in 1576, Bacon, then a lad of about sixteen, accompanied him as a member of his household. 2 This proverb is a curious mixture of Italian and Spanish. It is an Italian saying and should read, Mi venga la morte di Spagna. 3 Iteration. Repetition. "O, thou hast damnable iteration, and art, indeed, able to corrupt a saint." Shakspere. I. King Henry IV. i. 2. 4 * Passages. Interchange of communications, negotiations. |