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for action till they have passed the meridian of their years; as it was with Julius Cæsar, and Septimus Severus; of the latter of whom it is said, Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus plenam; and yet, he was the ablest Emperor almost of all the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth; as it is seen in Augustus Cæsar, Cosmos duke of Florence, Gaston de Fois, and others. On the other side, heat and vivacity in age is an excellent composition for business. Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business; for the experience . of age, in things that fall within the compass of it, directeth them, but in new things abuseth them: The errors of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold, stir more than they can quiet, fly to the end without consideration of the means and degrees, pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly, care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first, and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success. Certainly, it is good to compound employments of both; for that

will be good for the present; because the virtues of either age may correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men may be learners, while men in age are actors: and lastly, good for external accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favour and popularity youth. But, for the moral part, perhaps, youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain Rabbin, upon the text, "Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams," inferreth, that young men are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream. And, certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding than in the virtues of the will and affections. There be some have an over-early ripeness in their years, which fadeth betimes: these are, first, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned: such as was Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding subtle; who afterwards waxed stupid. A second sort is of those that have some natural dispositions which have better grace in youth than in age; such as is affluent and luxuriant speech, which becomes youth well, but not age: so Tully saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque idem decebat. The third is, of such as take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold; as was Scipio Africanus; of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant.

OF STUDIES.

STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use, for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For, expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots, and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them: for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made

of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else, distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores: nay, there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting, for the lungs and breast; gentle walking, for the stomach; riding, for the head, and the like. So, if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematies; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again: if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the school-men, for they are cumini sectores, If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases; so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

Sir Henry Wotton.

(FROM IZAAK WALTON.)

RETIREMENT FROM PUBLIC LIFE.

HENRICUS WOTTONIUS, Anglo-Cantianus, Thomæ optimi viri filius natu minimus, à Serenissimo Jacobo I. Mag. Britt. Rege, in equestrem titulum adscitus, ejusdemque ter ad Rempublicam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius, semel ad Confœderatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi negotio; bis ad Carolum Emanuel, Sabaudiæ Ducem; semel ad unitos Superioris Germaniæ Principes in Conventu Heilbrunensi; postremò ad Archiducem Leopoldum, Ducem Wittembergensem, Civitates Imperiales, Argentinam, Ulmamque, et ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum Secundum, Legatus Extraordinarius, tandem hoc didicit,

ANIMAS FIERI SAPIENTIORES QUIESCENDO.*

To London he came, the year before King James died; who having, for the reward of his foreign ser

* Henry Wotton, of the county of Kent in England, &c. [then follows the enumeration of his various services as Ambassador of James I.] hath at length learned this,

THAT SOULS BECOME MORE WISE BY BEING QUIET.

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