--Others that in
composition
are nothing but what is rough and
broken.
broken.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
Some are fit to make divines, some poets, some lawyers, some
physicians; some to be sent to the plough, and trades.
There is no doctrine will do good where nature is wanting. Some wits are
swelling and high; others low and still; some hot and fiery; others cold
and dull; one must have a bridle, the other a spur.
_Not. _ 2. --There be some that are forward and bold; and these will do
every little thing easily. I mean that is hard by and next them, which
they will utter unretarded without any shamefastness. These never
perform much, but quickly. They are what they are on the sudden; they
show presently, like grain that, scattered on the top of the ground,
shoots up, but takes no root; has a yellow blade, but the ear empty.
They are wits of good promise at first, but there is an _ingenistitium_;
{49a} they stand still at sixteen, they get no higher.
_Not. _ 3. --You have others that labour only to ostentation; and are ever
more busy about the colours and surface of a work than in the matter and
foundation, for that is hid, the other is seen.
_Not. _ 4.
--Others that in composition are nothing but what is rough and
broken. _Quae per salebras_, _altaque saxa cadunt_. {49b} And if it
would come gently, they trouble it of purpose. They would not have it
run without rubs, as if that style were more strong and manly that struck
the ear with a kind of unevenness. These men err not by chance, but
knowingly and willingly; they are like men that affect a fashion by
themselves; have some singularity in a ruff cloak, or hat-band; or their
beards specially cut to provoke beholders, and set a mark upon
themselves. They would be reprehended while they are looked on. And
this vice, one that is authority with the rest, loving, delivers over to
them to be imitated; so that ofttimes the faults which be fell into the
others seek for. This is the danger, when vice becomes a precedent.
_Not. _ 5. --Others there are that have no composition at all; but a kind of
tuning and rhyming fall in what they write. It runs and slides, and only
makes a sound. Women's poets they are called, as you have women's
tailors.
"They write a verse as smooth, as soft as cream,
In which there is no torrent, nor scarce stream. "
You may sound these wits and find the depth of them with your middle
finger. They are cream-bowl or but puddle-deep.
physicians; some to be sent to the plough, and trades.
There is no doctrine will do good where nature is wanting. Some wits are
swelling and high; others low and still; some hot and fiery; others cold
and dull; one must have a bridle, the other a spur.
_Not. _ 2. --There be some that are forward and bold; and these will do
every little thing easily. I mean that is hard by and next them, which
they will utter unretarded without any shamefastness. These never
perform much, but quickly. They are what they are on the sudden; they
show presently, like grain that, scattered on the top of the ground,
shoots up, but takes no root; has a yellow blade, but the ear empty.
They are wits of good promise at first, but there is an _ingenistitium_;
{49a} they stand still at sixteen, they get no higher.
_Not. _ 3. --You have others that labour only to ostentation; and are ever
more busy about the colours and surface of a work than in the matter and
foundation, for that is hid, the other is seen.
_Not. _ 4.
--Others that in composition are nothing but what is rough and
broken. _Quae per salebras_, _altaque saxa cadunt_. {49b} And if it
would come gently, they trouble it of purpose. They would not have it
run without rubs, as if that style were more strong and manly that struck
the ear with a kind of unevenness. These men err not by chance, but
knowingly and willingly; they are like men that affect a fashion by
themselves; have some singularity in a ruff cloak, or hat-band; or their
beards specially cut to provoke beholders, and set a mark upon
themselves. They would be reprehended while they are looked on. And
this vice, one that is authority with the rest, loving, delivers over to
them to be imitated; so that ofttimes the faults which be fell into the
others seek for. This is the danger, when vice becomes a precedent.
_Not. _ 5. --Others there are that have no composition at all; but a kind of
tuning and rhyming fall in what they write. It runs and slides, and only
makes a sound. Women's poets they are called, as you have women's
tailors.
"They write a verse as smooth, as soft as cream,
In which there is no torrent, nor scarce stream. "
You may sound these wits and find the depth of them with your middle
finger. They are cream-bowl or but puddle-deep.
