There is no
doctrine
will do good where nature is wanting.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
I had not told posterity this but for their ignorance who chose
that circumstance to commend their friend by wherein he most faulted; and
to justify mine own candour, for I loved the man, and do honour his
memory on this side idolatry as much as any. He was, indeed, honest, and
of an open and free nature, had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and
gentle expressions, wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes
it was necessary he should be stopped. "_Sufflaminandus erat_," {47a} as
Augustus said of Haterius. His wit was in his own power; would the rule
of it had been so, too. Many times he fell into those things, could not
escape laughter, as when he said in the person of Caesar, one speaking to
him, "Caesar, thou dost me wrong. " He replied, "Caesar did never wrong but
with just cause;" and such like, which were ridiculous. But he redeemed
his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised
than to be pardoned.
_Ingeniorum discrimina_. --_Not. _ 1. --In the difference of wits I have
observed there are many notes; and it is a little maistry to know them,
to discern what every nature, every disposition will bear; for before we
sow our land we should plough it. There are no fewer forms of minds than
of bodies amongst us. The variety is incredible, and therefore we must
search. 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_.
that circumstance to commend their friend by wherein he most faulted; and
to justify mine own candour, for I loved the man, and do honour his
memory on this side idolatry as much as any. He was, indeed, honest, and
of an open and free nature, had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and
gentle expressions, wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes
it was necessary he should be stopped. "_Sufflaminandus erat_," {47a} as
Augustus said of Haterius. His wit was in his own power; would the rule
of it had been so, too. Many times he fell into those things, could not
escape laughter, as when he said in the person of Caesar, one speaking to
him, "Caesar, thou dost me wrong. " He replied, "Caesar did never wrong but
with just cause;" and such like, which were ridiculous. But he redeemed
his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised
than to be pardoned.
_Ingeniorum discrimina_. --_Not. _ 1. --In the difference of wits I have
observed there are many notes; and it is a little maistry to know them,
to discern what every nature, every disposition will bear; for before we
sow our land we should plough it. There are no fewer forms of minds than
of bodies amongst us. The variety is incredible, and therefore we must
search. 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_.
