let Princes, or States, choose such Servants, as have not this marke; Except they meane their Service should be made but the Accessary. That which maketh the Effect more pernicious, is, that all Proportion is lost. It were disproportion enough, for the Servants Good, to be preferred before the Masters; But yet it is a greater Extreme, when a little Good of the Servant, shall carry Things, against a great Good of the Masters. And yet that is the case of Bad Officers, Treasurers, Ambassadours, Generals, and other False and Corrupt Servants; which set a Bias upon their Bowle, of their owne Petty Ends, and Envies, to the overthrow of their Masters Great and Important Affaires. And for the most part, the Good such Servants receive, is after the Modell of their owne Fortune; But the Hurt they sell for that Good, is after the Modell of their Masters Fortune. And certainly, it is the Nature of Extreme Selfe-Lovers; As they will set an House on Fire, and it were but to roast their Egges: 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 Affaires.

Wisedome for a Mans Selfe, is in many Branches thereof, a depraved Thing. It is the Wisedome of Rats, that will be sure to leave a House, somewhat before it fall. It is the Wisedome of the Fox, that thrusts out the Badger, who digged & made Roome for him. It is the Wisedome of Crocodiles, that shed teares, when they would devoure. But that which is specially

H

to be noted, is, that those, which (as Cicero saies of Pompey) are, Sui Amantes sine Rivali, are many times unfortunate. And whereas they have all their time sacrificed to Themselves, they become in the end themselves Sacrifices to the Inconstancy of Fortune; whose Wings they thought, by their Self-Wisedome, to have Pinnioncd.

XXIIII

Of Innovations

S the Births of Living Creatures, at first,

As are ill shapen: 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, then most that succeed: So the first President (if it be good) is seldome attained by Imitation. For Ill, to Mans Nature, as it stands perverted, hath a Naturall Motion, strongest in Continuance : But Good, as a Forced Motion, strongest at first. Surely every Medicine is an Innovation; And he that will not apply New Remedies, must expect New Evils: For Time is the greatest Innovatour: And if Time, of course, alter Things to the worse, and Wisedome, and Counsell shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the End? It is true, that what is setled by Custome, 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 peece not so well; But though they helpe by their utility, yet they trou

ble, by their Inconformity. Besides, they are like Strangers; more Admired, and lesse Favoured. All this is true, if Time stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round, that a Froward Retention of Custome, is as turbulent a Thing, as an Innovation: And they that Reverence too much Old Times, are but a Scorne to the New. It were good therefore, that Men in their Innovations, would follow the Example of Time it selfe; 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 paires 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 reiected, yet be held for a Suspect: And, as the Scripture saith; That we make a stand upon the Ancient Way, and then looke about us, and discover, what is the straight, and right way, and so to walke in it.

XXV

Of Dispatch

AFFECTED Dispatch, is one of the most

dangerous things to Businesse 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 Businesse. And as in Races, it is not the large Stride, or High Lift, that makes the Speed: So in Businesse, the Keeping close to the matter, and not Taking of it too much at once, procureth Dispatch. It is the Care of Some, onely to come off speedily, for the time; Or to contrive some false Periods of Businesse, because they may seeme Men of Dispatch. But it is one Thing, to Abbreviate by Contracting, Another by Cutting off: And Businesse so handled at severall 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 to a conclusion; Stay a little, that we may make an End the sooner.

anus PaulefT