If a man would cross a business, that he doubts some other would handsomely and effectually move, let him pretend to wish it well, and move it himself in such sort as may foil it.

The breaking off in the midst of that one was about to say, as if he took himself up, breeds a greater appetite in him with whom you confer to know more.

And because it works better when anything seemeth to be gotten from you by question than if you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait for a question by showing another visage and countenance than you are wont, to the end to give occasion for the party to ask what the matter is of the change? As Nehemias did: And I had not before that time been sad before the king.1

In things that are tender and unpleasing, it is good to break the ice by some whose words are of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty voice to come in as by chance, so that he may be asked the question upon the other's speech; as Narcissus did, in relating to Claudius the marriage of Messalina and Silius.2

In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world, as to say, The world says, or There is a speech abroad.

I knew one that when he wrote a letter he would put that which was most material in the postscript, as if it had been a by-matter.

I knew another, that when he came to have speech he would pass over that that he intended most, and go forth, and come back again, and speak of it as of a thing that he had almost forgot.

Some procure themselves to be surprised at such times as it is like the party that they work upon will 1 Nehem, ii, 1.

2 TACITUS, Annals, xi, 29-30.

suddenly come upon them, and to be found with a letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they are not accustomed, to the end they may be apposed of those things which of themselves they are desirous to utter.

It is a point of cunning to let fall those words in a man's own name which he would have another man learn and use, and thereupon take advantage. I knew two that were competitors for the Secretary's place in Queen Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quarter between themselves, and would confer one with another upon the business; and the one of them said, that to be a secretary in the declination of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it; the other straight caught up those words, and discoursed with divers of his friends that he had no reason to desire to be Secretary in the declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and found means it was told the queen, who hearing of a declination of a monarchy, took it so ill as she would never after hear of the other's suit.

There is a cunning which we in England call the turning of the cat in the pan; which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it as if another had said it to him. And to say truth, it is not easy when such a matter passed between two to make it appear from which of them it first moved and began.

It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by justifying themselves by negatives, as to say: This I do not; as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus, Se non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem imperatoris simpliciter spectare.1

Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate but they can wrap

1 That he had not several hopes to rest on but looked simply to the safety of the emperor.-TACITUS, Annals, XIV, 57.

it into a tale, which serveth both to keep themselves more in guard, and to make others carry it with more pleasure.

It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions; for it makes the other party stick the less.

It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat they desire to say, and how far about they will fetch, and how many other matters they will beat over to come near it. It is a thing of great patience, but yet of much use.

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open. Like to him that having changed his name, and walking in Paul's, another suddenly came behind him, and called him by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back.

But these small wares and petty points of cunning are infinite. And it were a good deed to make a list of them; for that nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

But certainly some there are that know the resorts and falls of business, that cannot sink into the main of it; like a house that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair room. Therefore, you shall see them find out pretty looses in the conclusion, but are no ways able to examine or debate matters. And yet commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought wits of direction. Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and, as we now say, putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their own proceedings. But Salomon saith, Prudens advertit ad gressus suos: stultus divertit ad dolos.1

1 The wise man taketh heed to his steps, the fool turneth aside to deceits.-Proverbs, XIV, 15.

OF SEEMING WISE

2

IT hath been an opinion that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are; but howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is so between man and man. For, as the Apostle saith of godliness, Having a show of godliness, but denying the power thereof; so certainly there are, in point of wisdom and sufficiency, that do nothing or little very solemnly: magno conatu nugas. It is a ridiculous thing and fit for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what prospectives to make superficies to seem body that hath depth and bulk. Some are so close and reserved as they will not show their wares but by a dark light, and seem always to keep back somewhat; and when they know within themselves they speak of that they do not well know, would nevertheless seem to others to know of that which they may not well speak. Some help themselves with countenance and gesture, and are wise by signs; as Cicero saith of Piso, that, when he answered him, he fetched one of his brows up to his forehead and bent the other down to his chin: Respondes, altero ad frontem sublato, altero ad mentum depresso supercilio; crudelitatem tibi non placere. Some think to bear it by speaking a great word and being peremptory, and go on and take by admittance that which they cannot make good; some, whatsoever is beyond their reach, will seem to despise or make light of it as impertinent or curious, and so would have their ignorance seem judgment. Some are never without a difference, and commonly, by amusing men with a subtlety, blanch the matter; of whom A. Gellius saith: Hominem delirum, qui verborum minutiis 12 Timothy, iii, 5.

3

2 TERENCE, Heautontim., III, 621.

The remark was, that he did not approve cruelty.—Against Piso, 6

rerum frangit pondera.1 Of which kind also Plato in his Protagoras bringeth in Prodicus in scorn, and maketh him make a speech that consisteth of distinctions from the beginning to the end. Generally such men in all deliberations find ease to be of the negative side, and affect a credit to object and foretell difficulties; for when propositions are denied there is an end of them, but, if they be allowed, it requireth a new work; which false point of wisdom is the bane of business. To conclude, there is no decaying merchant or inward beggar hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth as these empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming wise men may make shift to get opinion, but let no man choose them for employment; for certainly you were better take for business a man somewhat absurd than over-formal.

OF FRIENDSHIP

IT had been hard for him that spake it to have put more truth and untruth together in a few words than in that speech, Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.2 For it is most true that a natural and secret hatred and aversation towards society in any man hath somewhat of the savage beast; but it is most untrue that it should have any character at all of the divine nature, except it proceed not, out of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation; such as is found to have been falsely and feignedly in some of the heathen, as Epimenides the Candian, Numa the Roman, Empedocles the Sicilian, and Apollonius of

1

A trifler, that with verbal points and niceties breaks up the mass of matter.-QUINTILIAN, X, 1.

2 ARISTOTLE, Politics, I, 1.