men in age are acters; and, lastly, good for extern accidents, 40 because authority followeth old men, and favor 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 45 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 50 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 dis- 55 positions which have better grace in youth than in age; such as is a fluent 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 60 can uphold. As was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant.

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 5 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

10 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.

15 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;
Some books are to be tasted,
20 but to weigh and consider.
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
25 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.

30

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; 35 natural philosophy deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric Nay, there is no able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores.

stond 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; 40 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 mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he

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The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Woods or steepy mountains yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A of flowers and a kirtle
cap

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delights each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

WILLIAM SHAKSPERE

Songs from the Plays

(From Two Gentlemen of Verona)

Who is Silvia? what is she,

That all our swains commend her?

Holy, fair, and wise is she;

The heaven such grace did lend her, That she might admired be.