to folly, that they will not at all listen to the courtship of
a wise suitor. Finally, wherever there is any preparation made for mirth
and jollity, all wise men are sure to be excluded the company, lest they
should stint the joy, and damp the frolic In a word, to what side soever
we turn ourselves, to popes, princes, judges, magistrates, friends,
enemies, rich or poor, all their concerns are managed by money, which
because it is undervalued by wise men, therefore, in revenge to be sure,
it never comes at them.

But now, though my praise and commendation might well be endless, yet it
is requisite I should put some period to my speech. I'll therefore
draw toward an end, when I have first confirmed what I have said by
the authority of several authors. Which by way of farther proof I shall
insist upon, partly, that I may not be thought to have said more in my
own behalf than what will be justified by others; and partly, that the
lawyers may not check me for citing no precedents nor allegations. To
imitate them therefore I will produce some reports and authorities,
though perhaps like theirs too, they are nothing to the purpose.

First then, it is confessed almost to a proverb, that the art of
dissembling is a very necessary accomplishment; and therefore it is a
common verse among school-boys:--

To feign the fool when fit occasions rise,
Argues the being more completely wise.

It is easy therefore to collect how great a value ought to be put upon
real folly, when the very shadow, and bare imitation of it, is so much
esteemed. Horace, who in his episdes thus styles himself:--

My sleek-skinn'd corpse as smooth as if I lie
'Mong th' fatted swine of Epicurus's sty.

This poet (I say) gives this advice in one of his odes:--

Short Folly with your counsels mix.

[Illustration: Short 340]

The epithet of short, it is true, is a little improper. The same poet
again has this passage elsewhere:--

Well-timed Folly has a sweet relish.

And in another place:--

I'd rather much be censured for a fool,
Than feel the lash and smart of wisdom' s school.

Homer praises Telemachus as much as any one of his heroes, and yet he
gives him the epithet of Nuttios, _Silly_: and the Grecians generally
use the same word to express children, as a token of their innocence.
And what is the argument of all Homer's Iliads, but only, as Horace
observes:--

They kings and subjects dotages cont