h as small deliberation as I do ordinarily
speak, without all affectation of big words, fustian phrases, jingling
terms, tropes, strong lines, that like [140]Acesta's arrows caught fire as
they flew, strains of wit, brave heats, elegies, hyperbolical exornations,
elegancies, &c., which many so much affect. I am [141]_aquae potor_, drink
no wine at all, which so much improves our modern wits, a loose, plain,
rude writer, _ficum, voco ficum et ligonem ligonem_ and as free, as loose,
_idem calamo quod in mente_, [142]I call a spade a spade, _animis haec
scribo, non auribus_, I respect matter not words; remembering that of
Cardan, _verba propter res, non res propter verba_: and seeking with
Seneca, _quid scribam, non quemadmodum_, rather _what_ than _how_ to write:
for as Philo thinks, [143]"He that is conversant about matter, neglects
words, and those that excel in this art of speaking, have no profound
learning,"

[144] "Verba nitent phaleris, at nullus verba medullas
Intus habent"------

Besides, it was the observation of that wise Seneca, [145]"when you see a
fellow careful about his words, and neat in his speech, know this for a
certainty, that man's mind is busied about toys, there's no solidity in
him." _Non est ornamentum virile concinnitas_: as he said of a nightingale,
------_vox es, praeterea nihil_, &c. I am therefore in this point a
professed disciple of [146]Apollonius a scholar of Socrates, I neglect
phrases, and labour wholly to inform my reader's understanding, not to
please his ear; 'tis not my study or intent to compose neatly, which an
orator requires, but to express myself readily and plainly as it happens.
So that as a river runs sometimes precipitate and swift, then dull and
slow; now direct, then _per ambages_, now deep, then shallow; now muddy,
then clear; now broad, then narrow; doth my style flow: now serious, then
light; now comical, then satirical; now more elaborate, then remiss, as the
present subject required, or as at that time I was affected. And if thou
vouchsafe to read this treatise, it shall seem no otherwise to thee, than
the way to an ordinary traveller, sometimes fair, sometimes foul; here
champaign, there enclosed; barren, in one place, better soil in another: by
woods, groves, hills, dales, plains, &c. I shall lead thee _per ardua
montium, et lubrica valllum, et roscida cespitum, et [147]glebosa
camporum_, through variety of objects, that which thou shalt like and
surely