So that the sum of all is, ready writing makes not good writing, but
good writing brings on ready writing yet, when we think we have got
the faculty, it is even then good to resist it, as to give a horse a
check sometimes with a bit, which doth not so much stop his course
as stir his mettle. Again, whether a man's genius is best able to
reach thither, it should more and more contend, lift and dilate
itself, as men of low stature raise themselves on their toes, and so
ofttimes get even, if not eminent. Besides, as it is fit for grown
and able writers to stand of themselves, and work with their own
strength, to trust and endeavour by their own faculties, so it is
fit for the beginner and learner to study others and the best. For
the mind and memory are more sharply exercised in comprehending
another man's things than our own; and such as accustom themselves
and are familiar with the best authors shall ever and anon find
somewhat of them in themselves, and in the expression of their
minds, even when they feel it not, be able to utter something like
theirs, which hath an authority above their own. Nay, sometimes it
is the reward of a man's study, the praise of quoting another man
fitly; and though a man be more prone and able for one kind of
writing than another, yet he must exercise all.
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