And so a preacher, in the
invention of matter, election of words, composition of gesture,
look, pronunciation, motion, useth all these faculties at once: and
if we can express this variety together, why should not divers
studies, at divers hours, delight, when the variety is able alone to
refresh and repair us? As, when a man is weary of writing, to read;
and then again of reading, to write. Wherein, howsoever we do many
things, yet are we (in a sort) still fresh to what we begin; we are
recreated with change, as the stomach is with meats. But some will
say this variety breeds confusion, and makes, that either we lose
all, or hold no more than the last. Why do we not then persuade
husbandmen that they should not till land, help it with marl, lime,
and compost? plant hop-gardens, prune trees, look to bee-hives, rear
sheep, and all other cattle at once? It is easier to do many things
and continue, than to do one thing long.
Praecept. element.--It is not the passing through these learnings
that hurts us, but the dwelling and sticking about them. To descend
to those extreme anxieties and foolish cavils of grammarians, is
able to break a wit in pieces, being a work of manifold misery and
vainness, to be elementarii senes.
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