You are not to
cast a ring for the perfumed terms of the time, as accommodation,
complement, spirit &c., but use them properly in their place, as
others.
3. Vigor--There followeth life and quickness, which is the strength
and sinews, as it were, of your penning by pretty sayings,
similitudes, and conceits; allusions from known history, or other
common-place, such as are in the Courtier, and the second book of
Cicero De Oratore.
4. Discretio.--The last is, respect to discern what fits yourself,
him to whom you write, and that which you handle, which is a quality
fit to conclude the rest, because it doth include all. And that
must proceed from ripeness of judgment, which, as one truly saith,
is gotten by four means, God, nature, diligence, and conversation.
Serve the first well, and the rest will serve you.
De Poetica.--We have spoken sufficiently of oratory, let us now make
a diversion to poetry. Poetry, in the primogeniture, had many
peccant humours, and is made to have more now, through the levity
and inconstancy of men's judgments. Whereas, indeed, it is the most
prevailing eloquence, and of the most exalted caract.
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