140 The Life of William, Duke of Newcastle 



in jest ; for you see that this tree which is blown down by the 

 wind, although it was sound and strong, yet it could not 

 withstand its force ; and now it is down, it must be cut in 

 pieces, and made serviceable for several uses ; whereof some 

 will serve for building, some for paling, some for firing, etc. 

 In the like manner, said he, have I been cut down by the Lady 

 Fortune ; and being not able to resist so powerful a princess, 

 I have been forced to make the best use of my misfortunes, 

 as the chips of my estate. 



LXXXII 



My Lord discoursing one time with some of his friends, of 

 judging of other men's natures, dispositions, and actions ; 

 and some observing that men could not possibly know or 

 judge of them, the events of men's actions falling out often- 

 times contrary to their intentions ; so that where they hit 

 once, they failed twenty times in their judgments : my Lord 

 answered, that his judgment in that point seldom did miss, 

 although he thought it weaker than theirs. The reason is, 

 said he, because I judge most men to be like myself, that is 

 to say, fools ; when as you do judge them all according to 

 yourself, that is, wise men ; and since there are more fools 

 in the world than wise men, I may sooner guess right than 

 you : for though my judgment roves at random, yet it can 

 never miss of errors ; which yours will never do, except you 

 can dive into other men's follies by the length of your own 

 line, and sound their bottom by the weight of your own 

 plummet, for the depth of folly is beyond the line of wisdom. 



Besides, said he, you believe that other men would do as 

 you would have them, or as you would do to them ; wherein 

 you are mistaken, for most men do the contrary. In short, 

 folly is bottomless, and hath no end ; but wisdom hath bounds 

 to all her designs, otherwise she would never compass them : 



LXXXIII 



My Lord discoursing some time with a learned doctor of 

 divinity concerning faith, said, that in his opinion, the wisest 

 way for a man was to have as little faith as he could for this 

 world, and as much as he could for the next world. 



