44 



A TREATISE 



maketh a man doe it orderly, conftantly, and certainly. 



5. The like may be obfervedin the dayly ufe men make of the 



That the rules i^aximfsof humane action : which are certain knowledges that 



andmaximesoff ormer iy they have gotten, but that they ufually think not of, 



pofot^iyT us whiles they work agreeable to them; yet it fecmeth they work 



though wee by them ; for if their action flaould jarre againft any of thcm,they 



think not of would prefently reflect upon their Maxime, and by it correct 



them. what they were about : for example, one who is skilled in the 



rules of Grammar, or of accenting his fpeech,or hath his eare ufed 



to Mufak^i whiles he heareth true conftruction, or even verfe,or 



confonant long,never reflefteth how it is made ; or at moft doth 



but confider in grofle that it is right : but if a folecifme, or falfe 



quantity ,or difcord intervene, he prefently is a ware, not onely 



that it is amiffc, but remembreth the very particular precife rule, 



againft which the breach is made. 



This at the firft fight might occafion us to imagine, that the 

 rules by which any competition is made,doc worke onely nega- 

 tively in us, whiles we are bufie about it : that is, that they con- 

 tribute nothing to the making of the thing, but oncly hinder us 

 from committing errors : but if we confider the matter well, we 

 {hall find it irnpoflible,but that they fhould work even pofitive- 

 }y in us ; for we know that when we firft learne any of thefe 

 things,we look indwftrioufly for fuch a gender,ornumber,or cafe, 

 or tenfe, for luch a foot or quantity, fuch a note, or confonance ; 

 and we are fure, that ufe and practice of the fame thing, doth not 

 change, bat onely facilitate the worke : therefore it folio weth of 

 neceflity, that weftillufe thofe very inftructions, by which at 

 the firft we could but (lowly creepe, but now manage them with 

 fuch celerity, as our fancie cannot keep pace with what we do. 

 And this is the reafon why wt do not perceive that we think of 

 them,butmay peradventureat the fame time think of a quite dif- 

 ferent matter ; as when a Mufitian playeth voluntary divifion up- 

 on a giound he never faw before, and yet hath all the while fome 

 other thought in his head - y or when a Painter dra weth a picture^ 

 and all the while difcourfeth with a by-ftandcr. 



This truth may be convinced by another argument: as thus; 

 it cannot be doubted, but that a verfc or fong is made by the 

 p0Bwef taking fuch compositions: but that power is the art of 

 them ; and that art is nothing elfe but the rules whereby they are 



made: 



