60 BACON'S ESSAYS 



not rejected, yet be held for a suspect ; and, as the Scrip- 

 ture saith, c that we make a stand upon the ancient way, 

 and then look about us, and discover what is the straight 

 and right way, and so to walk in it.' 



XXV 

 OF DISPATCH 



AFFECTED dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to 

 business that can be. It is like that which the physicians 

 call predigestion, or hasty digestion ; which is sure to fill 

 the body full of crudities and secret seeds of diseases. 

 Therefore measure not dispatch by the times of sitting, 

 but by the advancement of the business. And as in races 

 it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed ; 

 so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not 

 taking of it too much at once, procureth dispatch. It is 

 the care of some only to come off speedily for the time ; 

 or to contrive some false periods of business, because they 

 may seem men of dispatch. But it is one thing to abbre- 

 viate by contracting, another by cutting off. And business 

 so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth commonly 

 backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a 

 wise man that had it for a by-word, when he saw men 

 hasten to a conclusion, 'Stay a little, that we may make an 

 end the sooner/ 



On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For 

 time is the measure of business, as money is of wares ; and 

 business is bought at a dear hand where there is small 

 dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to 

 be of small dispatch ; Mi venga la muerts de Spagna ; ' Let 

 my death come from Spain'; for then it will be sure to be 

 long in coming. 



Give good hearing to those that give the first informa- 

 tion in business ; and rather direct them in the beginning, 

 than interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches ; 

 for he that is put out of his own order will go forward and 



