than state, unless this add the greater
state to them, that they promise to outlast much of our new fantastical
buildings. His heart never grows old, no more than his memory, whether
at his book or on horseback. He passeth his time in such noble exercise,
a man cannot say any time is lost by him; nor hath he only years to
approve he hath lived till he be old, but virtues. His thoughts have a
high aim, though their dwelling be in the vale of an humble heart,
whence, as by an engine (that raises water to fall that it may rise the
higher), he is heightened in his humility. The adamant serves not for
all seas, but this doth; for he hath, as it were, put a gird about the
whole world and found all her quicksands. He hath this hand over
fortune, that her injuries, how violent or sudden soever, they do not
daunt him; for whether his time call him to live or die, he can do both
nobly; if to fall, his descent is breast to breast with virtue; and even
then, like the sun near his set, he shows unto the world his clearest
countenance.

AN INTRUDER INTO FAVOUR

Is one that builds his reputation on others' infamy, for slander is most
commonly his morning prayer. His passions are guided by pride and
followed by injustice. An inflexible anger against some poor tutor he
falsely calls a courageous constancy, and thinks the best part of
gravity to consist in a ruffled forehead. He is the most slavishly
submissive, though envious to those that are in better place than
himself; and knows the art of words so well that (for shrouding
dishonesty under a fair pretext) he seems to preserve mud in crystal.
Like a man of a kind nature, he is the first good to himself, in the
next file to his French tailor, that gives him all his perfection; for
indeed, like an estridge, or bird of paradise, his feathers are more
worth than his body. If ever he do good deed (which is very seldom) his
own mouth is the chronicle of it, lest it should die forgotten. His
whole body goes all upon screws, and his face is the vice that moves
them. If his patron be given to music, he opens his chops and sings, or
with a wry neck falls to tuning his instrument; if that fail, he takes
the height of his lord with a hawking pole. He follows the man's
fortune, not the man, seeking thereby to increase his own. He pretends
he is most undeservedly envied, and cries out, remembering the game,
chess, that a pawn before a king is most played on. Debts he owns none
but shrewd tu