en they know within
themselves, they speak of that they do not well know, would nevertheless
seem to others, to know of that which they may not well speak. Some
help themselves with countenance and gesture, and are wise by signs; as
Cicero saith of Piso, that when he answered him, he fetched one of
his brows up to his forehead, and bent the other down to his chin;
Respondes, altero ad frontem sublato, altero ad mentum depresso
supercilio, crudelitatem tibi non placere. Some think to bear it by
speaking a great word, and being peremptory; and go on, and take by
admittance, that which they cannot make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond
their reach, will seem to despise, or make light of it, as impertinent
or curious; and so would have their ignorance seem judgment. Some are
never without a difference, and commonly by amusing men with a subtilty,
blanch the matter; of whom A. Gellius saith, Hominem delirum, qui
verborum minutiis rerum frangit pondera. Of which kind also, Plato,
in his Protagoras, bringeth in Prodius in scorn, and maketh him make a
speech, that consisteth of distinction from the beginning to the end.
Generally, such men in all deliberations find ease to be of the negative
side, and affect a credit to object and foretell difficulties; for
when propositions are denied, there is an end of them; but if they be
allowed, it requireth a new work; which false point of wisdom is the
bane of business. To conclude, there is no decaying merchant, or inward
beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth, as
these empty persons have, to maintain the credit of their sufficiency.
Seeming wise men may make shift to get opinion; but let no man choose
them for employment; for certainly you were better take for business, a
man somewhat absurd, than over-formal.

Of Friendship

IT HAD been hard for him that spake it to have put more truth and
untruth together in few words, than in that speech, Whatsoever is
delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god. For it is most
true, that a natural and secret hatred, and aversation towards society,
in any man, hath somewhat of the savage beast; but it is most untrue,
that it should have any character at all, of the divine nature; except
it proceed, not out of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a love and
desire to sequester a man's self, for a higher conversation: such as
is found to have been falsely and feignedly in some of the heathen; as
Epimenides