A OF YOUTH AND AGE 1 MAN that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and as it were more divinely. Natures that have much heat, and great and violent desires and perturbations, are not ripe for action, till they have passed the meridian of their years: as it was with Julius Cæsar and Septimius Severus. Of the latter of whom it is said, "Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus, plenam." And yet he was the ablest emperor almost of all the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth: as it is seen in Augustus Cæsar, Cosmos, Duke of Florence, Gaston de Fois, and others. On the other side, heat and vivacity in age are an excellent composition for business. Young men are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and fitter for new projects than for settled business. For the experience of age, in things that fall within the compass of it, directeth them; but in new things abuseth them. The errors of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles, which they have chanced upon, absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them: like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, ad1"His youth was full of errors, yea, of evil passions."-Spartian, "Vit. Sev." venture too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period; but content themselves with the mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to compound employments of both; for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of either age may correct the defects of both: and good for succession, that young men may be learners, while men in age are actors: and lastly, good for extern accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favor and popularity youth. But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin 2 upon the text "Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams," inferreth that young men are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream. And certainly the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections. There be some have an over-early ripeness in their years, which fadeth betimes: these are first, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned; such as was Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding subtle, who afterwards waxed stupid. A second sort is of those that have some natural dispositions, which have better grace in youth than in age: such as is a fluent and luxuriant speech; which becomes youth well, but not age. So Tully saith of Hortensius, "Idem manebat, neque idem decebat." 3 The third is, of such as take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous, more than tract of years can uphold. As was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, "Ultima primis cedebant." 2 Abrabanel, in his "Commentary on Joel." He remained the same; but the same things no longer became him." -Cicero, Brut." 95. "The latter end was worse than the beginning."-Livy, xxxviii. 53. ROBERT BURTON 1576--1640 Robert Burton was an English divine, a native of Lindley in Leicestershire. He studied at Oxford University, and became rector of Segrave. Born in 1576, he died in 1640. His claim to rank as an essayist rests on that wonderful book, the "Anatomy of Melancholy," written by way of alleviating his own melancholy. With Dr. Johnson this volume was a great favorite, so much so that he would turn earlier out of bed to read it. Two chapters, which give a fair idea of the style of the book, are given in a detached essay form. The Anatomy of Melancholy is in fact, though not in name, a collection of essays about everything that ever entered the author's far-ranging and richly furnished mind. Burton was a good mathematician and classical scholar, an omnivorous reader, and a merry companion. His book, written, he says, by way of alleviation to his own melancholy, is an immense compilation of quotations on all manner of topics from an infinite variety of sources, familiar and out of the common track. It is described by Archbishop Herring as "the pleasantest, the most learned, and the most full of sterling sense." The archbishop adds that the wits of the reigns of Anne and the first George were deeply indebted to Burton; and we may venture to say that the "wits" of the succeeding reigns have been no less so. |