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Essay XXV: Of Dispatch
Essay XXV: Of Dispatch
Affected ^1 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 ^2 of business, because they may seem men of dispatch. But it is
one thing to abbreviate 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.
[Footnote 1: Excessively desired.]
[Footnote 2: Only apparently finished.]
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. phe Spartans and Spaniards have been noted
to be of small dispatch; Mi venga la muerte 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 information 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 backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, than
he could have been if he had gone on in his own course. But sometimes it is
seen that the moderator is more troublesome than the actor.
Iterations are commonly loss of time. But there is no such gain of time
as to iterate often the state of the question; for it chaseth away many a
frivolous speech as it is coming forth. Long and curious ^3 speeches are as
fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle with a long train is for race. Prefaces
and passages, ^4 and excusations, and other speeches of reference to the
person, are great wastes of time; and though they seem to proceed of modesty,
they are bravery. ^5 Yet beware of being too material ^6 when there is an
impediment or obstruction in men`s wills; for pre-occupation of mind ever
requireth preface of speech; like a fomentation to make the unguent enter.
[Footnote 3: Elaborate.]
[Footnote 4: Transitions.]
[Footnote 5: Showing off.]
[Footnote 6: Coming too soon to the point.]
Above all things, order, and distribution, and singling out of parts, is
the life of dispatch; so as the distribution be not too subtle: for he that
doth not divide will never enter well into business; and he that divideth too
much will never come out of it clearly. To choose time is to save time; and
an unseasonable motion is but beating the air. There be three parts of
business; the preparation, the debate or examination, and the perfection.
Whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle only be the work of many,
and the first and last the work of few. The proceeding upon somewhat
conceived in writing doth for the most part facilitate dispatch: for though
it should be wholly rejected, yet that negative is more pregnant of direction
than an indefinite; as ashes are more generative than dust.
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