A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the…A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the…

The next kind of Active Operations were those of Wit. The use whereof is so much the more Excellent, by how much the Wrestings and ⟨p. 514⟩Abuse of it is the more dangerous▪ I shall sufficiently declare the worth of it, by showing what it is: For I take not Wit in that common Acceptation, whereby men understand some sudden flashes of Conceit, whether in Stile or Conference, which like •otten wood in the dark, have more Shine than Substance; whose Use and Ornament are like themselves Swift and Vanishing; at once both Admired and Forgotten: but I understand a settled, constant, habitual sufficiency of the Understanding, whereby it is enabled in any kind of Learning, Theory, or Practise, both to sharpness in Search, subtlety in Expression, and dispatch in Execution. As for that other kind seen in Panegyrics, Declamatory Discourses, Epigrams, and other the like sudden issues of the brain, they are feats only and sleights, not Duties and Ministries of the Wit, which serve rather for Ostentation than Use: and are only the Remission of the Mind and Unbending of the thoughts from more severe Knowledge: as walking for recreation is rather Exercise than Travel, although by the violence of the motion, or length of the way there may ensue Sweat and Weariness.

The next kind of Active Operations were those of Wit. The use whereof is so much the more Excellent, by how much the Wrestings and ⟨p. 514⟩Abuse of it is the more dangerous▪ I shall sufficiently declare the worth of it, by shewing what it is: For I take not Wit in that common Acceptation, whereby men understand some sudden flashes of Conceipt, whether in Stile or Conference, which like •otten wood in the darke, have more Shine than Substance; whose Vse and Ornament are like themselves Swift and Vanishing; at once both Admired and Forgotten: but I understand a setled, constant, habituall sufficiency of the Vnderstanding, whereby it is inabled in any kinde of Learning, Theory, or Practise, both to sharpnes in Search, subtilty in Expression, and dispatch in Execution. As for that other kinde seen in Panegyricks, Declamatory Discourses, Epigrams, and other the like sudden issues of the braine, they are feats only and sleights, not Duties and Ministeries of the Wit, which serve rather for Ostentation than Vse: and are onely the Remission of the Mind and Vnbending of the thoughts from more severe Knowledge: as walking for recreation is rather Exercise than Travell, although by the violence of the motion, or length of the way there may ensue Sweat and Wearinesse.