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MAXIME CCXCVIII.
The ready Wit, the profound Judgment, and the quaint Discerning.
These three things make a Prodigy, and are the greatest gift of Divine boun∣ty. It is a great advantage to conceive well, a greater to reason well, and above all to have a good understanding. Wit ought not to be in the back-bone, which would render it more painfull than sharp. To think well is the fruit of being ratio∣nal. At twenty years of age the Will reigns; at thirty the Wit; at fourty, the Judgment. There are Wits, which, like the eyes of the Lynx, of themselves send forth light, and are most intelligent, when the obscurity is greatest. There are o∣thers, who are extemporary, and hit al∣ways upon that which is pattest to the purpose. They are always ready furni∣shed, and with what is good too. A most happy fecundity. But a discerning judg∣ment seasons the whole life.