Therefore measure not dispatch, by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. 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. On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. But sometimes it is seen, that the moderator is more troublesome, than the actor.
Iterations are commonly loss of time.
Long and curious speeches, are as fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle, with a long train, is for race. Whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle only be the work of many, and the first and last the work of few. It hath been an opinion, that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are. But howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is so between man and man. It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what prospectives to make superficies to seem body, that hath depth and bulk.