XXVI. SHARE AND SHARE-LIKE.

CHESHIRE hath formerly been called chief of men. Indeed, no county in England of the same greatness, or (if you will rather) of the same littleness, can produce so many families of ancient gentry.

Now let it break the stomachs, but not the hearts, abate the pride, not destroy the courage, of the inhabitants of this shire, that they miscarried in their late undertakings, not so much by any defect in them as default in others.

If ten men together be to lift a log, all must jointly συνάντιλαμβάνειν, that is, heave up their parts (or rather their counterparts) together.

But if nine of them fail, it is not only uncivil, but unjust that one man should be expected to be a giant to do ten men’s work.

Cheshire is Cheshire (and so I hope will ever be), but it is not all England; and valour itself may be pressed down to death under the weight of multitude.

The Lord Bacon would have rewards given to those men who, in the quest of natural experiments, make probable mistakes,³⁶³⁶In his Advancement of Learning. both because they are industrious therein, and because their aberrations may prove instructions to others after them; and to speak plainly, an ingenious miss is of more credit than a bungling casual hit.

On the same account let Cheshire have a reward of honour, the whole kingdom faring the better for this county’s faring the worse.