We take cunning for a sinister, or crooked wisdom; and, certainly,
there is great difference between a cunning man and a wise man, not
only in point of honesty, but in point of ability. There be that can
pack the cards,[261] and yet cannot play well; so there are some that
are good in canvasses and factions, that are otherwise weak men. Again,
it is one thing to understand persons, and another thing to understand
matters; for many are perfect in men’s humors that are not greatly
capable of the real part of business, which is the constitution of one
that hath studied men more than books. Such men are fitter for practice
than for counsel, and they are good but in their own alley. Turn them
to new men, and they have lost their aim; so as the old rule, to know a
fool from a wise man, “Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis,”[262]
doth scarce hold for them; and, because these cunning men are like
haberdashers[263] of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their
shop.
It is a point of cunning to wait upon[264] him with whom you speak with
your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept; for there be many wise men
that have secret hearts and transparent countenances; yet this would be
done with a demure abasing of your eye sometimes, as the Jesuits also
do use.
Another is, that when you have any thing to obtain of present dispatch,
you entertain and amuse the party with whom you deal with some other
discourse, that he be not too much awake to make objections. I knew a
counsellor and secretary that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England,
with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some
discourse of estate,[265] that she might the less mind the bills.
The like surprise may be made by moving things[266] when the party is
in haste, and cannot stay to consider advisedly of that is moved.
If a man would cross a business that he doubts some other would
handsomely and effectually move, let him pretend to wish it well, and
move it himself, in such sort as may foil it.
The breaking off in the midst of that one was about to say, as if he
took himself up, breeds a greater appetite in him with whom you confer
to know more.
And because it works better when any thing seemeth to be gotten from
you by question than if you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait
for a question, by showing another visage and countenance than you are
wont; to the end, to give occasion for the party to ask what the matter
is of the change, as Nehemiah[267] did: “And I had not, before that
time, been sad before the king.”
In things that are tender and unpleasing, it is good to break the ice
by some whose words are of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty
voice to come in as by chance, so that he may be asked the question
upon the other’s speech; as Narcissus did, in relating to Claudius the
marriage[268] of Messalina and Silius.
In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of
cunning to borrow the name of the world; as to say, “The world says,”
or “There is a speech abroad.”
I knew one, that when he wrote a letter, he would put that which was
most material in a postscript, as if it had been a by-matter.
I knew another, that when he came to have speech,[269] he would pass
over that that he intended most; and go forth and come back again, and
speak of it as a thing that he had almost forgot.
Some procure themselves to be surprised at such times as it is like
the party that they work upon will suddenly come upon them, and to be
found with a letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they are not
accustomed, to the end they may be apposed of[270] those things which
of themselves they are desirous to utter.
It is a point of cunning to let fall those words in a man’s own name,
which he would have another man learn and use, and thereupon take
advantage. I knew two that were competitors for the secretary’s place
in Queen Elizabeth’s time, and yet kept good quarter[271] between
themselves, and would confer one with another upon the business; and
the one of them said, that to be a secretary in the declination of a
monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it;[272]
the other straight caught up those words, and discoursed with divers
of his friends, that he had no reason to desire to be secretary in
the declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and
found means it was told the queen, who, hearing of a declination of a
monarchy, took it so ill, as she would never after hear of the other’s
suit.
There is a cunning, which we in England call “the turning of the cat in
the pan;” which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it
as if another had said it to him; and, to say truth, it is not easy,
when such a matter passed between two, to make it appear from which of
them it first moved and began.
It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by
justifying themselves by negatives; as to say, “This I do not;”
as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus: “Se non diversas spes, sed
incolumitatem imperatoris simpliciter spectare.”[273]
Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing
they would insinuate, but they can wrap it into a tale;[274] which
serveth both to keep themselves more in guard, and to make others carry
it with more pleasure.
It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would
have in his own words and propositions; for it makes the other party
stick the less.
It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat
they desire to say; and how far about they will fetch,[275] and how
many other matters they will beat over to come near it. It is a thing
of great patience, but yet of much use.
A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a
man, and lay him open. Like to him, that, having changed his name, and
walking in Paul’s,[276] another suddenly came behind him and called him
by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back.
But these small wares and petty points of cunning are infinite, and it
were a good deed to make a list of them; for that nothing doth more
hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
But certainly, some there are that know the resorts[277] and falls[278]
of business that cannot sink into the main of it;[279] like a house
that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair room.
Therefore you shall see them find out pretty looses[280] in the
conclusion, but are noways able to examine or debate matters; and yet
commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought
wits of direction. Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and
(as we now say) putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their
own proceedings; but Solomon saith: “Prudens advertit ad gressus suos;
stultus divertit ad dolos.”[281]