AFFECTED dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that
can be. It is like that, which the physicians call predigestion, or
hasty digestion; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and
secret seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch, by the times
of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And as in races
it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed; so in
business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much
at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of some, only to come off
speedily for the time; or to contrive some false periods of business,
because they may seem men of dispatch. 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. I knew a wise man that had it for a
byword, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, Stay a little, that we
may make an end the sooner.
On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For time is the
measure of business, as money is of wares; and business is bought at
a dear hand, where there is small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards
have been noted to be of small dispatch; Mi venga la muerte de Spagna;
Let my death come from Spain; for then it will be sure to be long in
coming.
Give good hearing to those, that give the first information in business;
and rather direct them in the beginning, than interrupt them in the
continuance of their speeches; for he that is put out of his own order,
will go forward and backward, and be more tedious, while he waits
upon his memory, than he could have been, if he had gone on in his
own course. But sometimes it is seen, that the moderator is more
troublesome, than the actor.
Iterations are commonly loss of time. But there is no such gain of time,
as to iterate often the state of the question; for it chaseth away many
a frivolous speech, as it is coming forth. Long and curious speeches,
are as fit for dispatch, as a robe or mantle, with a long train, is
for race. Prefaces and passages, and excusations, and other speeches of
reference to the person, are great wastes of time; and though they
seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery. Yet beware of being too
material, when there is any impediment or obstruction in men's wills;
for pre-occupation of mind ever requireth preface of speech; like a
fomentation to make the unguent enter.
Above all things, order, and distribution, and singling out of parts, is
the life of dispatch; so as the distribution be not too subtle: for he
that doth not divide, will never enter well into business; and he that
divideth too much, will never come out of it clearly. To choose time, is
to save time; and an unseasonable motion, is but beating the air. There
be three parts of business; the preparation, the debate or examination,
and the perfection. Whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle
only be the work of many, and the first and last the work of few. The
proceeding upon somewhat conceived in writing, doth for the most part
facilitate dispatch: for though it should be wholly rejected, yet that
negative is more pregnant of direction, than an indefinite; as ashes are
more generative than dust.