William Penn. (1644–1718). Fruits of Solitude.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Eloquence
137. There is a Truth and Beauty in Rhetorick; but it oftener serves ill Turns than good ones.
138. Elegancy, is a good Meen and Address given to Matter, be it by proper or figurative Speech: Where the Words are apt, and allusions very natural, Certainly it has a moving Grace: But it is too artificial for Simplicity, and oftentimes for Truth. The Danger is, lest it delude the Weak, who in such Cases may mistake the Handmaid for the Mistress, if not Error for Truth.
139. ’T is certain Truth is least indebted to it, because she has least need of it, and least uses it.
140. But it is a reprovable Delicacy in them, that despise Truth in plain Cloths.
141. Such Luxuriants have but false Appetites; like those Gluttons, that by Sawces force them, where they have no Stomach, and Sacrifice to their Pallate, not their Health: Which cannot be without great Vanity, nor That without some Sin.