It is the work of fancy to enlarge, but of judgment to shorten and contract and therefore this must be as far above the other as judgment is a greater and nobler faculty than fancy or imagination.

South contrasts “fancy” (imagination) with “judgment” (discernment) to argue that true intellectual excellence lies not in amplification or ornament but in selection, restraint, and compression. Fancy naturally “enlarges”—it multiplies images and possibilities—whereas judgment “shortens and contracts,” pruning excess to reach what is proportionate, accurate, and persuasive. The hierarchy he asserts reflects a classical rhetorical and moral ideal: disciplined reason should govern inventive wit. Read as advice on writing and thinking, the line praises concision and clarity as marks of higher faculty, suggesting that the ability to omit is more difficult—and more noble—than the ability to add.