I read of a philosopher (whose deeds upon this occasion I remember better than his name) who always, when he was required to give an answer in any hard question of school points, would rehearse over his alphabet before he would proceed to any further answer therein, not for that he could not presently have answered, but have his wits the riper and better sharpened to answer the matter withal.

– Elizabeth I

A tactic she pulled from Augustus Caesar.

From Replies to Parliamentary Petitions, January 28, 1563.