Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/213

---

---

dence it ſelf does not only Allow, but Preſcribe it; for the Common Comfort and Benefit of Humane Society, and of Mankind; for Life would be no longer Life without it. But the Crime and the Danger lies in the Exceſs, and in the Immoderate Love and Uſe of them. Was not the Apple in Paradiſe Fair to the Eye, and Graceful to the Taſt, and yet there was Death in't. What were the Poets Sirens, but Figures of our Seducers, that Charm us by the Ear, and Tempt us to leap Over-board: That is to ſay by Debauching us into Falſe Doctrines and Opinions, which do but Anſwer, In the One ſide,the Moral of the Songs on the Other. And ſo for the Touch, and the Smell, the Former ‘tis true, has made more Havock in the World, but yet a Man may be Poyſon'd with a Perfume, as well as with a Nauſeous Potion. To Conclude, we have Snakes in our Beds, in our Cups, in our Diſhes, and whoever dips too deep, will find Death in the Pot.

---

Fab. CLXXXI.

A Daw and Pigeons.

A Daw took Particular Notice of the Pigeons in ſuch a Certain Dove-Houſe, that they were very Well Fed, and Provided for: So he Went and Painted himſelf of a Dove-Colour, and took his Commons with the Pigeons. So long as he kept his Own Counfel, he Paſs'd for a Bird of the Same Feather; but it was his Hap once at Unawares, to Cry [KAW,] upon which Diſcovery, they Beat him out of the Houſe, and when he came to his Old Companions again, They’d have None of him neither; ſo that he Loſt himfelf Both Ways by This Diſguiſe.

The MORAL.

He that Trims betwixt Two Intereſts, loſes himſelf with Both, when he comes to be Detected, for being True to Neither.

REFLEXION.

This is to Caution us againſt All Superſluous and Dangerous Deſires. Our Own Lot is Beſt, and by Aiming at what we have Not, and what is Impoſſible to be had, we loſe what we have already. No Man goes out of Himſelf but to his Loſs. Imitation is Servile, let it be Where, How, and What it will. Nature Points out to us which way Every Man’s Talent and Genius lies; and He that keeps to his Own Province, or Biaſs, ſpeeds Beſt. The Painting of the Daw like a Pigeon, did not make him One, neither can any Man do himſelf Right in Another bodies Shape: Beſides, that when he is once Out, 'tis Hard to find his Way Home again. The Hypocrite is never ſo far from being a Good Chriſtian, as when he looks Likeſt One. ’Tis much a Caſe with a Faction in a Government, and a Daw in a Pigeon-Houſe. There's a Fraud driven on, and they Aſſimilate themſelves, as much as may be, to the Intereſt they Propoſe to be the Better for. Theyput