ſake at laſt, that they come off with a whole Skin. And what's the Iſſue now of all this Noiſe in the Concluſion, but the making of the Noiſe-Maker ſtill the more Ridiculous?
Fab. CCCXCVII.
An Ape and a Mountebank.
THere was a Mountebank Trick’d up as Fine as a Lord; a certain Ape, that had a Mind to ſet up for a Beau, ſpies him out, and nothing would ſerve him, but he muſt have a Suit and Dreſs after the ſame Pattern; he preſs'd the Quack ſo hard for't, that at laſt he told him plainly, Upon condition, ſays he, that you ſhall wear a Silver Chain about your Neck, I'll give ye the very Fellow on’t; for you'll be running away with your Livery elſe. Jack agrees to't, and is preſently rigg'd out in his Gold and Silver Lace, with a Feather in's Cap, and as Figures go now a-days, a very pretty Figure he made in the World, I can aſſure ye; though upon Second Thoughts, when the heat of the Vanity was over, he grew Sick of his Bargain; for he found that he had ſold his Liberty for a Fools Coat.
The Moral.
'Tis with us in our Lives, as with the Indians in their Trade, that truck Gold and Pearl, for Beads and Glaſſes. We part with the Bleſſings of Both Worlds for Pleaſures, Court-Favours, and Commiſſions and at laſt, when we have fold our ſelves to our Luſts, we grow Sick, of our Bargain.
REFLEXION.
A Vain Fool can hardly be more Miſerable then the Granting of his own Prayers and Wiſhes would make him. How many Spectacles does every Day afford us, of Apes and Mountebanks in Gay-Coats, that paſs in the World for Philoſophers, and Men of Honour; and it is no wonder for one Fool to value himſelf upon the ſame Vanity, for which he eſteems another. He that Judges of Men and of things by Senſe, Governs himſelf by Senſe too; and he that well conſiders the Practices and Opinions of the Age he lives in, will find, that Folly and Paſſion have more Diſciples then Wiſdom and Vertue. The Feather in a Fools Cap, is a Fools Inclination; nay, it is his Ambition too; for he that meaſures the Character of another Man by his Outſide, ſeldom looks further then the Buſneſs of Dreſs and Appearance in himſelf Beſide, that Ill Examples work more upon us then Good, and that we are Forwarder to imitate the one, then to Emulate the other. This now is the Higheſt Pinch ofInfelicity,
