Fable neither; for many People have the Confidence to Plead Merit when Effectually they do us Miſchief.
Fab. CCCCXLII.
A Woman, Cat and Mice.
A Good Woman that was willing to keep her Cheeſes from the Mice, thought to Mend the Matter by getting her a Cat. Now Puſs Anſwer'd the Womans Intent and Expectation, in keeping the Mice from Nibbling the Cheeſes; but ſhe her ſelf at the ſame time devour'd the Mice, Cheefe and all.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
The Prefent State of Things is beſt, unleſs we may be very well Aſſur'd that the Danger of the Remedy is not Greater then that of the Diſeaſe: Nay it ſo falls out many times, that a Thing may be Good for the Diſtemper, and yet Mortal to the Patient: Wherefore Men ſhould never Trouble their Heads about Innovations for ſlight Matters, without a ſtrict Calculation, upon the Profit or Loſs of the Exchange. The Fancy of the Cat and Mice, Points very naturally at the Caſe of Monarchy and Epiſcopacy in the Days of King Charles the Firſt. There were Grievances of all ſorts Complain’d of, and Popular Diſputes Rais'd about Prerogative and Arbitrary Power, in the pretended Favour of Liberty and Property. Every thing was amiſs they cry’d, and nothing would ſerve the Turn but a General Reformation; and what was the Iſſue at laſt, but the Cat that ſhould have Kill’d the Mice, Eat up, as the Fable ſays, Mice, Cheeſe and All.
Fab.
