REFLEXION.
THIS is the Caſe of Many People in the World, that ſpend their Time in Good Offices for Others, to the Utter Ruine of Themſelves: And there’s No Better to be Expected from a Wicked Age, and an Ill Natur'd People. They that want Foreſight, ſhould do well to Hearken to Good Council. He that thinks to Oblige Hard-Hearted People by an Officious Tenderneſs, and to fare the Better Himſelf for putting it into Their Power to Hurt him, will find only ſo much Time, Pains, and Good-Will, utterly caſt away, at the Foot of his Account. 'Tis Good however, to Hope, and to Preſume the Beſt, provided that a Man be Prepar'd for the Worſt: Not forgetting the Old Proverb, That many a Man brings up a Bird to Peck out his Own Eyes. The Miſtake lies in This, that the Charity begins Abroad that Ought to begin at Home. They that cannot ſee into the End of Things, may well be at a Loſs in the Reaſon of them; and a Well-Meaning Piety is the Deſtruction of many an Honeſt Man, that fits Innocently Brooding upon the Political Projects of Other People, tho’ with the Heart all the While, of a Patriot, and a True Friend to the Publique. Tell him the Conſequences of Matters, and that he is now Hatching of Serpents, not of Chickens: A Miſguided Zeal makes him Deaf and Blind to the True State, and Iſſue of Things. He fits his Time out, and what's the End on't; but the Plot Naturally Diſcloſes it ſelf in a Common Ruine? It is a Great Infelicity to make a Wrong Choice of a Friend: But when Men are Adyertis’d of the Danger beforehand, it is as Great a Fault if they will take No Warning. The Hen was told on't, but the Swallow had the Fate, as well as the Gift of Caſſadra; to ſpeak Truth, and not to be believ’d: Which has been the Misfortune of many an Honeſt Man in All Times, and particularly in the very Age we live in.
Fab. CXCVI.
A Pigeon and a Picture.
A Pigeon ſaw the Picture of a Glaſs with Water in’t, and taking it to be Water indeed, flew Raſhly and Eagerly up to’t, for a Soup to Quench her Thirſt. She broke her Feathers againſt the Frame of the Picture, and falling to the Ground upon’t, was taken up by the By-Standers.
The MORAL.
Raſh Men do many things in Haſt that they Repent of at Leiſure.
RE-
