No Man is to Account any thing a Loss, if he gets Wisdom by the bargain:
Beside, that _Bought Wit is Best_. It is in some Proportion, in the
Business of this World, as it is in that of the Next: In the Cases,
(I mean, of Losses, Miscarriages and Disappointments): We are in Both
Respects the Better for them (Provided they be not Mortal, that is) for
they are Monitory and Instructive. Affliction makes a Man Both Honest
and Wise; for the smart brings him to a sense of his Errour, and the
Experiment to the Knowledge of it. We have I know not how many _Adages_
to back the Reason of This Moral, _Hang a Dog upon a Crab-Tree_ (we say)
_and He’ll never love Verjuyce_. And then we have it again in That Common
saying, _The Burnt Child Dreads the Fire_. ’Tis Wandring Many times,
whether it be in Opinion, or in Travelling, that sets a Man Right in his
Judgment, and brings him into the way. The _Dogs_ running away with the
Flesh, Does as good as bid the _Cook_ look Better to’t Another time.
A _Dog_ and a _Sheep_. See Fable and Moral 29.