Ill Dispositions may be Suppress’d, or Dissembled for a while, but Nature
is very hardly to be Alter’d, either by Councell, or by Education. It
may do well enough, for Curiosity, and Experiment, to try how far Ill
Natur’d Men and Other Creatures may be Wrought upon by Fair Usage, and
Good Breeding; But the Inclination and Cruelty of the _Damm_ will never
out of the _Whelp_. It may Suspend peradventure, or intermit, for want
of Occasion to shew it self: but Nature is like _Mercury_, there’s No
Killing it Quite. The _Wolfe_ in the _House_ has a Kindness still for the
_Wolves_ in the _Woods_, and continues in the Interest of the same Common
Enemy. _Cat will to Kind_, as they say, and Wicked Men will be True to
their Principles, how False soever to their Masters.
We may read in the Moral of This Fable, the common Practice of the World,
and a Doctrine that we find Every day Verify’d, as well in Men, as in
Beasts; for there are _Wolfe-Whelps_ in _Palaces_, and _Governments_,
as well as in _Cotages_, and _Forrests_. Do we not find in History, and
Experience, Instances in abundance, even of Publick Ministers Themselves,
that though taken up out of the very Herds of the Common Enemy; Admitted
into Special Trusts; Fed by the Hand, and Treated with the Grace and
Character of Particular Favourites, have their Hearts in the _Woods_,
yet all this while among their Fellows. So that there’s No Reclaiming of
them. They go out however, as there is Occasion, and Hunt and Growle for
Company; but at the same time, they give the Sign out of their Master’s
Hand, hold Intelligence with the Enemy; and make use of their Power and
Credit to Worry Honester Men then Themselves. It wants Nothing after
This, but that they may live to have their Due; and with the _Dog_ here
in the Fable, go to Heaven in a String, according to the True Intent of
the Allegory.