_Mercury_ and a _Statuary_.
Mercury had a Great Mind once to Learn what Credit he had in the World,
and he knew no Better Way, then to Put on the Shape of a Man, and take
Occasion to Discourse the Matter as by the By, with a _Statuary_: So
away he went to the House of a Great Master, where, among Other Curious
Figures, he saw several Excellent Pieces of the Gods. The first he
Cheapen’d was a _Jupiter_, which would have come at a very Easie Rate.
Well (says _Mercury_) and what’s the Price of that _Juno_ there? The
_Carver_ set That a little Higher. The next Figure was a _Mercury_, with
his Rod and his Wings, and all the Ensigns of his Commission. Why, This
is as it should be, says he, to Himself: For here am I in the Quality
of _Jupiter_’s Messenger, and the Patron of Artizans, with all my Trade
about me: And now will this Fellow ask me Fifteen Times as much for This
as he did for T’other: And so he put it to him, what he Valu’d that Piece
at: Why truly, says the _Statuary_, you seem to be a Civil Gentleman,
give me but my Price for the Other Two, and you shall e’en have That into
the Bargain.
The MORAL.
_This is to put the Vanity of Those Men out of Countenance, that by
Setting too High a Value upon Themselves, appear by so much the more
Despicable to Others._