The Affectation of Powers and Faculties, that are Above us, is not only
Vain and Unprofitable, but Ridiculous; for the Matter, upon Examination,
will not abide the Test. _Your Empyricks_, _Piss-Pot Prophets_,
_Fortune-Tellers_, and _Buffon-Pretenders_ to _State_ and _Government_,
Fall under the Lash of this Moral. And so do All your little Smatterers
in Arts and Sciences of what Kind, or Quality soever: But there goes
more to the Making of a Prophet, then _Nodding_ or _Croaking_. ’Tis not
the _Gown_ and the _Cap_ that makes the _Doctor_; Neither is it the
Supercilious Gravity of Countenances and Forms that presently Dubbs any
Man a Philosopher. Not but that a Fool may Put himself in the Garb,
and so far imitate the Meen, and Motions of a Wise Man, as at first
Blush to Put a Body to a Stand what to Make of him: But upon further
Consideration, the Original is as Easily known from the Copy, as the Ass
in his _borrow’d Skin_ was from the _Lyon_: Or I might have said, as the
_Crow_ here from the _Raven_: Their Ears and their Tongues Betray them.