This is to Caution us against All Superfluous and Dangerous Desires.
Our Own Lot is Best, and by Aiming at what we have Not, and what is
Impossible to be had, we lose what we have already. No Man goes out of
Himself but to his Loss. Imitation is Servile, let it be Where, How, and
What it will. Nature Points out to us which way Every Man’s Talent, and
Genius lies; and He that keeps to his Own Province, or Biass, speeds
Best. The Painting of the _Daw_ like a _Pigeon_, did not make him One,
neither can any Man do himself Right in Another Bodies Shape: Besides,
that when he is once out, ’tis Hard to find his Way Home again. The
Hypocrite is never so far from being a Good Christian, as when he looks
Likest One. ’Tis much a Case with a Faction in a Government, and a _Daw_
in a _Pigeon-House_. There’s a Fraud driven on, and they Assimilate
themselves, as much as may be, to the Interest they Propose to be the
Better for. They put on all Appearances in Matter of Opinion, Practice,
and Pretence, Suitable to the Humour they are to Joyn withal: But still
Some Unlucky Accident or Other happens to Discover them in the End; and
then, when they would go off again, the People of their Own Plume and
Colour Beat ’em away, and Refuse to Entertain them. This is no more then
what we find to be True in All Turns of State. Double-Dealers may Pass
Muster for a While, but All Parties Wash their Hands of them in the
Conclusion.