A _Woman_ and her _Maids_.
It was the Way of _a Good Housewifely Old Woman_, to call up her _Maids_
every Morning just at the _Cock-Crowing_. The _Wenches_ were loth to
Rise so soon, and so they laid their Heads together, and Kill’d the Poor
_Cock_: for, say they, if it were not for his Waking our _Dame_, she
would not Wake _us_: But when the Good Woman’s Clock was gone, she’d
Mistake the Hour many times, and call ’em up at Midnight: So that instead
of Mending the Matter, they found themselves in a Worse Condition Now
then Before.
The MORAL.
_One Error makes way for another. First, we Complain of small things:
Then we Shift, and instead of Mending the Matter, we find it Worse, till
it comes at last to the Tinker’s Work of_ Stopping One Hole, and Making
Ten.