This Fable shews us, that Delicate and Squeamish Humours in the Matters
of Meats and Drinks, are Freak, and Phansy, rather then upon any Account
of Nature, or Reason. (Some Few Insuperable Aversions only Excepted)
There is a Pride, and an Affectation of Singularity, that is never to
be pleas’d with any thing that’s Cheap and Common; and there’s also a
Sensual Intemperance for the Gratifying of the Palate; but _Necessity,
and No Choice_ cures either of These Evils. The _Priest_ did Ill in
Vilifying These _Pears_; for All the Fruits of the Earth are the Gifts of
Providence, which we ought to have a Reverence for: And he did Foolishly
too in not Considering, that he Himself might come to stand in Need of
them. But he was forc’d, in the Conclusion, to Eat That Himself, which
he had made Unfit for any body else, and there was his Punishment. A
Squeamish Fastidious Niceness in Meats and Drinks, must be Cur’d as we
Cure Agues, by Starving.