’Tis No New Thing in the World to Return Evil for Good. Nay, there
are some Natures so Soure, and so Ungrateful, that they are never to
be Oblig’d. All _Kites_ of this Humour do not wear Feathers: Neither
do All such _Mice_ wear Long Tails. There are Cases, wherein our Very
Tenderness, and Charity, becomes a Snare to us; and there are People
too, that fancy No Blood so sweet, as That of the Person to whom they
stand Indebted for their Lives and Fortunes: But then if One Man should
Cease to be Generous, and Charitable, because Another Man is Sordid,
and Ungrateful; It would be much in the Power of the Basest of Vices
to Extinguish the most Christian, and Humane of Vertues. These Lewd
Examples May however, and Ought to Recommend Prudence and Caution to us;
but without Killing, or Quenching Good Nature. There are, ’tis true,
some People so Harden’d in Wickedness, as to have No Sense at all of the
most Friendly Offices, or the Highest Benefits. Now in these Desperate
Cases, a Man is little Better then _Felo-de-se_, that for the Helping of
Another, Ventures the Undoing of Himself. Nay, and ’tis somewhat more
then a Venture too, when a _Mouse_ lays it self at the Mercy of a _Kite_.