There are _Political Sheep-biters_ as well as _Pastoral_; _Betrayers of
Publick Trusts_, as well as of _Private_; And _Humane Curs_ that are as
_Wolvish_ as the _Other_. This Maxim however, holds in All Cases; that
Breach of Faith and Trust, is the most Odious, Inhospitable and Inhumane,
of Civil, as well as of Moral Offences. A special Confidence in One more
then in Another, though from a King to a Subject, or from a Master to a
Servant, has some Analogy in’t of Friendship, but the Matter should be
thoroughly Weigh’d and Examin’d, before we put it to the Utmost Tryal and
Test. A Man may be too Hard or too Easy; too Advent’rous or too Wary, in
passing a Judgment upon the Character of the Person: But above all things
it will concern us perfectly to Understand the Honour, the Practice, and
the Conversation of the Man we Propose for a Friend, before we lay any
Stress upon his Faith; Not but that we may believe Well of a Man, and
yet not think fit to Trust him: So that a Charity on the One hand does
not Authorize a Confidence on the Other; It is not Amiss however, to lay
Baits for a Man in such a Case, and to try him on the Blind-side. As
if a Man be Covetous; Profit or Bribes may put him to the Test: and so
Answerably in Other Cases. Powerful Temptations Artificially Dispos’d,
are the Best Essay, and Assurance of a Man’s Faith and Honesty that the
Matter will bear. This _Dog_ here would perhaps have _Fought_ for his
Master in any Other Case, though he _Betray’d_ him in This: But the Love
of Mutton was his Weak-side: Which in some sort Answers to That which we
call _Peccatum in Deliciis_ in Mankind. This Infirmity however did not
Excuse the Treachery, and the Kinder the Master, the more Unpardonable is
the Traytor.