’Tis a very great Mistake in the World, to give Reputation to many
Unconscionable and notorious Practices, that ought rather to be Punished.
One would try all ways of setting People Right in their Wits and Manners:
Authority and Friendship works upon some; Dry and Sober Reason works
upon others: but these Means are only effectual, where there’s Place
for Modesty and Conscience. Some are reclaim’d by Punishment; some by
Example, and some again are set Right by good Nature or upon Second
Thoughts: But there are a sort of Men that will not be _Reason’d_ into
their Senses, and may yet be _Laugh’d_ or _Droll’d_ into them. A _Jest_
works more many times then a _Text_. Every Man, in fine, has a weak Side,
if a body could but hit upon’t: The Figure of a _Currier_ applied to an
_Usurer_, sinks deeper with him, then all the _Woes_ in Holy Scripture,
upon the Topick of _Grinding the Faces of the Poor_. Men must Angle for
_Converts_ as they do for _Fishes_. There’s no good to be done, without
fitting the Bait to the liking of the Fish, and to the Course of the
Season: As the _Currier_ here struck the _Usurer_ upon the Right Vein.