A Vain Fool can hardly be more Miserable then the Granting of his own
Prayers and Wishes would make him. How many Spectacles does every Day
afford us, of _Apes_ and _Mountebanks_ in Gay-Coats, that pass in the
World for _Philosophers_, and _Men of Honour_; and it is no wonder for
one Fool to value himself upon the same Vanity, for which he esteems
another. He that Judges of Men and of Things by Sense, Governs himself
by Sense too: and he that well considers the Practices and Opinions
of the Age he lives in, will find, that Folly and Passion have more
Disciples then Wisdom and Virtue. The Feather in a Fool’s Cap, is a
Fool’s Inclination; nay, it is his Ambition too; for he that measures the
Character of another Man by his Outside, seldom looks further then the
Business of Dress and Appearance in himself. Beside, that Ill Examples
work more upon us then Good; and that we are Forwarder to imitate
the one, then to Emulate the other. This now is the Highest Pitch of
Infelicity, when we do not only square our Lives in General, according
to Vicious Presidents, but set out Hearts in particular (with the
Fantastical _Ape_ here,) upon this or that Extravagance. No other Sort of
Fool would please him, then the very _Counter-part_ of this Quack. His
Mistake was double; First, he plac’d an Opinion of Happiness where there
was no Ground at all to expect it. Secondly, he parted with his _Liberty_
in Exchange for’t; which is the same thing with Trucking the Greatest
Blessing of Human Nature for the Handy-Work of a Taylor.