No Fable can be Pleasant, Profitable or Instructive in Emblem, that
is not drawn to the very Life of Nature; and we have a Horror for the
Monstrous Productions of the Brain, as well as for those of the Body.
Wherefore the Test of an Edifying Parable, is a Congruity of the Moral to
the Lines of Practice, and to the Image of Truth. The Resemblance must be
Touching, and a Man must have a Feeling of it to be Mov’d with it. ’Tis
never Right, till I can say to my self, How many Instances have I seen
in the World of this _Cobler_ turn’d _Doctor_? How many _Underlayers_,
that when they could not live upon their Trade, have rais’d themselves
from _Cobling_ to _Fluxing_, and taken upon them to cast the Water of a
Body Politick, as well as of a Body Natural? This minds me of a _Cobling
Colonel_ of Famous Memory, (and he was a Statesman too of the _Long
Parliament Edition_,) to a Lady of Quality in _Ireland_. She had been so
terribly Plunder’d, that the Poor Woman went almost Bare-foot: And as she
was warming her Feet once in the Chimney Corner, the Colonel took notice
that her Shooes wanted Capping; _Lord, Madam_ (says he) _Why d’ye wear
no better Shooes?_ Why truly Sir, says she, all the _Coblers_ are turn’d
_Colonels_, and I can get no body to Mend ’em. Now to do Right to the
_Apologue_; there are several Remarkable _Innuendo_’s in’t: Here’s First
a _Coxcomb_ that Commences _Doctor_. Secondly, A kind of an _Individuum
Vagum_, dress’d up in the Character of a Man of Quality. Thirdly, From
being ready to Starve Himself, he makes a very good Living out of the
Priviledge of Poisoning and Destroying other People. Fourthly, It gives
us to Understand the Force of Impudence on the one hand, and of Ignorance
on the other; for what was it but the brazen-Face of the Quack, assisted
by the Silliness of the _Mobile_, that advanc’d this Upstart from the
Stall to the Stage? It is not to be imagin’d the Power of Tumour and
Pretence, Bold Looks, Hard Words, and a Supercilious Brow, upon the
Passions of the Multitude. To say the Truth on’t, we are impos’d upon by
_Botchers_, and Men of Forehead, without Common Sense, in all Trades and
Professions, even to the venturing of Soul, Body, Life and Estate upon
their Skill, Honesty and Credit. Can any Man look about him in the World
now, and cast his Eye and Thought upon every Days Instances of some of
these wonderful Improvements and Conversions, without saying to Himself,
The _Mythologist_ Pointed at all these Men in this Fable? For it holds as
well from _Foppery_ to _Policy_; from _Baseness_ to _Honour_, and from
_Beggery_ to _Superfluity_, as from _Patching_ to _Purging_, and from
the _Stall_ to the _Urinal_. But a Tryal of Skill at last puts him past
his _Latin_; and when it comes to that once, he’ll have more Wit than to
venture his Life upon his _Antidote_.