The Present State of Things is best, unless we may be very well Assur’d
that the Danger of the Remedy is not Greater then that of the Disease:
Nay, it so falls out many times, that a Thing may be Good for the
Distemper, and yet Mortal to the Patient: Wherefore Men should never
Trouble their Heads about Innovations for slight Matters, without a
strict Calculation, upon the Profit or Loss of the Exchange. The Fancy
of the _Cat_ and _Mice_, points very naturally at the Case of _Monarchy_
and _Episcopacy_ in the Days of King _Charles the First_. There were
Grievances of all sorts Complain’d of, and Popular Disputes Rais’d about
Prerogative and Arbitrary Power, in the Pretended Favour of Liberty and
Property. Every thing was amiss they Cry’d, and nothing would serve the
Turn but a General Reformation; and what was the Issue at last, but the
_Cats_ that should have Kill’d the _Mice_, Eat up, as the Fable says,
_Mice, Cheese and All_.