Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCCXVIII
Fab. CCCXVIII.
A Cat and Mice.
AS a Company of Mice were Peeping out of their Holes for Discovery, they spy’d a Cat upon a Shelf; that lay and look’d so Demurely, as if there had been neither Life nor Soul in her. Well (says one of the Mice) That's a Good Natur'd Creature, I'll Warrant her; One may read it in her very Looks; and truly I have the Greatest Mind in the World to make an Acquaintance with her. So said, and so done; but so soon as ever Puss had her within Reach, she gave her to Understand, that the Face is not always the Index of the Mind.
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
NO Treachery so Mortal, as That which Covers it self under the Masque of Sanctity. A Wolfe does a Great deal more Mischief in a Sheeps-Skin, then in his Own Shape and Colour. The Mouse that took this Cat for a Saint, has very Good Company, not oy in her Mistake, but in her Misfortune too: For we have seen a whole Assembly of These Mousing Saints, that under the Masque of Zeal, Conscience, and Good Nature, have made a Shift to lay I know not how many Kingdoms in Bloud and Ashes.