took her home to his Bed; and bad Fair for a Litter of Kittens by her That Night: But as the Loving Couple lay Snugging together, a Toy took Venus in the Head, to try if the Cat had Chang'd her Manners with her Shape; and ſo for Experiment, turn'd a Mouſe looſe into the Chamber. The Cat, upon This Temptation, Started out of the Bed, and without any regard to the Marriage-Joys, made a Leap at the Mouſe, which Venus took for ſo High an Affront, that ſhe turn'd the Madam into a Puſs again.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
This is to lay before us the Charms and Extravagances of a Blind Love. It Covers all Imperfections, and Confiders neither Quality, nor Merit. How many Noble Whores has it made, and how many imperial Slaves! And let the Defects be never ſo Groſs, it either Palliates, or Excuſes them. The Womans Leaping at the Mouſe, tells us alſo how Impoſſible it is to make Nature Change her Biaſs, and that if we ſhut her out at the Door, ſhe'll come in at the Window.
Here's the Image of a Wild and Fantaſtical Love, under the Cover of as Extravagant a Fable, and it is all but Fancy a laſt too; for men do not See, or Taſt, or Find the Thing they Love, but they Create it. They Faſhion an Idol, in what Figure or Shape they pleaſe; Set it up, Worſhip it, Dote upon it; Purſue it; and in fine, run Mad for't. How many Paſſions have we ſeen in the World, Ridiculous enough to Anſwer All the Follies of this Imagination! It was much for Venus to turn a Cat into a Woman, and for that Cully again to take That Cat for a Woman: What is it Leſs now, for a Fop to Form an Idea of the Woman he Dyes for, Every jot as Unlike That Woman, as the Cat is to the Miſtreſs? Let This Suffice for the Impoſtures, and Illuſions of That Paſſion.
We are further given to Underſland that No Counterteit is ſo Steady, and ſo Equally Drawn, but Nature by Starts will ſhew her ſelf thorough it; for Puſs, even when ſhe's a Madam, will be a Mouſer ſtill. ’Tis the Same Thing with a Hypocrite, which is only a Devil dreſs'd up with a Ray about him, and Transform’d into an Angel of Light. Take him in the very Raptures of his Devotion, and do but throw a parcel of Church-Lands in his way, he ſhall Leap at the Sacrilege from the very Throne of his Glory, as Puſs did at the Mouſe; and Pick your Pocket, as a French Poet ſays of a Jeſuit, in the Middle of his Paternoſter.
Fab.
