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FAB. CCXCV. A Goldfinch and a Boy.
A Goldfinch gave his Master the slip out of the Cage, and he did what he could to get him Back again, but he would not come. Well! says the Boy, You'll live to Repent it; for you'll never be so well Look'd to in any Other Place. That may very Well be, says the Bird; but however, I had rather be at my Own Keeping then at Yours.
The MORAL.
Never Well; Full nor Fasting.
REFLEXION.
MEAT, Drink, and Ease can never make any Man Happy that wants his Liberty. No, nor any Man that Has it neither; for we are never Well, either with much or Little. Whatever we Have, we Want something else, and so go on Wanting and Craving, till Death takes us off in the Middle of our Longings. He that's a Pris'ner, is Troubled that he cannot go whither he Would; And He that's at Large, is as much Troubled that he does not know whether to Go. The One Stands still; and the Other Loses his Way. Now 'tis not Necessity, but Opinion, that makes People Miserable, and when we come once to be Fancy-Sick, there's No Cure for't. A Man may have his Heels at Liberty, and yet be a Slave to Impotent Affections, and Troubled Thoughts. But This is not, upon any Terms, to Undervalue the Blessing of a Natural Freedom; and the Goldfinch was Undoubtedly in the Right, when he was once out of the Cage, not to be Whistled back a∣gain, if it had not been that he carry'd his Snare along with him.