Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
L'Estrange version
The estriche is a creature that passes in common reputation, for half-bird, half-beast. This amphibious wretch happen'd to be taken twice the same day, in a battel betwixt the birds and the beasts, and as an enemy to both parties. The birds would have him to be a beast, and the beasts concluded him to be a bird; but upon shewing his feet to prove that he was no bird, and upon shewing his wings, and his beak, to prove that he was no beast, they were satisfy'd upon the whole matter, that though he seem'd to be both, he was yet in truth neither the one, nor the other.
Moral
Trimming in some cases, is foul, and dishonest; in others, laudable; and in some again, not only honest, but necessary. The nicety lies in the skill of distinguishing upon cases, times, and degrees.
[Trimming = The act of arranging things in a manner necessary for them to work.]
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved