Jupiter appointed Mercury to make him a Composition of Fraud and Hypocrisy, and to give every Artificer his Dose on't. The Medicine was prepar'd according to the Bill, and the Proportions duly Observ'd, and Divided: Only there was a great deal too Much of it made, and the Overplus remain'd still in the Mortar. Upon Examining the whole Account, there was a mistake, it seems, in the Reck'ning; for the Taylors were forgotten in the Catalogue: So that Mercury for Brevity sake, gave the Taylors the whole Quantity that was Left; and from hence comes the Old Saying; There's Knavery in all Trades, but Most in Taylors.
It is in some sort Natural to be a Knave. We are Made so, in the very Composition of our Flesh and Blood; Only Fraud is called Wit in One Case, good Husbandry in Another, &c. while 'tis the whole Business of the World for One Man to Couzen Another.Source:
L'Estrange 182.
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