L'Estrange: A Lamb, a Wolf and a Goat.

A Wolf overheard a Lamb Bleating among the Goats. D'ye hear Little One, (says the Wolf) if it be your dam you want, she's yonder in the Field. Ay (says the Lamb) but I am not looking for her that was my Mother for her Own sake, but for her that Nurses me up, and Suckles me out of Pure Charity, and Good Nature. Can any thing be Dearer to you, says the Wolf, then she that brought you forth? Very Right, says the Lamb; and without knowing or caring what she did: And pray, what did she bring me forth for too; but to Ease her self of a Burden, and to deliver me out of her own Belly, into the Hands of the Butcher? I am more Beholden to her that took Pity of me when I was in the World already, then to her that brought me into't, I know not how. 'Tis Charity, not Nature, or Necessity that does the Office of a Tender Mother.

There's a difference betwixt Reverence and Affection; the one goes to the Character, and the other to the Person, and so distinguishes Duty from Inclination. Our Mothers brought us into the World; a Stranger takes us up, and Preserves us in't. So that here's both a Friend and a Parent in the case, and the Obligation of the one, must not destroy the Respect I owe to the other; nor the Respect the Obligation: And none but an Enemy will advise us to quit either.

Source: L'Estrange 384.

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M0088 (not in Perry)