{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_39187/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_39187","id":"gutenberg_39187","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39187","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's stories","Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Fables"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Julia Neufeld and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics\n(_italics_).\n\n\n \u00c6SOP'S FABLES.\n\n EMBELLISHED WITH\n\n One Hundred and Eleven\n EMBLEMATICAL DEVICES.\n\n [Illustration: Man reading]\n\n Printed at the Chiswick Press,\n BY C. WHITTINGHAM;\n\n FOR CARPENTER AND SON, OLD BOND STREET;\n J. BOOKER, NEW BOND STREET; SHARPE AND\n HAILES, PICCADILLY; AND WHITTINGHAM\n AND ARLISS, PATERNOSTER ROW.\n\n 1814.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n _Fable_ _Page_\n\n 1 The Cock and the Jewel 1\n\n 2 The Wolf and the Lamb 4\n\n 3 The Lion and the Four Bulls 7\n\n 4 The Frog and the Fox 9\n\n 5 The Ass eating Thistles 11\n\n 6 The Lark and her Young Ones 13\n\n 7 The Cock and the Fox 16\n\n 8 The Fox in the Well 19\n\n 9 The Wolves and the Sheep 21\n\n 10 The Eagle and the Fox 23\n\n 11 The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing 26\n\n 12 The Fowler and the Ring-Dove 28\n\n 13 The Sow and the Wolf 30\n\n 14 The Horse and the Ass 32\n\n 15 The Wolf, the Lamb, and the Goat 35\n\n 16 The Kite and the Pigeons 38\n\n 17 The Country Mouse and the City Mouse 41\n\n 18 The Swallow and other Birds 46\n\n 19 The Hunted Beaver 48\n\n 20 The Cat and the Fox 50\n\n 21 The Cat and the Mice 52\n\n 22 The Lion and other Beasts 54\n\n 23 The Lion and the Mouse 56\n\n 24 The Fatal Marriage 58\n\n 25 The Mischievous Dog 60\n\n 26 The Ox and the Frog 62\n\n 27 The Fox and the Lion 65\n\n 28 The Ape and the Fox 67\n\n 29 The Dog in the Manger 70\n\n 30 The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat 72\n\n 31 The Fox and the Tiger 75\n\n 32 The Lioness and the Fox 78\n\n 33 The Oak and the Reed 80\n\n 34 The Wind and the Sun 82\n\n 35 The Kite, the Frog, and the Mouse 85\n\n 36 The Frogs desiring a King 87\n\n 37 The Old Woman and her Maids 90\n\n 38 The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox 92\n\n 39 The Crow and the Pitcher 95\n\n 40 The Porcupine and the Snakes 97\n\n 41 The Hares and Frogs in a Storm 100\n\n 42 The Fox and the Wolf 103\n\n 43 The Dog and the Sheep 106\n\n 44 The Peacock and the Crane 108\n\n 45 The Viper and the File 110\n\n 46 The Ass, the Lion, and the Cock 112\n\n 47 The Jackdaw and Peacocks 114\n\n 48 The Ant and the Fly 116\n\n 49 The Ant and the Grasshopper 119\n\n 50 The Countryman and the Snake 121\n\n 51 The Fox and the Sick Lion 124\n\n 52 The Wanton Calf 127\n\n 53 Hercules and the Carter 130\n\n 54 The Belly and the Members 133\n\n 55 The Horse and the Lion 136\n\n 56 The Husbandman and the Stork 138\n\n 57 The Cat and the Cock 140\n\n 58 The Leopard and the Fox 142\n\n 59 The Shepherd's Boy 145\n\n 60 The Fox and the Goat 147\n\n 61 Cupid and Death 149\n\n 62 The Old Man and his Sons 151\n\n 63 The Stag and the Fawn 154\n\n 64 The Old Hound 157\n\n 65 Jupiter and the Camel 159\n\n 66 The Fox without a Tail 161\n\n 67 The Fox and the Crow 163\n\n 68 The Hawk and the Farmer 166\n\n 69 The Nurse and the Wolf 168\n\n 70 The Hare and the Tortoise 170\n\n 71 The Young Man and his Cat 173\n\n 72 The Ass in the Lion's Skin 175\n\n 73 The Mountains in Labour 177\n\n 74 The Satyr and the Traveller 179\n\n 75 The Sick Kite 182\n\n 76 The Hawk and the Nightingale 184\n\n 77 The Peacock's Complaint 186\n\n 78 The Angler and the Little Fish 188\n\n 79 The Geese and the Cranes 190\n\n 80 The Dog and the Shadow 192\n\n 81 The Ass and the Little Dog 194\n\n 82 The Wolf and the Crane 197\n\n 83 The Envious Man and the Covetous 199\n\n 84 The Two Pots 201\n\n 85 The Fox and the Stork 203\n\n 86 The Bear and the Bee-Hives 205\n\n 87 The Travellers and the Bear 207\n\n 88 The Trumpeter taken Prisoner 209\n\n 89 The Partridge and the Cocks 211\n\n 90 The Falconer and the Partridge 214\n\n 91 The Eagle and the Crow 216\n\n 92 The Lion, the Ass, and the Fox 218\n\n 93 The Fox and the Grapes 220\n\n 94 The Horse and the Stag 222\n\n 95 The Young Man and the Swallow 224\n\n 96 The Man and his Goose 227\n\n 97 The Dog and the Wolf 229\n\n 98 The Wood and the Clown 232\n\n 99 The Old Lion 234\n\n 100 The Horse and the Loaded Ass 236\n\n 101 The Old Man and Death 238\n\n 102 The Boar and the Ass 240\n\n 103 The Tunny and the Dolphin 242\n\n 104 The Peacock and the Magpie 244\n\n 105 The Forester and the Lion 246\n\n 106 The Stag looking into the Water 248\n\n 107 The Stag in the Ox-Stall 251\n\n 108 The Dove and the Ant 254\n\n 109 The Lion in Love 256\n\n 110 The Tortoise and the Eagle 259\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE,\n\n_BY S. CROXALL_.\n\n\nSo much has been already said concerning \u00c6sop and his writings, both by\nancient and modern authors, that the subject seems to be quite\nexhausted. The different conjectures, opinions, traditions, and\nforgeries, which from time to time we have had given to us of him, would\nfill a large volume: but they are, for the most part, so inconsistent\nand absurd, that it would be but a dull amusement for the reader to be\nled into such a maze of uncertainty: since Herodotus, the most ancient\nGreek historian, did not flourish till near an hundred years after \u00c6sop.\n\nAs for his Life, with which we are entertained in so complete a manner,\nbefore most of the editions of his Fables, it was invented by one\nMaximus Planudes, a Greek Monk; and, if we may judge of him from that\ncomposition, just as judicious and learned a person, as the rest of his\nfraternity are at this day observed to be. Sure there never were so many\nblunders and childish dreams mixed up together, as are to be met with in\nthe short compass of that piece. For a Monk, he might be very good and\nwise, but in point of history and chronology, he shows himself to be\nvery ignorant. He brings \u00c6sop to Babylon, in the reign of king Lycerus,\na king of his own making; for his name is not to be found in any\ncatalogue, from Nabonassar to Alexander the Great; Nabonadius, most\nprobably, reigning in Babylon about that time. He sends him into Egypt\nin the days of Nectanebo, who was not in being till two hundred years\nafterwards; with some other gross mistakes of that kind, which\nsufficiently show us that this Life was a work of invention, and that\nthe inventor was a bungling poor creature. He never mentions \u00c6sop's\nbeing at Athens; though Ph\u00e6drus speaks of him as one that lived the\ngreatest part of his time there; and it appears that he had a statue\nerected in that city to his memory, done by the hand of the famed\nLysippus. He writes of him as living at Samos, and interesting himself\nin a public capacity in the administration of the affairs of that place;\nyet, takes not the least notice of the Fable which Aristotle[1] tells us\nhe spoke in behalf of a famous Demagogue there, when he was impeached\nfor embezzling the public money; nor does he indeed give us the least\nhint of such a circumstance. An ingenious man might have laid together\nall the materials of this kind that are to be found in good old authors,\nand, by the help of a bright invention, connected and worked them up\nwith success; we might have swallowed such an imposition well enough,\nbecause we should not have known how to contradict it: but in Planudes'\ncase, the imposture is doubly discovered; first, as he has the\nunquestioned authority of antiquity against him; secondly, (and if the\nother did not condemn him) as he has introduced the witty, discreet,\njudicious \u00c6sop, quibbling in a strain of low monastic waggery, and as\narchly dull as a Mountebank's Jester.\n\n [1] _Arist. Rhet._ Lib. ii. chap. 21.\n\nThat there was a Life of \u00c6sop, either written or traditionary, before\nAristotle's time, is pretty plain; and that there was something of that\nkind extant in Augustus' reign, is, I think, as undoubted; since Ph\u00e6drus\nmentions many transactions of his, during his abode at Athens. But it is\nas certain, that Planudes met with nothing of this kind; or, at least,\nthat he met not with the accounts with which they were furnished,\nbecause of the omissions before-mentioned; and consequently with none so\nauthentic and good. He seems to have thrown together some merry conceits\nwhich occurred to him in the course of his reading, such as he thought\nwere worthy of \u00c6sop, and very confidently obtrudes them upon us for his.\nBut, when at last he brings him to Delphos (where he was put to death by\nbeing thrown down from a precipice) that the Delphians might have some\ncolour of justice for what they intended to do, he favours them with the\nsame stratagem which Joseph made use of to bring back his brother\nBenjamin; they clandestinely convey a cup into his baggage, overtake him\nupon the road, after a strict search find him guilty; upon that pretence\ncarry him back to the city, condemn and execute him.\n\nAs I would neither impose upon others, nor be imposed upon, I cannot, as\nsome have done, let such stuff as this pass for the Life of the great\n\u00c6sop. Planudes has little authority for any thing he has delivered\nconcerning him; nay, as far as I can find, his whole account, from the\nbeginning to the end, is mere invention, excepting some few\ncircumstances; such as the place of his birth, and of his death; for in\nrespect of the time in which he lived, he has blundered egregiously, by\nmentioning some incidents as contemporary with \u00c6sop, which were far\nenough from being so. Xanthus, his supposed master, puts his wife into a\npassion, by bringing such a piece of deformity into her house, as our\nAuthor is described to be. Upon this, the master reproaches the slave\nfor not uttering something witty, at a time that seemed to require it so\nmuch: and then \u00c6sop comes out, slap dash, with a satirical reflection\nupon women, taken from Euripides, the famous Greek tragedian. Now\nEuripides happened not to be born till about fourscore years after\n\u00c6sop's death. What credit, therefore, can be given to any thing Planudes\nsays of him?\n\nAs to the place of his birth, I will allow, with the generality of those\nwho have written about him, that it might have been some town in Phrygia\nMajor: A. Gellius making mention of him, says, '\u00c6sopus ille, e Phrygia,\nFabulator.' That he was also by condition a slave, we may conclude from\nwhat Ph\u00e6drus[2] relates of him. But whether at both Samos and Athens, he\ndoes not particularly mention: though I am inclined to think it was at\nthe latter only; because he often speaks of him as living at that place,\nand never at any other; which looks as if Ph\u00e6drus believed that he had\nnever lived any where else. Nor do I see how he could help being of that\nopinion, if others of the ancients, whose credit is equally good, did\nnot carry him into other places. Aristotle introduces him (as I\nmentioned before) speaking in public to the Samians, upon the occasion\nof their Demagogue, or Prime Minister, being impeached for plundering\nthe commonwealth.\n\n [2] Lib. ii. fab. 9. and Lib. iii. fab. 19.\n\nI cannot but think \u00c6sop was something above the degree of a slave, when\nhe made such a figure as an eminent speaker in the Samian State. Perhaps\nhe might have been in that low condition in the former part of his life;\nand therefore Ph\u00e6drus, who had been of the same rank himself, might love\nto enlarge upon this circumstance, since he does not choose to represent\nhim in any higher sphere. Unless we allow him to be speaking[3] in as\npublic a capacity to the Athenians, upon the occasion of Pisistratus'\nseizing their liberties, as we have before supposed he did to the\nSamians. But, however, granting that he was once a slave, we have great\nauthority that he was afterwards not only free, but in high veneration\nand esteem with all that knew him; especially all that were eminent for\nwisdom and virtue. Plutarch, in his Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, among\nseveral other illustrious persons, celebrated for their wit and\nknowledge, introduces \u00c6sop. And, though in one place he seems to be\nridiculed by one of the company for being of a clumsy mongrel shape;\nyet, in general, he is represented as very courtly and polite in his\nbehaviour. He rallies Solon, and the rest, for taking too much liberty\nin prescribing rules for the conduct of sovereign princes; putting them\nin mind, that those who aspire to be the friends and counsellors of\nsuch, lose that character, and carry matters too far when they proceed\nto censure and find fault with them. Upon the credit of Plutarch,\nlikewise, we fix the Life of \u00c6sop in the time of Croesus, King of Lydia;\nwith whom he was in such esteem, as to be deputed by him to consult the\nOracle at Delphos, and be sent as his envoy to Periander, King of\nCorinth; which was about three hundred and twenty years after the time\nin which Homer lived, and five hundred and fifty before Christ.\n\n [3] _Ph\u00e6d._ Lib. i. fab. 2.\n\nNow, though this imaginary banquet of Plutarch does not carry with it\nthe weight of a serious history, yet we may take it for granted, that he\nintroduced nothing in his fictitious scene, which might contradict\neither the written or traditionary Life of \u00c6sop; but rather chose to\nmake every thing agree with it. Be that as it will, this is the sum of\nthe account which we have to give of him. Nor, indeed, is it material\nfor us to know the little trifling circumstances of his Life; as whether\nhe lived at Samos or Athens, whether he was a slave or a freeman,\nwhether handsome or ugly. He has left us a legacy in his writings that\nwill preserve his memory dear and perpetual among us: what we have to\ndo, therefore, is to show ourselves worthy of so valuable a present, and\nto act, in all respects, as near as we can to the will and intention of\nthe donor. They who are governed by reason, need no other motive than\nthe mere goodness of a thing to incite them to the practice of it. But\nmen, for the most part, are so superficial in their inquiries, that they\ntake all upon trust; and have no taste for any thing but what is\nsupported by the vogue of others, and which it is inconsistent with the\nfashion of the world not to admire.\n\nAs an inducement, therefore, to such as these to like the person and\nconversation of \u00c6sop, I must assure them that he was held in great\nesteem by most of the great wits of old. There is scarce an author among\nthe ancient Greeks, who mixed any thing of morality in his writings,\nbut either quotes or mentions him.\n\nWhatever his person was, the beauties of his mind were very charming and\nengaging; that the most celebrated among the ancients were his admirers;\nthat they speak of him with raptures, and pay as great a respect to him\nas to any of the other wise men who lived in the same age. Nor can I\nperceive, from any author of antiquity, that he was so deformed as the\nMonk has represented him. If he had, he must have been so monstrous and\nshocking to the eye, as not only to be a very improper envoy for a great\nking, but scarce fit to be admitted as a slave in any private family.\nIndeed, from what Plutarch hints of him, I suspect he had something\nparticular in his mien; but rather odd than ugly, and more apt to excite\nmirth than disgust, in those that conversed with him. Perhaps something\nhumorous displayed itself in his countenance as well as his writings;\nand it might be upon account of both, that he got the name of\nGelotopoios, as Lucian calls him, and his works that of Geloia. However,\nwe will go a middle way; and without insisting upon his beauty, or giving\ninto his deformity, allow him to have made a merry comical figure; at least\nas handsome as Socrates; but at the same time conclude, that this\nparticularity in the frame of his body was so far from being of any\ndisadvantage to him, that it gave a mirthful cast to every thing he said,\nand added a kind of poignancy to his conversation.\n\nWe have seen what opinion the ancients had of our Author, and his\nwritings. Now, as to the manner of conveying instruction by Fables in\ngeneral, though many good vouchers of antiquity sufficiently recommend\nit, yet to avoid tiring the reader's patience, I shall wave all\nquotations from thence, and lay before him the testimony of a modern;\nwhose authority, in point of judgment, and consequently, in the present\ncase, may be as readily acknowledged as that of any ancient of them all.\n\"Fables[4],\" says Mr. Addison, \"were the first pieces of wit that made\ntheir appearance in the world; and have been still highly valued, not\nonly in times of the greatest simplicity, but among the most polite ages\nof mankind. Jotham's Fable of the Trees is the oldest that is extant,\nand as beautiful as any which have been made since that time. Nathan's\nFable of the poor Man and his Lamb, is likewise more ancient than any\nthat is extant, besides the above-mentioned, and had so good an effect,\nas to convey instruction to the ear of a king, without offending it,\nand to bring the man after God's own heart to a right sense of his\nguilt, and his duty. We find \u00c6sop in the most distant ages of Greece.\nAnd, if we look into the very beginning of the commonwealth of Rome, we\nsee a mutiny among the common people appeased by the Fable of the Belly\nand the Members[5]; which was indeed very proper to gain the attention\nof an incensed rabble, at a time, when, perhaps, they would have torn to\npieces any man who had preached the same doctrine to them, in an open\nand direct manner. As Fables took their birth in the very infancy of\nlearning, they never flourished more than when learning was at its\ngreatest height. To justify this assertion, I shall put my reader in\nmind of Horace, the greatest wit and critic in the Augustan age; and of\nBoileau, the most correct poet among the moderns; not to mention La\nFontaine, who, by this way of writing, is come more into vogue than any\nother author of our times.\" After this, he proceeds to give some account\nof that kind of Fable in which the passions, and other imaginary beings,\nare actors; and concludes with a most beautiful one of that sort, of his\nown contriving. In another place, he gives us a translation from Homer\nof that inimitable Fable comprised in the interview between Jupiter and\nJuno, when the latter made use of the girdle of Venus, to recall the\naffection of her husband; a piece never sufficiently to be recommended\nto the perusal of such of the fair sex, as are ambitious of acquitting\nthemselves handsomely in point of conjugal complacence. But I must not\nomit the excellent Preface, by which the Fable is introduced, \"Reading\nis to the mind[6],\" says he, \"what exercise is to the body: as by the\none, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated; by the other\nvirtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and\nconfirmed. But, as exercise becomes tedious and painful when we make use\nof it only as the means of health, so reading is too apt to grow uneasy\nand burdensome, when we apply ourselves to it only for our improvement\nin virtue. For this reason, the virtue which we gather from a Fable or\nan allegory, is like the health we get by hunting, as we are engaged in\nan agreeable pursuit that draws us on with pleasure, and makes its\ninsensible of the fatigues that accompany it.\"\n\n [4] Spect. No. 183.\n\n [5] Fab. liv.\n\n [6] Tatler, No. 147.\n\n\n\n\n\u00c6SOP'S FABLES.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE I.\n\n[Illustration: THE COCK AND THE JEWEL.]\n\n\nA brisk young Cock, in company with two or three pullets, his\nmistresses, raking upon a dunghill for something to entertain them with,\nhappened to scratch up a Jewel. He knew what it was well enough, for it\nsparkled with an exceeding bright lustre; but, not knowing what to do\nwith it, endeavoured to cover his ignorance under a gay contempt; so,\nshrugging up his wings, shaking his head, and putting on a grimace, he\nexpressed himself to this purpose:--'Indeed, you are a very fine thing;\nbut I know not any business you have here. I make no scruple of\ndeclaring that my taste lies quite another way; and I had rather have\none grain of dear delicious barley, than all the Jewels under the sun.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThere are several people in the world that pass, with some, for well\naccomplished gentlemen, and very pretty fellows, though they are as\ngreat strangers to the true uses of virtue and knowledge as the Cock\nupon the dunghill is to the real value of the Jewel. He palliates his\nignorance by pretending that his taste lies another way. But, whatever\ngallant airs people may give themselves upon these occasions, without\ndispute, the solid advantages of virtue, and the durable pleasures of\nlearning, are as much to be preferred before other objects of the\nsenses, as the finest brilliant diamond is above a barley-corn. The\ngreatest blockheads would appear to understand what at the same time\nthey affect to despise: and nobody yet was ever so vicious, as to have\nthe impudence to declare, in public, that virtue was not a fine thing.\n\nBut still, among the idle, sauntering young fellows of the age, who have\nleisure as well to cultivate and improve the faculties of the mind, as\nto dress and embellish the body, how many are there who spend their days\nin raking after new scenes of debauchery, in comparison of those few who\nknow how to relish more reasonable entertainments! Honest, undesigning\ngood sense is so unfashionable, that he must be a bold man who, at this\ntime of day, attempts to bring it into esteem.\n\nHow disappointed is the youth who, in the midst of his amorous pursuits,\nendeavouring to plunder an outside of bloom and beauty, finds a treasure\nof impenetrable virtue concealed within! And why may it not be said, how\ndelighted are the fair sex when, from among a crowd of empty, frolic,\nconceited admirers, they find out, and distinguish with their good\nopinion, a man of sense, with a plain, unaffected person, which, at\nfirst sight, they did not like!\n\n\n\n\nFABLE II.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOLF AND THE LAMB.]\n\n\nOne hot, sultry day, a Wolf and a Lamb happened to come, just at the\nsame time, to quench their thirst in the stream of a clear, silver brook\nthat ran tumbling down the side of a rocky mountain. The Wolf stood upon\nthe higher ground, and the Lamb at some distance from him down the\ncurrent. However, the Wolf, having a mind to pick a quarrel with him,\nasked him, what he meant by disturbing the water, and making it so muddy\nthat he could not drink? and, at the same time demanded satisfaction.\nThe Lamb, frightened at this threatening charge, told him, in a tone as\nmild as possible, that, with humble submission, he could not conceive\nhow that could be; since the water which he drank, ran down from the\nWolf to him, and therefore it could not be disturbed so far up the\nstream. 'Be that as it will,' replies the Wolf, 'you are a rascal, and I\nhave been told that you treated me with ill language, behind my back,\nabout half a year ago.'--'Upon my word,' says the Lamb, 'the time you\nmention was before I was born.' The Wolf, finding it to no purpose to\nargue any longer against truth, fell into a great passion, snarling and\nfoaming at the mouth, as if he had been mad; and drawing nearer to the\nLamb, 'Sirrah,' says he, 'if it was not you, it was your father, and\nthat is all one.'--So he seized the poor innocent, helpless thing, tore\nit to pieces, and made a meal of it.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe thing which is pointed at in this fable is so obvious, that it will\nbe impertinent to multiply words about it. When a cruel ill-natured man\nhas a mind to abuse one inferior to himself, either in power or courage,\nthough he has not given the least occasion for it, how does he resemble\nthe Wolf! whose envious, rapacious temper could not bear to see\ninnocence live quietly in its neighbourhood. In short, wherever ill\npeople are in power, innocence and integrity are sure to be persecuted:\nthe more vicious the community is, the better countenance they have for\ntheir own villanous measures. To practise honesty in bad times, is being\nliable to suspicion enough; but if any one should dare to prescribe it,\nit is ten to one but he would be impeached of high crimes and\nmisdemeanors: for to stand up for justice in a degenerate and corrupt\nstate, is tacitly to upbraid the government, and seldom fails of pulling\ndown vengeance upon the head of him that offers to stir in its defence.\nWhere cruelty and malice are in combination with power, nothing is so\neasy as for them to find a pretence to tyrannize over innocence, and\nexercise all manner of injustice.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE III.\n\n[Illustration: THE LION AND THE FOUR BULLS.]\n\n\nFour Bulls, which had entered into a very strict friendship, kept always\nnear one another, and fed together. The Lion often saw them, and as\noften had a mind to make one of them his prey; but, though he could\neasily have subdued any of them singly, yet he was afraid to attack the\nwhole alliance, as knowing they would have been too hard for him, and\ntherefore contented himself, for the present, with keeping at a\ndistance. At last, perceiving no attempt was to be made upon them, as\nlong as this combination held, he took occasion, by whispers and hints,\nto foment jealousies, and raise divisions among them. This stratagem\nsucceeded so well, that the Bulls grew cold and reserved towards one\nanother, which soon after ripened into a downright hatred and\naversion; and, at last, ended in a total separation. The Lion had now\nobtained his ends; and, as impossible as it was for him to hurt them\nwhile they were united, he found no difficulty, now they were parted, to\nseize and devour every Bull of them, one after another.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe moral of this fable is so well known and allowed, that to go about\nto enlighten it, would be like holding a candle to the sun. \"A kingdom\ndivided against itself cannot stand;\" and as undisputed a maxim as it\nis, was, however, thought necessary to be urged to the attention of\nmankind, by the best Man that ever lived. And since friendships and\nalliances are of so great importance to our well-being and happiness, we\ncannot be too often cautioned not to let them be broken by tale-bearers\nand whisperers, or any other contrivance of our enemies.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE IV.\n\n[Illustration: THE FROG AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nA Frog, leaping out of a lake, and taking the advantage of a rising\nground, made proclamation to all the beasts of the forest, that he was\nan able physician, and, for curing all manner of distempers, would turn\nhis back to no person living. This discourse, uttered in a parcel of\nhard, cramp words, which nobody understood, made the beasts admire his\nlearning, and give credit to every thing he said. At last the Fox, who\nwas present, with indignation asked him, how he could have the\nimpudence, with those thin lantern-jaws, that meagre pale phiz, and\nblotched spotted body, to set up for one who was able to cure the\ninfirmities of others.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nA sickly, infirm look, is as disadvantageous in a physician, as that of\na rake in a clergyman, or a sheepish one in a soldier. If this moral\ncontains any thing further, it is, that we should not set up for\nrectifying enormities in others, while we labour under the same\nourselves. Good advice ought always to be followed, without our being\nprejudiced upon account of the person from whom it comes: but it is\nseldom that men can be brought to think us worth minding, when we\nprescribe cures for maladies with which ourselves are infected.\n\"Physician, heal thyself,\" is too scriptural not to be applied upon such\nan occasion; and, if we would avoid being the jest of an audience, we\nmust be sound, and free from those diseases of which we would endeavour\nto cure others. How shocked must people have been to hear a preacher,\nfor a whole hour, declaim against drunkenness, when his own infirmity\nhas been such, that he could neither bear nor forbear drinking; and,\nperhaps, was the only person in the congregation who made the doctrine\nat that time necessary! Others too have been very zealous in exploding\ncrimes, for which none were more suspected than themselves: but let such\nsilly hypocrites remember, that they whose eyes want couching, are the\nmost improper people in the world to set up for oculists.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE V.\n\n[Illustration: THE ASS EATING THISTLES.]\n\n\nAn Ass was loaded with good provisions of several sorts, which, in time\nof harvest, he was carrying into the field for his master and the\nreapers to dine upon. By the way he met with a fine large Thistle, and,\nbeing very hungry, began to mumble it; which, while he was doing, he\nentered into this reflection--'How many greedy epicures would think\nthemselves happy, amidst such a variety of delicate viands as I now\ncarry! But to me, this bitter prickly Thistle is more savoury and\nrelishing than the most exquisite and sumptuous banquet.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHappiness and misery, and oftentimes pleasure and pain, exist merely in\nour opinion, and are no more to be accounted for than the difference of\ntastes. \"That which is one man's meat, is another man's poison,\" is a\nproposition that ought to be allowed in all particulars, where the\nopinion is concerned, as well as in eating and drinking. Our senses must\ninform us whether a thing pleases or displeases, before we can declare\nour judgment of it; and that is to any man good or evil, which his own\nunderstanding suggests to him to be so, and not that which is agreeable\nto another's fancy. And yet, as reasonable and as necessary as it is to\ngrant this, how apt are we to wonder at people for not liking this or\nthat, or how can they think so and so! This childish humour of wondering\nat the different tastes and opinions of others, occasions much\nuneasiness among the generality of mankind. But, if we considered things\nrightly, why should we be more concerned at others differing from us in\ntheir way of thinking upon any subject whatever, than at their liking\ncheese, or mustard; one, or both of which, we may happen to dislike? In\ntruth, he that expects all mankind should be of his opinion, is much\nmore stupid and unreasonable than the Ass in the fable.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE VI.\n\n[Illustration: THE LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES.]\n\n\nA Lark, who had Young Ones in a field of corn which was almost ripe, was\nunder some fear lest the reapers should come to reap it before her young\nbrood were fledged, and able to remove from the place: wherefore, upon\nflying abroad to look for food, she left this charge with them--that\nthey should take notice what they heard talked of in her absence, and\ntell her of it when she came back again. When she was gone, they heard\nthe owner of the corn call to his son--'Well,' says he, 'I think this\ncorn is ripe enough; I would have you go early to-morrow, and desire our\nfriends and neighbours to come and help us to reap it.' When the Old\nLark came home, the Young Ones fell a quivering and chirping round her,\nand told her what had happened, begging her to remove them as fast as\nshe could. The mother bid them be easy; 'for,' says she, 'if the owner\ndepends upon friends and neighbours, I am pretty sure the corn will not\nbe reaped to-morrow.' Next day she went out again, upon the same\noccasion, and left the same orders with them as before. The owner came,\nand stayed, expecting those he had sent to: but the sun grew hot, and\nnothing was done, for not a soul came to help him. 'Then,' says he to\nhis son, 'I perceive these friends of ours are not to be depended upon;\nso that you must even go to your uncles and cousins, and tell them, I\ndesire they would be here betimes to-morrow morning to help us to reap.'\nWell, this the Young Ones, in a great fright, reported also to their\nmother. 'If that be all,' says she, 'do not be frightened, children, for\nkindred and relations do not use to be so very forward to serve one\nanother; but take particular notice what you hear said the next time,\nand be sure you let me know it.' She went abroad the next day, as usual;\nand the owner, finding his relations as slack as the rest of his\nneighbours, said to his son, 'Hark ye! George, do you get a couple of\ngood sickles ready against to-morrow morning, and we will even reap the\ncorn ourselves.' When the Young Ones told their mother this, 'Then,'\nsays she, 'we must be gone indeed; for, when a man undertakes to do his\nbusiness himself, it is not so likely that he will be disappointed.' So\nshe removed her Young Ones immediately, and the corn was reaped the next\nday by the good man and his son.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nNever depend upon the assistance of friends and relations in any thing\nwhich you are able to do yourself; for nothing is more fickle and\nuncertain. The man, who relies upon another for the execution of any\naffair of importance, is not only kept in a wretched and slavish\nsuspense while he expects the issue of the matter, but generally meets\nwith a disappointment. While he, who lays the chief stress of his\nbusiness upon himself, and depends upon his own industry and attention\nfor the success of his affairs, is in the fairest way to attain his end:\nand, if at last he should miscarry, has this to comfort him--that it was\nnot through his own negligence, and a vain expectation of the assistance\nof friends. To stand by ourselves, as much as possible, to exert our own\nstrength and vigilance in the prosecution of our affairs, is god-like,\nbeing the result of a most noble and highly exalted reason; but they who\nprocrastinate and defer the business of life by an idle dependance upon\nothers, in things which it is in their own power to effect, sink down\ninto a kind of stupid abject slavery, and show themselves unworthy of\nthe talents with which human nature is dignified.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE VII.\n\n[Illustration: THE COCK AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nThe Fox, passing early one summer's morning near a farm-yard, was caught\nin a springe, which the farmer had planted there for that end. The Cock,\nat a distance, saw what happened; and, hardly yet daring to trust\nhimself too near so dangerous a foe, approached him cautiously, and\npeeped at him, not without some horror and dread of mind. Reynard no\nsooner perceived it, but he addressed himself to him, with all the\ndesigning artifice imaginable. 'Dear cousin,' says he, 'you see what an\nunfortunate accident has befallen me here, and all upon your account:\nfor, as I was creeping through yonder hedge, in my way homeward, I heard\nyou crow, and was resolved to ask you how you did before I went any\nfurther: but, by the way, I met with this disaster; and therefore now I\nmust become an humble suitor to you for a knife to cut this plaguy\nstring; or, at least, that you would conceal my misfortune, till I have\ngnawed it asunder with my teeth.' The Cock, seeing how the case stood,\nmade no reply, but posted away as fast as he could, and gave the farmer\nan account of the whole matter; who, taking a good weapon along with\nhim, came and did the Fox's business, before he could have time to\ncontrive his escape.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThough there is no quality of the mind more graceful in itself, or that\nrenders it more amiable to others, than the having a tender regard to\nthose who are in distress; yet we may err, even in this point, unless we\ntake care to let our compassion flow out upon proper objects only. When\nthe innocent fall into misfortune, it is the part of a generous brave\nspirit to contribute to their redemption; or, if that be impossible, to\nadminister something to their comfort and support. But, when wicked men,\nwho have been enemies to their fellow-subjects, are entrapped in their\nown pernicious schemes, he that labours to deliver them, makes himself\nan associate in their crimes, and becomes as great an enemy to the\npublic as those whom he would screen and protect.\n\nWhen highwaymen and housebreakers are taken, condemned, and going to\nsatisfy justice, at the expense of their vile paltry lives; who are\nthey that grieve for them, and would be glad to rescue them from the\nrope? Not honest men, we may be sure. The rest of the thieving\nfraternity would, perhaps, commiserate their condition, and be ready to\nmutiny in their favour: nay, the rascally solicitor, who had been\nemployed upon their account, would be vexed that his negociations had\nsucceeded no better, and be afraid of losing his reputation, among other\ndelinquents, for the future: but every friend to justice would have no\nreason to be dissatisfied at any thing but a mournful reflection, which\nhe could not forbear making, that, while these little criminals swing\nfor some trifling inconsiderable rapine, others, so transcendently their\nsuperiors in fraud and plunder, escape with a whole skin.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE VIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX IN THE WELL.]\n\n\nA Fox having fallen into a Well, made a shift, by sticking his claws\ninto the sides, to keep his head above water. Soon after, a Wolf came\nand peeped over the brink; to whom the Fox applied himself very\nearnestly for assistance: entreating, that he would help him to a rope,\nor something of that kind, which might favour his escape. The Wolf,\nmoved with compassion at his misfortune, could not forbear expressing\nhis concern: 'Ah! poor Reynard,' says he, 'I am sorry for you with all\nmy heart; how could you possibly come into this melancholy\ncondition?'--'Nay, prithee, friend,' replies the Fox, 'if you wish me\nwell, do not stand pitying of me, but lend me some succour as fast as\nyou can: for pity is but cold comfort when one is up to the chin in\nwater, and within a hair's breadth of starving or drowning.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nPity, indeed, is of itself but poor comfort at any time; and, unless it\nproduces something more substantial, is rather impertinently\ntroublesome, than any way agreeable. To stand bemoaning the misfortunes\nof our friends, without offering some expedient to alleviate them, is\nonly echoing to their grief, and putting them in mind that they are\nmiserable. He is truly my friend who, with a ready presence of mind,\nsupports me; not he who condoles with me upon my ill success, and says\nhe is sorry for my loss. In short, a favour or obligation is doubled by\nbeing well-timed; and he is the best benefactor, who knows our\nnecessities, and complies with our wishes, even before we ask him.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE IX.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOLVES AND THE SHEEP.]\n\n\nThe Wolves and the Sheep had been a long time in a state of war\ntogether. At last a cessation of arms was proposed, in order to a treaty\nof peace, and hostages were to be delivered on both sides for security.\nThe Wolves proposed that the Sheep should give up their dogs, on the one\nside, and that they would deliver up their young ones, on the other.\nThis proposal was agreed to; but no sooner executed, than the young\nWolves began to howl for want of their dams. The old ones took this\nopportunity to cry out, the treaty was broke; and so falling upon the\nSheep, who were destitute of their faithful guardians the dogs, they\nworried and devoured them without control.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIn all our transactions with mankind, even in the most private and low\nlife, we should have a special regard how, and with whom, we trust\nourselves. Men, in this respect, ought to look upon each other as\nWolves, and to keep themselves under a secure guard, and in a continual\nposture of defence. Particularly upon any treaties of importance, the\nsecurities on both sides should be strictly considered; and each should\nact with so cautious a view to their own interest, as never to pledge or\npart with that which is the very essence and basis of their safety and\nwell-being. And if this be a just and reasonable rule for men to govern\nthemselves by, in their own private affairs, how much more fitting and\nnecessary is it in any conjuncture wherein the public is concerned? If\nthe enemy should demand our whole army for an hostage, the danger in our\ncomplying with it would be so gross and apparent, that we could not help\nobserving it: but, perhaps, a country may equally expose itself by\nparting with a particular town or general, as its whole army; its\nsafety, not seldom, depending as much upon one of the former, as upon\nthe latter. In short, hostages and securities may be something very dear\nto us, but ought never to be given up, if our welfare and preservation\nhave any dependance upon them.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE X.\n\n[Illustration: THE EAGLE AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nAn Eagle that had young ones, looking out for something to feed them\nwith, happened to spy a Fox's cub, that lay basking itself abroad in the\nsun. She made a stoop, and trussed it immediately; but before she had\ncarried it quite off, the old Fox coming home, implored her, with tears\nin her eyes, to spare her cub, and pity the distress of a poor fond\nmother, who should think no affliction so great as that of losing her\nchild. The Eagle, whose nest was up in a very high tree, thought herself\nsecure enough from all projects of revenge, and so bore away the cub to\nher young ones, without showing any regard to the supplications of the\nFox. But that subtle creature, highly incensed at this outrageous\nbarbarity, ran to an altar, where some country people had been\nsacrificing a kid in the open fields, and catching up a firebrand in her\nmouth, made towards the tree where the Eagle's nest was, with a\nresolution of revenge. She had scarce ascended the first branches, when\nthe Eagle, terrified with the approaching ruin of herself and family,\nbegged of the Fox to desist, and, with much submission, returned her the\ncub again safe and sound.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable is a warning to us not to deal hardly or injuriously by any\nbody. The consideration of our being in a high condition of life, and\nthose we hurt, far below us, will plead little or no excuse for us in\nthis case: for there is scarce a creature of so despicable a rank, but\nis capable of avenging itself some way, and at some time or other. When\ngreat men happen to be wicked, how little scruple do they make of\noppressing their poor neighbours! They are perched upon a lofty station,\nand have built their nest on high; and, having outgrown all feelings of\nhumanity, are insensible of any pangs of remorse. The widow's tears, the\norphan's cries, and the curses of the miserable, like javelins thrown by\nthe hand of a feeble old man, fall by the way, and never reach their\nheart. But let such a one, in the midst of his flagrant injustice,\nremember, how easy a matter it is, notwithstanding his superior\ndistance, for the meanest vassal to be revenged of him. The bitterness\nof an affliction, even where cunning is wanting, may animate the\npoorest spirit with resolutions of vengeance; and, when once that fury\nis thoroughly awakened, we know not what she will require before she is\nlulled to rest again. The most powerful tyrants cannot prevent a\nresolved assassination; there are a thousand different ways for any\nprivate man to do the business, who is heartily disposed to it, and\nwilling to satisfy his appetite for revenge, at the expense of his life.\nAn old woman may clap a firebrand in the palace of a prince; and it is\nin the power of a poor weak fool to destroy the children of the mighty.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XI.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.]\n\n\nA Wolf, clothing himself in the skin of a Sheep, and getting in among\nthe flock, by this means took the opportunity to devour many of them. At\nlast the shepherd discovered him, and cunningly fastening a rope about\nhis neck, tied him up to a tree which stood hard by. Some other\nshepherds happening to pass that way, and observing what he was about,\ndrew near, and expressed their amazement at it. 'What,' says one of\nthem, 'brother, do you make hanging of Sheep?'--'No,' replies the other;\n'but I make hanging of a Wolf whenever I catch him, though in the habit\nand garb of a Sheep.' Then he showed them their mistake, and they\napplauded the justice of the execution.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable shows us, that no regard is to be had to the mere habit or\noutside of any person, but to undisguised worth and intrinsic virtue.\nWhen we place our esteem upon the external garb, before we inform\nourselves of the qualities which it covers, we may often mistake evil\nfor good, and, instead of a Sheep, take a Wolf into our protection.\nTherefore, however innocent or sanctified any one may appear, as to the\nvesture wherewith he is clothed, we may act rashly, because we may be\nimposed upon, if from thence we take it for granted, that he is inwardly\nas good and righteous as his outward robe would persuade us he is. Men\nof judgment and penetration do not use to give an implicit credit to a\nparticular habit, or a peculiar colour, but love to make a more exact\nscrutiny; for he that will not come up to the character of an honest,\ngood kind of man, when stripped of his Sheep's Clothing, is but the more\ndetestable for his intended imposture; as the Wolf was but the more\nobnoxious to the shepherd's resentment, by wearing a habit so little\nsuiting with his manners.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XII.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOWLER AND THE RING-DOVE.]\n\n\nA fowler took his gun, and went into the woods a-shooting. He spied a\nRing-Dove among the branches of an oak, and intended to kill it. He\nclapped the piece to his shoulder, and took his aim accordingly. But,\njust as he was going to pull the trigger, an adder, which he had trod\nupon under the grass, stung him so painfully in the leg, that he was\nforced to quit his design, and threw his gun down in a passion. The\npoison immediately infected his blood, and his whole body began to\nmortify; which, when he perceived, he could not help owning it to be\njust. 'Fate,' says he, 'has brought destruction upon me, while I was\ncontriving the death of another.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis is another lesson against injustice; a topic in which our just\nAuthor abounds. And, if we consider the matter fairly, we must allow it\nto be as reasonable that some one should do violence to us, as we should\ncommit it upon another. When we are impartial in our reflections, thus\nwe must always think. The unjust man, with a hardened unfeeling heart,\ncan do a thousand bitter things to others: but if a single calamity\ntouches himself, oh, how tender he is! How insupportable is the\nuneasiness it occasions! Why should we think others born to hard\ntreatment more than ourselves? Or imagine it can be reasonable to do to\nanother, what we ourselves should be unwilling to suffer? In our\nbehaviour to all mankind, we need only ask ourselves these plain\nquestions, and our consciences will tell us how to act. Conscience, like\na good valuable domestic, plays the remembrancer to us upon all\noccasions, and gives us a gentle twitch, when we are going to do a wrong\nthing. It does not, like the adder in the fable, bite us to death, but\nonly gives us kind cautions. However, if we neglect these just and\nfrequent warnings, and continue in a course of wickedness and injustice,\ndo not let us be surprised if Providence thinks fit, at last, to give us\na home sting, and to exercise a little retaliation upon us.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE SOW AND THE WOLF.]\n\n\nA Sow had just farrowed, and lay in the stye, with her whole litter of\npigs about her. A Wolf who longed for one of them, but knew not how to\ncome at it, endeavoured to insinuate himself into the Sow's good\nopinion: and, accordingly, coming up to her--'How does the good woman in\nthe straw do?' says he. 'Can I be of any service to you, Mrs. Sow, in\nrelation to your little family here? If you have a mind to go abroad,\nand air yourself a little, or so, you may depend upon it, I will take as\nmuch care of your pigs as you could yourself.'--'Your humble servant,'\nsays the Sow, 'I thoroughly understand your meaning; and, to let you\nknow I do, I must be so free as to tell you, I had rather have your\nroom than your company; and, therefore, if you would act like a Wolf of\nhonour, and oblige me, I beg I may never see your face again.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe being officiously good-natured and civil is something so uncommon in\nthe world, that one cannot hear a man make profession of it without\nbeing surprised, or, at least, suspecting the disinterestedness of his\nintentions. Especially, when one who is a stranger to us, or though\nknown, is ill-esteemed by us, will be making offers of services, we have\ngreat reason to look to ourselves, and exert a shyness and coldness\ntowards him. We should resolve not to receive even favours from bad kind\nof people; for should it happen that some immediate mischief was not\ncouched in them, yet it is dangerous to have obligations to such, or to\ngive them an opportunity of making a communication with us.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE HORSE AND THE ASS.]\n\n\nThe Horse, adorned with his great war-saddle, and champing his foaming\nbridle, came thundering along the way, and made the mountains echo with\nhis loud shrill neighing. He had not gone far, before he overtook an\nAss, who was labouring under a heavy burden, and moving slowly on in the\nsame track with himself. Immediately he called out to him, in a haughty\nimperious tone, and threatened to trample him in the dirt, if he did not\nbreak the way for him. The poor patient Ass, not daring to dispute the\nmatter, quietly got out of his way as fast as he could, and let him go\nby. Not long after this, the same Horse, in an engagement with the\nenemy, happened to be shot in the eye, which made him unfit for show,\nor any military business; so he was stripped of his fine ornaments, and\nsold to a carrier. The Ass, meeting him in this forlorn condition,\nthought that now it was his time to insult; and so, says he, 'Hey-day,\nfriend, is it you? Well, I always believed that pride of yours would one\nday have a fall.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nPride is a very unaccountable vice: many people fall into it unawares,\nand are often led into it by motives, which, if they considered things\nrightly, would make them abhor the very thoughts of it. There is no man\nthat thinks well of himself, but desires that the rest of the world\nshould think so too. Now it is the wrong measures we take in\nendeavouring after this, that expose us to discerning people in that\nlight which they call pride, and which is so far from giving us any\nadvantage in their esteem, that it renders us despicable and ridiculous.\nIt is an affectation of appearing considerable, that puts men upon being\nproud and insolent; and their very being so makes them, infallibly,\nlittle, and inconsiderable. The man that claims and calls for reverence\nand respect, deserves none; he that asks for applause, is sure to lose\nit; the certain way to get it is to seem to shun it; and the humble man,\naccording to the maxims even of this world, is the most likely to be\nexalted. He that, in his words or actions, pleads for superiority, and\nrather chooses to do an ill action, than condescend to do a good one,\nacts like the Horse, and is as void of reason and understanding. The\nrich and the powerful want nothing but the love and esteem of mankind to\ncomplete their felicity; and these they are sure to obtain by a\ngood-humoured, kind condescension; and as certain of being every body's\naversion, while the least tincture of overbearing rudeness is\nperceptible in their words or actions. What brutal tempers must they be\nof, who can be easy and indifferent, while they know themselves to be\nuniversally hated, though in the midst of affluence and power! But this\nis not all; for if ever the wheel of fortune should whirl them from the\ntop to the bottom, instead of friendship or commiseration, they will\nmeet with nothing but contempt; and that with much more justice than\never they themselves exerted it towards others.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XV.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOLF, THE LAMB, AND THE GOAT.]\n\n\nA Wolf meeting a Lamb, one day, in company with a Goat--'Child,' says\nhe, 'you are mistaken; this is none of your mother; she is yonder;'\npointing to a flock of sheep at a distance.--'It may be so,' says the\nLamb; 'the person that happened to conceive me, and afterwards bore me a\nfew months in her belly, because she could not help it, and then dropped\nme, she did not care where, and left me to the wide world, is, I\nsuppose, what you call my mother; but I look upon this charitable Goat\nas such, that took compassion on me in my poor, helpless, destitute\ncondition, and gave me suck; sparing it out of the mouths of her own\nkids, rather than I should want it.'--'But sure,' says he, 'you have a\ngreater regard for her that gave you life, than for any body\nelse.'--'She gave me life! I deny that. She that could not so much as\ntell whether I should be black or white, had a great hand in giving me\nlife, to be sure! But, supposing it were so, I am mightily obliged to\nher, truly, for contriving to let me be of the male-kind, so that I go\nevery day in danger of the butcher. What reason then have I to have a\ngreater regard for one to whom I am so little indebted for any part of\nmy being, than for those from whom I have received all the benevolence\nand kindness which have hitherto supported me in life?'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIt is they whose goodness makes them our parents, that properly claim\nfilial respect from us, and not those who are such only out of\nnecessity. The duties between parents and their children are relative\nand reciprocal. By all laws, natural as well as civil, it is expected\nthat the parents should cherish and provide for the child, till it is\nable to shift for itself; and that the child, with a mutual tenderness,\nshould depend upon the parent for its sustenance, and yield it a\nreasonable obedience. Yet, through the depravity of human nature, we\nvery often see these laws violated, and the relations before-mentioned\ntreating one another with as much virulence as enemies of different\ncountries are capable of. Through the natural impatience and protervity\nof youth, we observe the first occasion for any animosity most\nfrequently arising from their side; but, however, there are not wanting\nexamples of undutiful parents: and, when a father, by using a son ill,\nand denying him such an education and such an allowance as his\ncircumstances can well afford, gives him occasion to withdraw his\nrespect from him, to urge his begetting of him as the sole obligation to\nduty, is talking like a silly unthinking dotard. Mutual benevolence must\nbe kept up between relations, as well as friends; for, without this\ncement, whatever you please to call the building, it is only a castle in\nthe air, a thing to be talked of, without the least reality.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE KITE AND THE PIGEONS.]\n\n\nA Kite, who had kept sailing in the air for many days near a dove-house,\nand made a stoop at several pigeons, but all to no purpose (for they\nwere too nimble for him), at last had recourse to stratagem, and took\nhis opportunity one day to make a declaration to them, in which he set\nforth his own just and good intentions, who had nothing more at heart\nthan the defence and protection of the Pigeons in their ancient rights\nand liberties, and how concerned he was at their fears and jealousies of\na foreign invasion, especially their unjust and unreasonable suspicions\nof himself, as if he intended, by force of arms, to break in upon their\nconstitution, and erect a tyrannical government over them. To prevent\nall which, and thoroughly to quiet their minds, he thought proper to\npropose to them such terms of alliance and articles of peace as might\nfor ever cement a good understanding between them: the principal of\nwhich was, that they should accept of him for their king, and invest him\nwith all kingly privilege and prerogative over them. The poor simple\nPigeons consented: the Kite took the coronation oath, after a very\nsolemn manner, on his part, and the Doves, the oaths of allegiance and\nfidelity, on theirs. But much time had not passed over their heads,\nbefore the good Kite pretended that it was part of his prerogative to\ndevour a Pigeon whenever he pleased. And this he was not contented to do\nhimself only, but instructed the rest of the royal family in the same\nkingly arts of government. The Pigeons, reduced to this miserable\ncondition, said one to the other, 'Ah! we deserve no better! Why did we\nlet him come in!\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWhat can this fable be applied to but the exceeding blindness and\nstupidity of that part of mankind who wantonly and foolishly trust their\nnative rights of liberty without good security? Who often choose for\nguardians of their lives and fortunes, persons abandoned to the most\nunsociable vices; and seldom have any better excuse for such an error in\npolitics than, that they were deceived in their expectation; or never\nthoroughly knew the manners of their king till he had got them entirely\nin his power: which, however, is notoriously false; for many, with the\nDoves in the fable, are so silly, that they would admit of a Kite,\nrather than be without a king. The truth is, we ought not to incur the\npossibility of being deceived in so important a matter as this: an\nunlimited power should not be trusted in the hands of any one who is not\nendued with a perfection more than human.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE CITY MOUSE.]\n\n\nAn honest, plain, sensible Country Mouse, is said to have entertained at\nhis hole one day a fine Mouse of the Town. Having formerly been\nplayfellows together, they were old acquaintance, which served as an\napology for the visit. However, as master of the house, he thought\nhimself obliged to do the honours of it, in all respects, and to make as\ngreat a stranger of his guest as he possibly could. In order to this, he\nset before him a reserve of delicate grey peas and bacon, a dish of fine\noatmeal, some parings of new cheese, and, to crown all with a dessert, a\nremnant of a charming mellow apple. In good manners, he forbore to eat\nany himself, lest the stranger should not have enough; but, that he\nmight seem to bear the other company, sat and nibbled a piece of a\nwheaten straw very busily. At last says the spark of the town, 'Old\ncrony, give me leave to be a little free with you; how can you bear to\nlive in this nasty, dirty, melancholy hole here, with nothing but woods\nand meadows, and mountains, and rivulets, about you? Do not you prefer\nthe conversation of the world to the chirping of birds, and the\nsplendour of a court to the rude aspect of an uncultivated desert! Come,\ntake my word for it, you will find it a change for the better. Never\nstand considering, but away this moment. Remember, we are not immortal,\nand therefore have no time to lose. Make sure of to-day, and spend it as\nagreeably as you can; you know not what may happen to-morrow.' In short,\nthese and such like arguments prevailed, and his Country Acquaintance\nwas resolved to go to town that night. So they both set out upon their\njourney together, proposing to sneak in after the close of the evening.\nThey did so; and, about midnight, made their entry into a certain great\nhouse, where there had been an extraordinary entertainment the day\nbefore, and several tit-bits, which some of the servants had purloined,\nwere hid under the seat of a window. The Country Guest was immediately\nplaced in the midst of a rich Persian carpet: and now it was the\nCourtier's turn to entertain; who, indeed, acquitted himself in that\ncapacity with the utmost readiness and address, changing the courses as\nelegantly, and tasting every thing first as judiciously, as any clerk of\na kitchen, the other sat and enjoyed himself like a delighted epicure,\ntickled to the last degree with this new turn of his affairs; when, on a\nsudden, a noise of somebody opening the door made them start from their\nseats, and scuttle in confusion about the dining-room. Our Country\nFriend, in particular, was ready to die with fear at the barking of a\nhuge mastiff or two, which opened their throats just about the same\ntime, and made the whole house echo. At last, recovering\nhimself--'Well,' says he, 'if this be your town life, much good may do\nyou with it: give me my poor quiet hole again, with my homely, but\ncomfortable, grey peas.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nA moderate fortune, with a quiet retirement in the country, is\npreferable to the greatest affluence which is attended with care and the\nperplexity of business, and inseparable from the noise and hurry of the\ntown. The practice of the generality of people of the best taste, it is\nto be owned, is directly against us in this point; but, when it is\nconsidered that this practise of theirs proceeds rather from a\ncompliance with the fashion of the times, than their own private\nthoughts, the objection is of no force. Among the great numbers of men\nwho have received a learned education, how few are there but either have\ntheir fortunes entirely to make, or, at least, think they deserve to\nhave, and ought not to lose the opportunity of getting, somewhat more\nthan their fathers have left them! The town is the field of action for\nvolunteers of this kind; and whatever fondness they may have for the\ncountry, yet they must stay till their circumstances will admit of a\nretreat thither. But sure there never was a man yet, who lived in a\nconstant return of trouble and fatigue in town, as all men of business\ndo in some degree or other, but has formed to himself some end of\ngetting some sufficient competency, which may enable him to purchase a\nquiet possession in the country, where he may indulge his genius, and\ngive up his old age to that easy smooth life which, in the tempest of\nbusiness, he had so often longed for. Can any thing argue more strongly\nfor a country life, than to observe what a long course of labour people\ngo through, and what difficulties they encounter to come at it? They\nlook upon it, at a distance, like a kind of heaven, a place of rest and\nhappiness; and are pushing forward through the rugged thorny cares of\nthe world, to make their way towards it. If there are many who, though\nborn to plentiful fortunes, yet live most part of their time in the\nnoise, the smoke, and hurry of the town, we shall find, upon inquiry,\nthat necessary indispensible business is the real or pretended plea\nwhich most of them have to make for it. The court and the senate require\nthe attendance of some: lawsuits, and the proper direction of trade,\nengage others: they who have a sprightly wit and an elegant taste for\nconversation, will resort to the place which is frequented by people of\nthe same turn, whatever aversion they may otherwise have for it; and\nothers, who have no such pretence, have yet this to say, that they\nfollow the fashion. They who appear to have been men of the best sense\namongst the ancients, always recommended the country as the most proper\nscene for innocence, ease, and virtuous pleasure; and, accordingly, lost\nno opportunities of enjoying it: and men of the greatest distinction\namong the moderns, have ever thought themselves most happy when they\ncould be decently spared from the employments which the excellency of\ntheir talents necessarily threw them into, to embrace the charming\nleisure of a country life.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE SWALLOW AND OTHER BIRDS.]\n\n\nA farmer was sowing his field with flax. The Swallow observed it, and\ndesired the other Birds to assist her in picking the seed up, and in\ndestroying it; telling them, that flax was that pernicious material of\nwhich the thread was composed which made the fowler's nets, and by that\nmeans contributed to the ruin of so many innocent birds. But the poor\nSwallow not having the good fortune to be regarded, the flax sprung up,\nand appeared above the ground. She then put them in mind once more of\ntheir impending danger, and wished them to pluck it up in the bud,\nbefore it went any further. They still neglected her warnings; and the\nflax grew up into the high stalk. She yet again desired them to attack\nit, for that it was not yet too late. But all that she could get was to\nbe ridiculed and despised for a silly pretending prophet. The Swallow\nfinding all her remonstrances availed nothing, was resolved to leave the\nsociety of such unthinking, careless creatures, before it was too late.\nSo quitting the woods, she repaired to the houses, and forsaking the\nconversation of the Birds, has ever since made her abode among the\ndwellings of men.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nAs men, we should always exercise so much humanity as to endeavour the\nwelfare of mankind, particularly of our acquaintance and relations: and,\nif by nothing further, at least by our good advice. When we have done\nthis, and, if occasion required, continued to repeat it a second or\nthird time, we shall have acquitted ourselves sufficiently from any\nimputation upon their miscarriage; and having nothing more to do but to\nseparate ourselves from them, that we may not be involved in their ruin,\nor be supposed to partake of their error. This is an excommunication\nwhich reason allows. For as it would be cruel, on the one side, to\nprosecute and hurt people for being mistaken, so, on the other, it would\nbe indiscreet and over complaisant, to keep them company through all\ntheir wrong notions, and act contrary to our opinion out of pure\ncivility.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE HUNTED BEAVER.]\n\n\nIt is said that a Beaver (a creature which lives chiefly in the water)\nhas a certain part about him which is good in physic, and that, upon\nthis account, he is often hunted down and killed. Once upon a time, as\none of these creatures was hard pursued by the dogs, and knew not how to\nescape, recollecting with himself the reason of his being thus\npersecuted, with a great resolution and presence of mind, he bit off the\npart which his hunters wanted, and throwing it towards them, by these\nmeans escaped with his life.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHowever it is among beasts, there are few human creatures but what are\nhunted for something else besides either their lives or the pleasure of\nhunting them. The inquisition would hardly be so keen against the Jews,\nif they had not something belonging to them which their persecutors\nesteem more valuable than their souls; which whenever that wise, but\nobstinate people, can prevail with themselves to part with, there is an\nend of the chase for that time. Indeed, when life is pursued, and in\ndanger, whoever values it, should give up every thing but his honour to\npreserve it. And when a discarded minister is prosecuted for having\ndamaged the commonwealth, let him but throw down some of the fruits of\nhis iniquity to the hunters, and one may engage for his coming off, in\nother respects, with a whole skin.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XX.\n\n[Illustration: THE CAT AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nAs the Cat and the Fox were talking politics together, on a time, in the\nmiddle of a forest, Reynard said, 'Let things turn out ever so bad, he\ndid not care, for he had a thousand tricks for them yet, before they\nshould hurt him.'--'But pray,' says he, 'Mrs. Puss, suppose there should\nbe an invasion, what course do you design to take?'--'Nay,' says the\nCat, 'I have but one shift for it, and if that won't do, I am\nundone.'--'I am sorry for you, replies Reynard, 'with all my heart, and\nwould gladly furnish you with one or two of mine, but indeed, neighbour,\nas times go, it is not good to trust; we must even be every one for\nhimself, as the saying is, and so your humble servant.' These words were\nscarce out of his mouth, when they were alarmed with a pack of hounds,\nthat came upon them full cry. The Cat, by the help of her single shift,\nran up a tree, and sat securely among the top branches; from whence she\nbeheld Reynard, who had not been able to get out of sight, overtaken\nwith his thousand tricks, and torn in as many pieces by the dogs which\nhad surrounded him.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nA man that sets up for more cunning than the rest of his neighbours, is\ngenerally a silly fellow at the bottom. Whoever is master of a little\njudgment and insight into things, let him keep them to himself, and make\nuse of them as he sees occasion; but he should not be teasing others\nwith an idle and impertinent ostentation of them. One good discreet\nexpedient, made use of upon an emergency, will do a man more real\nservice, and make others think better of him, than to have passed all\nalong for a shrewd crafty knave, and be bubbled at last. When any one\nhas been such a coxcomb as to insult his acquaintance, by pretending to\nmore policy and stratagem than the rest of mankind, they are apt to wish\nfor some difficulty for him to show his skill in; where, if he should\nmiscarry (as ten to one but he does) his misfortune, instead of pity, is\nsure to be attended with laughter. He that sets up for a biter, as the\nphrase is, being generally intent upon his prey, or vain of showing his\nart, frequently exposes himself to the traps of one sharper than\nhimself, and incurs the ridicule of those whom he designed to make\nridiculous.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXI.\n\n[Illustration: THE CAT AND THE MICE.]\n\n\nA certain house was much infested with Mice; but at last they got a Cat,\nwho catched and eat every day some of them. The Mice, finding their\nnumbers grow thin, consulted what was best to be done for the\npreservation of the public from the jaws of the devouring Cat. They\ndebated and came to this resolution, That no one should go down below\nthe upper shelf. The Cat, observing the mice no longer came down as\nusual, hungry and disappointed of her prey, had recourse to this\nstratagem; she hung by her hinder legs on a peg which stuck in the wall,\nand made as if she had been dead, hoping by this lure to entice the Mice\nto come down. She had not been in this posture long, before a cunning\nold Mouse peeped over the edge of the shelf, and spoke thus:--'Aha, my\ngood friend, are you there! there may you be! I would not trust myself\nwith you, though your skin were stuffed with straw.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nPrudent folks never trust those a second time who have deceived them\nonce. And, indeed, we cannot well be too cautious in following this\nrule, for, upon examination, we shall find, that most of the misfortunes\nwhich befal us, proceed from our too great credulity. They that know how\nto suspect, without exposing or hurting themselves, till honesty comes\nto be more in fashion, can never suspect too much.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXII.\n\n[Illustration: THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS.]\n\n\nThe Lion and several other beasts entered into an alliance, offensive\nand defensive, and were to live very sociably together in the forest.\nOne day, having made a sort of an excursion by way of hunting, they took\na very fine, large, fat deer, which was divided into four parts; there\nhappening to be then present his majesty the Lion, and only three\nothers. After the division was made, and the parts were set out, his\nmajesty advancing forward some steps, and pointing to one of the shares,\nwas pleased to declare himself after the following manner: 'This I seize\nand take possession of as my right, which devolves to me, as I am\ndescended by a true, lineal, hereditary succession from the royal family\nof Lion: that (pointing to the second) I claim by, I think, no\nunreasonable demand; considering that all the engagements you have with\nthe enemy turn chiefly upon my courage and conduct; and you very well\nknow, that wars are too expensive to be carried on without proper\nsupplies. Then (nodding his head towards the third) that I shall take by\nvirtue of my prerogative; to which, I make no question, but so dutiful\nand loyal a people will pay all the deference and regard that I can\ndesire. Now, as for the remaining part, the necessity of our present\naffairs is so very urgent, our stock so low, and our credit so impaired\nand weakened, that I must insist upon your granting that, without any\nhesitation or demur; and hereof fail not at your peril.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nNo alliance is safe which is made with those that are superior to us in\npower. Though they lay themselves under the most strict and solemn ties\nat the opening of the congress, yet the first advantageous opportunity\nwill tempt them to break the treaty; and they will never want specious\npretences to furnish out their declarations of war. It is not easy to\ndetermine, whether it is more stupid and ridiculous for a community to\ntrust itself first in the hands of those that are more powerful than\nthemselves, or to wonder afterwards that their confidence and credulity\nare abused, and their properties invaded.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE LION AND THE MOUSE.]\n\n\nA Lion, faint with heat, and weary with hunting, was laid down to take\nhis repose under the spreading boughs of a thick shady oak. It happened\nthat, while he slept, a company of scrambling Mice ran over his back,\nand waked him: upon which, starting up, he clapped his paw upon one of\nthem, and was just going to put it to death; when the little suppliant\nimplored his mercy in a very moving manner, begging him not to slain his\nnoble character with the blood of so despicable and small a beast. The\nLion, considering the matter, thought proper to do as he was desired,\nand immediately released his little trembling prisoner. Not long after,\ntraversing the forest in pursuit of his prey, he chanced to run into\nthe toils of the hunters; from whence, not able to disengage himself,\nhe set up a most hideous and loud roar. The Mouse, hearing the voice,\nand knowing it to be the Lion's, immediately repaired to the place, and\nbid him fear nothing, for that he was his friend. Then straight he fell\nto work, and, with his little sharp teeth, gnawing asunder the knots and\nfastenings of the toils, set the royal brute at liberty.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable gives us to understand, that there is no person in the world\nso little, but even the greatest may, at some time or other, stand in\nneed of his assistance; and consequently that it is good to use\nclemency, where there is any room for it, towards those who fall within\nour power. A generosity of this kind is a handsome virtue, and looks\nvery graceful whenever it is exerted, if there were nothing else in it:\nbut as the lowest people in life may, upon occasion, have it in their\npower either to serve or hurt us, that makes it our duty, in point of\ncommon interest, to behave ourselves with good nature and lenity towards\nall with whom we have to do. Then the gratitude of the Mouse, and his\nreadiness not only to repay, but even to exceed, the obligation due to\nhis benefactor, notwithstanding his little body, gives us the specimen\nof a great soul, which is never so much delighted as with an opportunity\nof showing how sensible it is of favours received.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE FATAL MARRIAGE.]\n\n\nThe Lion aforesaid, touched with the grateful procedure of the Mouse,\nand resolving not to be outdone in generosity by any wild beast\nwhatsoever, desired his little deliverer to name his own terms, for that\nhe might depend upon his complying with any proposal he should make. The\nMouse, fired with ambition at this gracious offer, did not so much\nconsider what was proper for him to ask, as what was in the power of his\nprince to grant; and so presumptuously demanded his princely daughter,\nthe young Lioness, in marriage. The Lion consented: but, when he would\nhave given the royal virgin into his possession, she, like a giddy thing\nas she was, not minding how she walked, by chance set her paw upon her\nspouse, who was coming to meet her, and crushed her little dear to\npieces.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable seems intended to show us how miserable some people make\nthemselves by a wrong choice, when they have all the good things in the\nworld spread before them to choose out of. In short, if that one\nparticular of judgment be wanting, it is not in the power of the\ngreatest monarch upon earth, nor of the repeated smiles of fortune, to\nmake us happy. It is the want or possession of a good judgment which\noftentimes makes the prince a poor wretch, and the poor philosopher\ncompletely easy. Now, the first and chief degree of judgment is to know\none's self; to be able to make a tolerable estimate of one's own\ncapacity, so as not to speak or undertake any thing which may either\ninjure or make us ridiculous: and yet (as wonderful as it is) there have\nbeen men of allowed good sense in particular, and possessed of all\ndesirable qualifications in general, to make life delightful and\nagreeable, who have unhappily contrived to match themselves with women\nof a genius and temper necessarily tending to blast their peace. This\nproceeds from some unaccountable blindness: but when wealthy plebeians,\nof mean extraction and unrefined education, as an equivalent for their\nmoney, demand brides out of the nurseries of our peerage, their being\ndespised, or at least overlooked, is so unavoidable, unless in\nextraordinary cases, that nothing but a false taste of glory could make\nthem enter upon a scheme so inconsistent and unpromising.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXV.\n\n[Illustration: THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG.]\n\n\nA certain man had a Dog, which was so fierce and mischievous, that he\nwas forced to fasten a heavy clog about his neck, to keep him from\nrunning at and worrying people. This the vain cur took for a badge of\nhonourable distinction; and grew so insolent upon it, that he looked\ndown with an air of scorn upon the neighbouring dogs, and refused to\nkeep them company. But a sly old poacher, who was one of the gang,\nassured him, that he had no reason to value himself upon the favour he\nwore, since it was fixed upon him rather as a mark of disgrace than of\nhonour.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nSome people are so exceeding vain, and at the same time so dull of\napprehension, that they interpret every thing by which they are\ndistinguished from others in their own favour. If they betray any\nweaknesses in conversation, which are apt to excite the laughter of\ntheir company, they make no scruple of ascribing it to their superiority\nin point of wit. If want of sense or breeding (one of which is always\nthe case) disposes them to give, or mistake, affronts, upon which\naccount all discreet sensible people are obliged to shun their company,\nthey impute it to their own valour and magnanimity, to which they fancy\nthe world pays an awful and respectful deference. There are several\ndecent ways of preventing such turbulent men from doing mischief, which\nmight be applied with secrecy, and many times pass unregarded, if their\nown arrogance did not require the rest of mankind to take notice of it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE OX AND THE FROG.]\n\n\nAn Ox, grazing in a meadow, chanced to set his foot among a parcel of\nyoung Frogs, and trod one of them to death. The rest informed their\nmother, when she came home, what had happened; telling her, that the\nbeast which did it was the hugest creature that they ever saw in their\nlives. 'What, was it so big?' says the old Frog, swelling and blowing up\nher speckled belly to a great degree. 'Oh! bigger by a vast deal,' say\nthey. 'And so big?' says she, straining herself yet more. 'Indeed,\nmamma,' say they, 'If you were to burst yourself, you would never be so\nbig.' She strove yet again, and burst herself indeed.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWhenever a man endeavours to live equal with one of a greater fortune\nthan himself, he is sure to share a like fate with the Frog in the\nfable. How many vain people, of moderate easy circumstances, burst and\ncome to nothing, by vying with those whose estates are more ample than\ntheir own? Sir Changeling Plumstock was possessed of a very considerable\nestate, devolved to him by the death of an old uncle, who had adopted\nhim his heir. He had a false taste of happiness, and, without the least\neconomy, trusting to the sufficiency of his vast revenue, was resolved\nto be outdone by nobody in showish grandeur and expensive living. He\ngave five thousand pounds for a piece of ground in the country to set a\nhouse upon; the building and furniture of which cost fifty thousand\nmore; and his gardens were proportionably magnificent. Besides which, he\nthought himself under a necessity of buying out two or three tenements\nwhich stood in his neighbourhood, that he might have elbow-room enough.\nAll this he could very well bear; and still might have been happy, had\nit not been for an unfortunate view which he one day happened to take of\nmy Lord Castlebuilder's gardens, which consisted of twenty acres,\nwhereas his own were not above twelve. From that time he grew pensive;\nand, before the ensuing winter, gave five and thirty years purchase for\na dozen acres more to enlarge his gardens; built a couple of exorbitant\ngreenhouses, and a large pavilion at the further end of a terrace-walk.\nThe bare repairs and superintendencies of all which call for the\nremaining part of his income. He is mortgaged pretty deep, and pays\nnobody; but, being a privileged person, resides altogether at a private\ncheap lodging in the City of Westminster.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE LION.]\n\n\nThe first time the Fox saw the Lion, he fell down at his feet, and was\nready to die with fear. The second time, he took courage, and could even\nbear to look upon him. The third time, he had the impudence to come up\nto him, to salute him, and to enter into familiar conversation with him.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nFrom this fable we may observe the two extremes in which we may fail, as\nto a proper behaviour towards our superiors: the one is a bashfulness,\nproceeding either from a vicious guilty mind, or a timorous rusticity;\nthe other, an over-bearing impudence, which assumes more than becomes\nit, and so renders the person insufferable to the conversation of\nwell-bred reasonable people. But there is this difference between the\nbashfulness that arises from a want of education, and the shamefacedness\nthat accompanies conscious guilt; the first, by a continuance of time\nand a nearer acquaintance, may be ripened into a proper liberal\nbehaviour; the other no sooner finds an easy practicable access, but it\nthrows off all manner of reverence, grows every day more and more\nfamiliar, and branches out into the utmost indecency and irregularity.\nIndeed, there are many occasions which may happen to cast an awe, or\neven a terror, upon our minds at first view, without any just and\nreasonable grounds; but upon a little recollection, or a nearer insight,\nwe recover ourselves, and can appear indifferent and unconcerned, where,\nbefore, we were ready to sink under a load of diffidence and fear. We\nshould, upon such occasions, use our endeavours to regain a due degree\nof steadiness and resolution; but, at the same time, we must have a care\nthat our efforts in that respect do not force the balance too much, and\nmake it rise to an unbecoming freedom and an offensive familiarity.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE APE AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nThe Ape meeting the Fox one day, humbly requested him to give him a\npiece of his fine, long, brush tail, to cover his poor naked backside,\nwhich was exposed to all the violence and inclemency of the weather;\n'For,' says he, 'Reynard, you have already more than you have occasion\nfor, and a great part of it even drags along in the dirt.' The Fox\nanswered, 'That as to his having too much, that was more than he knew;\nbut be it as it would, he had rather sweep the ground with his tail, as\nlong as he lived, than deprive himself of the least bit to cover the\nApe's nasty stinking posteriors.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nOne cannot help considering the world, in the particular of the goods of\nfortune, as a kind of lottery; in which some few are entitled to prizes\nof different degrees; others, and those by much the greatest part, come\noff with little or nothing. Some, like the Fox, have even larger\ncircumstances than they know what to do with, insomuch that they are\nrather a charge and incumbrance than of any true use and pleasure to\nthem. Others, like the poor Ape's case, are all blank; not having been\nso lucky as to draw from the wheel of fortune wherewith to cover their\nnakedness, and live with tolerable decency. That these things are left,\nin a great measure, by Providence, to the blind uncertain shuffle of\nchance, is reasonable to conclude from the unequal distribution of them;\nfor there is seldom any regard had to true merit upon these occasions;\nfolly and knavery ride in coaches, while good sense and honesty walk in\nthe dirt. The all-wise Disposer of events does certainly permit these\nthings for just and good purposes, which our shallow understanding is\nnot able to fathom; but, humanly thinking, if the riches and power of\nthe world were to be always in the hands of the virtuous part of\nmankind, they would be more likely to do good with them in their\ngeneration, than the vile sottish wretches who generally enjoy them. A\ntruly good man would direct all the superfluous part of his wealth, at\nleast, for the necessities of his fellow-creatures, though there were no\nreligion which enjoined it: but selfish and avaricious people, who are\nalways great knaves, how much soever they may have, will never think\nthey have enough: much less be induced, by any consideration of virtue\nand religion, to part with the least farthing for public charity and\nbeneficence.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE DOG IN THE MANGER.]\n\n\nA Dog was lying upon a manger full of hay. An Ox, being hungry, came\nnear, and offered to eat of the hay; but the envious ill-natured cur,\ngetting up and snarling at him, would not suffer him to touch it. Upon\nwhich the Ox, in the bitterness of his heart, said, 'A curse light on\nthee, for a malicious wretch, who wilt neither eat hay thyself, nor\nsuffer others to do it.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nEnvy is the most unnatural and unaccountable of all the passions. There\nis scarce any other emotion of the mind, however unreasonable, but may\nhave something said in excuse for it; and there are many of these\nweaknesses of the soul, which, notwithstanding the wrongness and\nirregularity of them, swell the heart, while they last, with pleasure\nand gladness. But the envious man has no such apology as this to make;\nthe stronger the passion is, the greater torment he endures; and\nsubjects himself to a continual real pain, by only wishing ill to\nothers. Revenge is sweet, though cruel and inhuman; and though it\nsometimes thirsts even for blood, yet may be glutted and satiated.\nAvarice is something highly monstrous and absurd; yet, as it is a desire\nafter riches, every little acquisition gives it pleasure; and to behold\nand feel the hoarded treasure, to a covetous man, is a constant\nuncloying enjoyment. But envy, which is an anxiety arising in our minds,\nupon our observing accomplishments in others which we want ourselves,\ncan never receive any true comfort, unless in a deluge, a conflagration,\na plague, or some general calamity that should befal mankind: for, as\nlong as there is a creature living, that enjoys its being happily within\nthe envious man's sphere, it will afford nourishment to his distempered\nmind; but such nourishment as will make him pine, and fret, and emaciate\nhimself to nothing.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXX.\n\n[Illustration: THE BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BAT.]\n\n\nOnce upon a time there commenced a fierce war between the Birds and the\nBeasts; when the Bat, taking advantage of his ambiguous make hoped, by\nthat means, to live secure in a state of neutrality, and save his bacon.\nIt was not long before the forces on each side met, and gave battle;\nand, their animosities running very high, a bloody slaughter ensued. The\nBat, at the beginning of the day, thinking the birds most likely to\ncarry it, listed himself among them; but kept fluttering at a little\ndistance, that he might the better observe, and take his measures\naccordingly. However, after some time spent in the action, the army of\nthe Beasts seeming to prevail, he went entirely over to them, and\nendeavoured to convince them, by the affinity which he had to a Mouse,\nthat he was by nature a beast, and would always continue firm and true\nto their interest. His plea was admitted; but, in the end, the advantage\nturning completely on the side of the Birds, under the admirable conduct\nand courage of their general the Eagle, the Bat, to save his life, and\nescape the disgrace of falling into the hands of his deserted friends,\nbetook himself to flight; and ever since, skulking in caves and hollow\ntrees all day, as if ashamed to show himself, he never appears till the\ndusk of the evening, when all the feathered inhabitants of the air are\ngone to roost.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nFor any one to desert the interest of his country, and turn renegado,\neither out of fear, or any prospect of advantage, is so notoriously vile\nand low, that it is no wonder if the man, who is detected in it, is for\never ashamed to see the sun, and to show himself in the eyes of those\nwhose cause he has betrayed. Yet, as there is scarce any vice, even to\nbe imagined, but there may be found men who have been guilty of it,\nperhaps there have been as many criminals in the case before us, as in\nany one particular besides, notwithstanding the aggravation and\nextraordinary degree of its baseness. We cannot help reflecting upon it\nwith horror: but, as truly detestable as this vice is, and must be\nacknowledged to be, by all mankind, so far are those that practise it\nfrom being treated with a just resentment by the rest of mankind, that\nby the kind reception they afterwards meet with, they rather seem to be\nencouraged and applauded, than despised and discountenanced, for it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXI.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE TIGER.]\n\n\nA skilful archer coming into the woods, directed his arrows so\nsuccessfully, that he slew many wild beasts, and pursued several others.\nThis put the whole savage kind into a fearful consternation, and made\nthem fly to the most retired thickets for refuge. At last, the Tiger\nresumed a courage, and, bidding them not to be afraid, said, that he\nalone would engage the enemy; telling them, they might depend upon his\nvalour and strength to revenge their wrongs. In the midst of these\nthreats, while he was lashing himself with his tail, and tearing up the\nground for anger, an arrow pierced his ribs, and hung by its barbed\npoint in his side. He set up an hideous and loud roar, occasioned by\nthe anguish which he felt, and endeavoured to draw out the painful dart\nwith his teeth; when the Fox, approaching him, inquired with an air of\nsurprise, who it was that could have strength and courage enough to\nwound so mighty and valorous a beast?--'Ah!' says the Tiger, 'I was\nmistaken in my reckoning: it was that invincible man yonder.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThough strength and courage are very good ingredients towards the making\nus secure and formidable in the world, yet, unless there be a proper\nportion of wisdom or policy to direct them, instead of being\nserviceable, they often prove detrimental to their proprietors. A rash\nfroward man, who depends upon the excellence of his own parts and\naccomplishments, is likewise apt to expose a weak side, which his\nenemies might not otherwise have observed, and gives an advantage to\nothers by those very means which he fancied would have secured it to\nhimself. Counsel and conduct always did, and always will, govern the\nworld; and the strong, in spite of all their force, can never avoid\nbeing tools to the crafty. Some men are as much superior to others in\nwisdom and policy, as man, in general, is above a brute. Strength\nill-concerted, opposed to them, is like a quarter staff in the hands of\na huge, robust, but bungling fellow, who fights against a master of the\nscience. The latter, though without a weapon, would have skill and\naddress enough to disarm his adversary, and drub him with his own staff.\nIn a word, savage fierceness and brutal strength must not pretend to\nstand in competition with finesse and stratagem.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXII.\n\n[Illustration: THE LIONESS AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nThe Lioness and the Fox meeting together fell into discourse; and the\nconversation turning upon the breeding and the fruitfulness of some\nliving creatures above others, the Fox could not forbear taking the\nopportunity of observing to the Lioness, that, for her part, she thought\nFoxes were as happy in that respect as almost any other creatures; for\nthat they bred constantly once a year, if not oftener, and always had a\ngood litter of cubs at every birth: 'and yet,' says she, 'there are\nthose who are never delivered of more than one at a time, and that\nperhaps not above once or twice through their whole life, who hold up\ntheir noses, and value themselves so much upon it, that they think all\nother creatures beneath them, and scarce worthy to be spoken to.' The\nLioness, who all the while perceived at whom this reflection pointed,\nwas fired with resentment, and with a good deal of vehemence\nreplied--'What you have observed may be true, and that not without\nreason. You produce a great many at a litter, and often; but what are\nthey?--Foxes. I indeed have but one at a time; but you should remember\nthat this one is a Lion.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nOur productions, of whatsoever kind, are not to be esteemed so much by\nthe quantity as the quality of them. It is not being employed much, but\nwell, and to the purpose, which makes us useful to the age we live in,\nand celebrated by those which are to come. As it is a misfortune to the\ncountries which are infested with them, for Foxes and other vermin to\nmultiply; so one cannot help throwing out a melancholy reflection, when\none sees some particulars of the humankind increase so fast as they do.\nBut the most obvious meaning of this fable, is the hint it gives us in\nrelation to authors. These gentlemen should never attempt to raise\nthemselves a reputation, by enumerating a catalogue of their\nproductions; since there is more glory in having written one tolerable\npiece, than a thousand indifferent ones. And whoever has had the good\nfortune to please in one performance of this kind, should be very\ncautious how he ventures his reputation in a second.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE OAK AND THE REED.]\n\n\nAn oak, which hung over the bank of a river, was blown down by a violent\nstorm of wind; and as it was carried along by the stream, some of its\nboughs brushed against a Reed which grew near the shore. This struck the\nOak with a thought of admiration; and he could not forbear asking the\nReed, how he came to stand so secure and unhurt, in a tempest which had\nbeen furious enough to tear an Oak up by the roots? 'Why,' says the\nReed, 'I secure myself by putting on a behaviour quite contrary to what\nyou do; instead of being stubborn and stiff, and confiding in my\nstrength, I yield and bend to the blast, and let it go over me; knowing\nhow vain and fruitless it would be to resist.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThough a tame submission to injuries which it is in our power to\nredress, be generally esteemed a base and a dishonourable thing; yet, to\nresist where there is no probability, or even hopes, of our getting the\nbetter, may also be looked upon as the effect of a blind temerity, and\nperhaps of a weak understanding. The strokes of fortune are oftentimes\nas irresistible as they are severe; and he who, with an impatient\nreluctant spirit, fights against her, instead of alleviating, does but\ndouble her blows upon himself. A person of a quiet still temper, whether\nit is given him by Nature, or acquired by art, calmly composes himself,\nin the midst of a storm, so as to elude the shock, or receive it with\nthe least detriment; like a prudent experienced sailor, who is swimming\nto the shore from a wrecked vessel in a swelling sea, he does not oppose\nthe fury of the waves, but stoops and gives way, that they may roll over\nhis head without obstruction. The doctrine of absolute submission in all\ncases is an absurd dogmatical precept, with nothing but ignorance and\nsuperstition to support it: but, upon particular occasions, and where it\nis impossible for us to overcome, to submit patiently is one of the most\nreasonable maxims in life.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE WIND AND THE SUN.]\n\n\nA dispute once arose between the north Wind and the Sun, about the\nsuperiority of their power; and they agreed to try their strength upon a\ntraveller, which should be able to get his cloak off first. The north\nWind began, and blew a very cold blast, accompanied with a sharp driving\nshower. But this, and whatever else he could do, instead of making the\nman quit his cloak, obliged him to gird it about his body as close as\npossible. Next came the Sun, who, breaking out from a thick watery\ncloud, drove away the cold vapours from the sky, and darted his warm\nsultry beams upon the head of the poor weather-beaten traveller. The man\ngrowing faint with the heat, and unable to endure it any longer, first\nthrows off his heavy cloak, and then flies for protection to the shade\nof a neighbouring grove.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThere is something in the temper of men so averse to severe and\nboisterous treatment, that he who endeavours to carry his point that\nway, instead of prevailing, generally leaves the mind of him, whom he\nhas thus attempted, in a more confirmed and obstinate situation than he\nfound it at first. Bitter words and hard usage freeze the heart into a\nkind of obduracy, which mild persuasion and gentle language only can\ndissolve and soften. Persecution has always fixed and rivetted those\nopinions which it was intended to dispel; and some discerning men have\nattributed the quick growth of Christianity, in a great measure, to the\nrough and barbarous reception which its first teachers met with in the\nworld. The same may have been observed of our reformation; the blood of\nthe martyrs was the manure which produced that great Protestant crop, on\nwhich the church of England has subsisted ever since. Providence, which\nalways makes use of the most natural means to attain its purpose, has\nthought fit to establish the purest religion by this method: the\nconsideration of which may give a proper check to those who are\ncontinually endeavouring to root out errors by that very management,\nwhich so infallibly fixes and implants all opinions, as well erroneous\nas orthodox. When an opinion is so violently attacked, it raises an\nattention in the persecuted party, and gives an alarm to their vanity,\nby making them think that worth defending and keeping, at the hazard of\ntheir lives, which, perhaps, otherwise they would only have admired\nawhile for the sake of its novelty, and afterwards resigned of their own\naccord. In short, a fierce turbulent opposition, like the north Wind,\nonly serves to make a man wrap up his notions more closely about him;\nbut we know not what a kind, warm, Sun-shiny behaviour, rightly applied,\nwould not be able to effect.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXV.\n\n[Illustration: THE KITE, THE FROG, AND THE MOUSE.]\n\n\nThere was once a great emulation between the Frog and the Mouse, which\nshould be master of the fen, and wars ensued upon it. But the crafty\nMouse, lurking under the grass in ambuscade, made sudden sallies, and\noften surprised the enemy at a disadvantage. The Frog, excelling in\nstrength, and being more able to leap abroad and take the field,\nchallenged the Mouse to single combat. The Mouse accepts the challenge;\nand each of them entered the lists, armed with a point of a bulrush\ninstead of a spear. A Kite, sailing in the air, beheld them afar off;\nand, while they were eagerly bent upon each other, and pressing on to\nthe duel, this fatal enemy descended souse upon them, and with her\ncrooked talons carried off both the champions.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nNothing so much exposes a man's weak side, and lays him so open to an\nenemy, as passion and malice. He whose attention is wholly fixed upon\nforming a project of revenge, is ignorant of the mischiefs that may be\nhatching against him from some other quarter, and, upon the attack, is\nunprovided with the means of defending or securing himself. How are the\nmembers of a commonwealth sometimes divided amongst themselves, and\ninspired with rancour and malice to the last degree; and often upon as\ngreat a trifle as that which was the subject matter of debate between\nthe Frog and the Mouse; not for any real advantage, but merely who shall\nget the better in the dispute? But such animosities, as insignificant\nand trifling as they may be among themselves, are yet of the last\nimportance to their enemies, by giving them many fair opportunities of\nfalling upon them, and reducing them to misery and slavery. O Britons,\nwhen will ye be wise! when will ye throw away the ridiculous\ndistinctions of party, those ends of bulrushes, and by a prudent union\nsecure yourselves in a state of peace and prosperity! A state, of which,\nif it were not for your intolerably foolish and unnecessary divisions at\nhome, all the powers upon earth could never deprive you.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE FROGS DESIRING A KING.]\n\n\nThe Frogs, living an easy free life every where among the lakes and\nponds, assembled together, one day, in a very tumultuous manner, and\npetitioned Jupiter to let them have a King, who might inspect their\nmorals, and make them live a little honester. Jupiter, being at that\ntime in pretty good humour, was pleased to laugh heartily at their\nridiculous request; and, throwing a little log down into the pool,\ncried, 'There is a King for you.' The sudden splash which this made by\nits fall into the water, at first terrified them so exceedingly, that\nthey were afraid to come near it. But in a little time, seeing it lay\nstill without moving, they ventured, by degrees, to approach it; and at\nlast, finding there was no danger, they leaped upon it; and, in short,\ntreated it as familiarly as they pleased. But not contented with so\ninsipid a King as this was, they sent their deputies to petition again\nfor another sort of one; for this they neither did nor could like. Upon\nthat he sent them a Stork, who, without any ceremony, fell a devouring\nand eating them up, one after another, as fast as he could. Then they\napplied themselves privately to Mercury, and got him to speak to Jupiter\nin their behalf, that he would be so good as to bless them again with\nanother King, or to restore them to their former state. 'No,' says he,\n'since it was their own choice, let the obstinate wretches suffer the\npunishment due to their folly.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIt is pretty extraordinary to find a fable of this kind finished with so\nbold and yet polite a turn by Ph\u00e6drus: one who attained his freedom by\nthe favour of Augustus, and wrote it in the time of Tiberius; who were,\nsuccessively, tyrannical usurpers of the Roman government. If we may\ntake his word for it, \u00c6sop spoke it upon this occasion. When the\ncommonwealth of Athens flourished under good wholesome laws of its own\nenacting, they relied so much upon the security of their liberty, that\nthey negligently suffered it to run out into licentiousness. And\nfactions happening to be fomented among them by designing people, much\nabout the same time, Pisistratus took that opportunity to make himself\nmaster of their citadel and liberties both together. The Athenians\nfinding themselves in a slate of slavery, though their tyrant happened\nto be a very merciful one, yet could not bear the thoughts of it; so\nthat \u00c6sop, where there was no remedy, prescribes to them patience, by\nthe example of the foregoing fable; and adds, at last, 'Wherefore, my\ndear countrymen, be contented with your present condition, bad as it is,\nfor fear a change should be worse.'\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD WOMAN AND HER MAIDS.]\n\n\nA certain Old Woman had several Maids, whom she used to call up to their\nwork, every morning, at the crowing of the Cock. The Wenches, who found\nit grievous to have their sweet sleep disturbed so early, combined\ntogether, and killed the Cock; thinking, that, when the alarm was gone,\nthey might enjoy themselves in their warm beds a little longer. The Old\nWoman, grieved for the loss of her Cock, and having, by some means or\nother, discovered the whole plot, was resolved to be even with them;\nfor, from that time, she obliged them to rise constantly at midnight.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIt can never be expected that things should be, in all respects,\nagreeable to our wishes; and, if they are not very bad indeed, we\nought, in many cases, to be contented with them; lest when, through\nimpatience, we precipitately quit our present condition of life, we may\nto our sorrow find, with the old saying, that seldom comes a better.\nBefore we attempt any alteration of moment, we should be certain what\nstate it will produce; for, when things are already bad, to make them\nworse by trying experiments, is an argument of great weakness and folly,\nand is sure to be attended with a too late repentance. Grievances, if\nreally such, ought by all means to be redressed, provided we can be\nassured of doing it with success: but we had better, at any time, bear\nwith some inconvenience, than make our condition worse by attempting to\nmend it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE LION, THE BEAR, AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nA Lion and a Bear fell together by the ears over the carcass of a Fawn\nwhich they found in the forest, their title to him being to be decided\nby force of arms. The battle was severe and tough on both sides, and\nthey held it out, tearing and worrying one another so long, that, what\nwith wounds and fatigue, they were so faint and weary, that they were\nnot able to strike another stroke. Thus, while they lay upon the ground,\npanting and lolling out their tongues, a Fox chanced to pass by that\nway, who, perceiving how the case stood, very impudently stepped in\nbetween them, seized the booty which they had all this while been\ncontending for, and carried it off. The two combatants, who lay and\nbeheld all this, without having strength enough to stir and prevent it,\nwere only wise enough to make this reflection: 'Behold the fruits of our\nstrife and contention! that villain, the Fox, bears away the prize, and\nwe ourselves have deprived each other of the power to recover it from\nhim.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWhen people go to law about an uncertain title, and have spent their\nwhole estate in the contest, nothing is more common than for some little\npettifogging attorney to step in and secure it to himself. The very name\nof law seems to imply equity and justice, and that is the bait which has\ndrawn in many to their ruin. Others are excited by their passions, and\ncare not if they destroy themselves, so they do but see their enemy\nperish with them. But, if we lay aside prejudice and folly, and think\ncalmly of the matter, we shall find, that going to law is not the best\nway of deciding differences about property; it being, generally\nspeaking, much safer to trust to the arbitration of two or three honest\nsensible neighbours, than, at a vast expense of money, time, and\ntrouble, to run through the tedious, frivolous forms, with which, by the\nartifice of greedy lawyers, a court of judicature is contrived to be\nattended. It has been said, that if mankind would lead moral virtuous\nlives, there would be no occasion for divines; if they would but live\ntemperately and soberly, that they would never want physicians; both\nwhich assertions, though true in the main, are yet expressed in too\ngreat a latitude. But one may venture to affirm, that if men preserved\na strict regard to justice and honesty in their dealings with each\nother, and, upon any mistake or misapprehension, were always ready to\nrefer the matter to disinterested umpires, of acknowledged judgment and\nintegrity, they never could have the least occasion for lawyers. When\npeople have gone to law, it is rarely to be found but one or both\nparties was either stupidly obstinate, or rashly inconsiderate. For, if\nthe case should happen to be so intricate, that a man of common sense\ncould not distinguish who had the best title, how easy would it be to\nhave the opinion of the best counsel in the land, and agree to determine\nit by that? If it should appear dubious even after that, how much better\nwould it be to divide the thing in dispute, rather than go to law, and\nhazard the losing not only of the whole, but costs and damages into the\nbargain?\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XXXIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE CROW AND THE PITCHER.]\n\n\nA Crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a Pitcher, which he\nbeheld at some distance. When he came, he found water in it indeed, but\nso near the bottom, that, with all his stooping and straining, he was\nnot able to reach it. Then he endeavoured to overturn the Pitcher, that\nso at least he might be able to get a little of it. But his strength was\nnot sufficient for this. At last, seeing some pebbles lie near the\nplace, he cast them one by one into the Pitcher; and thus, by degrees,\nraised the water up to the very brim, and satisfied his thirst.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nMany things which cannot be effected by strength, or by the vulgar way\nof enterprising, may yet be brought about by some new and untried means.\nA man of sagacity and penetration, upon encountering a difficulty or\ntwo, does not immediately despair; but, if he cannot succeed one way,\nemploys his wit and ingenuity another; and, to avoid or get over an\nimpediment, makes no scruple of stepping out of the path of his\nforefathers. Since our happiness, next to the regulation of our minds,\ndepends altogether upon our having and enjoying the conveniences of\nlife, why should we stand upon ceremony about the methods of obtaining\nthem, or pay any deference to antiquity upon that score? If almost every\nage had not exerted itself in some new improvements of its own, we\nshould want a thousand arts, or, at least, many degrees of perfection in\nevery art, which at present we are in possession of. The invention of\nany thing which is more commodious for the mind or body than what they\nhad before, ought to be embraced readily, and the projector of it\ndistinguished with a suitable encouragement. Such as the use of the\ncompass, for example, from which mankind reaps so much benefit and\nadvantage, and which was not known to former ages. When we follow the\nsteps of those who have gone before us in the old beaten track of life,\nhow do we differ from horses in a team, which are linked to each other\nby a chain or harness, and move on in a dull heavy pace, to the tune of\ntheir leader's bells? But the man who enriches the present fund of\nknowledge with some new and useful improvement, like a happy adventurer\nat sea, discovers, as it were, an unknown land, and imports an\nadditional trade into his own country.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XL.\n\n[Illustration: THE PORCUPINE AND THE SNAKES.]\n\n\nA Porcupine, wanting to shelter himself, desired a nest of Snakes to\ngive him admittance into their cave. They were prevailed upon, and let\nhim in accordingly; but were so annoyed with his sharp prickly quills,\nthat they soon repented of their easy compliance, and entreated the\nPorcupine to withdraw, and leave them their hole to themselves. 'No,'\nsays he, 'let them quit the place that don't like it; for my part, I am\nwell enough satisfied as I am.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nSome people are of such brutish, inhospitable tempers, that there is no\nliving with them, without greatly incommoding ourselves. Therefore,\nbefore we enter into any degree of friendship, alliance, or partnership,\nwith any person whatever, we should thoroughly consider his nature and\nqualities, his circumstances and his humour. There ought to be something\nin each of these respects to tally and correspond with our own measures,\nto suit our genius, and adapt itself to the size and proportion of our\ndesires; otherwise our associations, of whatever kind, may prove the\ngreatest plagues of our life. Young men are very apt to run into this\nerror; and being warm in all their passions, throw open their arms at\nonce, and admit into the greatest intimacy persons whom they know little\nof, but by false and uncertain lights. Thus they sometimes receive a\nViper into their bosom instead of a friend, and take a Porcupine for a\nconsort, with whom they are obliged to cohabit, though she may prove a\nthorn in their sides as long as they live. A true friend is one of the\ngreatest blessings in life; therefore to be mistaken or disappointed of\nsuch enjoyment, when we hope to be in full possession of it must be as\ngreat a mortification. So that we cannot be too nice and scrupulous in\nour choice of those who are to be our companions for life: for they must\nhave but a poor shallow notion of friendship, who intend to take it,\nlike a lease, for a term of years only. In a word, the doctrine which\nthis fable speaks, is to prepare us against being injured or deceived by\na rash combination of any sort. The manners of the man we desire for a\nfriend, of the woman we like for a wife, of the person with whom we\nwould jointly manage and concert measures for the advancement of our\ntemporal interest, should be narrowly and cautiously inspected, before\nwe embark with them in the same vessel, lest we should alter our mind\nwhen it is too late, and think of regaining the shore after we have\nlaunched out of our depth.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLI.\n\n[Illustration: THE HARES AND FROGS IN A STORM.]\n\n\nUpon a great storm of wind that blew among the trees and bushes, and\nmade a rustling with the leaves, the Hares (in a certain park where\nthere happened to be plenty of them) were so terribly frighted, that\nthey ran like mad all over the place, resolving to seek out some retreat\nof more security, or to end their unhappy days by doing violence to\nthemselves. With this resolution they found an outlet where a pale had\nbeen broken down, and, bolting forth upon an adjoining common, had not\nrun far before their course was stopped by that of a gentle brook which\nglided across the way they intended to take. This was so grievous a\ndisappointment, that they were not able to bear it; and they determined\nrather to throw themselves headlong into the water, let what would\nbecome of it, than lead a life so full of dangers and crosses. But, upon\ntheir coming to the brink of the river, a parcel of Frogs, which were\nsitting there, frighted at their approach, leaped into the stream in\ngreat confusion, and dived to the very bottom for fear: which a cunning\nold Puss observing, called to the rest and said, 'Hold, have a care what\nye do: here are other creatures, I perceive, which have their fears as\nwell as us: don't then let us fancy ourselves the most miserable of any\nupon earth; but rather, by their example, learn to bear patiently those\ninconveniences which our nature has thrown upon us.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable is designed to show us how unreasonable many people are for\nliving in such continual fears and disquiets about the miserableness of\ntheir condition. There is hardly any state of life great enough to\nsatisfy the wishes of an ambitious man; and scarce any so mean but may\nsupply all the necessities of him that is moderate. But if people will\nbe so unwise as to work themselves up to imaginary misfortunes, why do\nthey grumble at nature and their stars, when their own perverse minds\nare only to blame? If we are to conclude ourselves unhappy by as many\ndegrees as there are others greater than we, why then the greatest part\nof mankind must be miserable, in some degree at least. But, if they who\nrepine at their own afflicted condition, would but reckon up how many\nmore there are with whom they would not change cases, than whose\npleasures they envy, they would certainly rise up better satisfied from\nsuch a calculation. But what shall we say to those who have a way of\ncreating themselves panics from the rustling of the wind, the scratching\nof a Rat or Mouse behind the hangings, the fluttering of a Moth, or the\nmotion of their own shadow by moonlight? Their whole life is as full of\nalarms as that of a Hare, and they never think themselves so happy as\nwhen, like the timorous folks in the fable, they meet with a set of\ncreatures as fearful as themselves.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLII.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE WOLF.]\n\n\nThe Wolf having laid in store of provision, kept close at home, and made\nmuch of himself. The Fox observed this, and thinking it something\nparticular, went to visit him, the better to inform himself of the truth\nof the matter. The Wolf excused himself from seeing him, by pretending\nhe was very much indisposed. All this did but confirm the Fox in his\nsuspicions: so away he goes to a shepherd, and made discovery of the\nWolf; telling him, he had nothing else to do but to come with a good\nweapon and knock him on the head as he lay in his cave. The shepherd\nfollowed his directions, and killed the Wolf. The wicked Fox enjoyed the\ncave and provisions to himself, but enjoyed them not long; for the same\nshepherd passing afterwards by the same hole, and seeing the Fox there,\ndispatched him also.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable seems to be directed against the odious trade of informing.\nNot that giving information against criminals and enemies of the public\nis in itself odious, for it is commendable; but the circumstances and\nmanner of doing it oftentimes make it a vile and detestable employment.\nHe that accuses another merely for the sake of the promised reward, or\nin hopes of getting his forfeited estate, or with any other such\nmercenary view, nay, even to save his own life, whatever he gets by the\nbargain, is sure to lose his reputation: for, indeed, the most innocent\ncompany is not safe with such a one in it, nor the neighbourhood secure\nin which he lives. A villain of his stamp, whose only end is getting,\nwill as soon betray the innocent as the guilty: let him but know where\nthere is a suspected person, and propose the reward, and he will scarce\nfail to work the suspicion up to high-treason, or be at a loss to give\nsufficient proofs of it. We have no small comfort concerning this sort\nof people, when we consider how improbable it is that they should thrive\nor prosper long in their ill-gotten possessions. For he that can betray\nanother for the sake of a little pelf, must be a man of such bad\nprinciples, that it cannot be for the interest of any community to\nsuffer him to live long in it. Besides, he himself will not be\ncontented with one single villany; and there is no fear but he will\nprovoke justice to hurl down upon his head at least as great a calamity\nas he, by his malicious information, has brought upon another.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE DOG AND THE SHEEP.]\n\n\nThe Dog sued the Sheep for a debt, of which the Kite and the Wolf were\nto be judges. They, without debating long upon the matter, or making any\nscruple for want of evidence, gave sentence for the plaintiff; who\nimmediately tore the poor Sheep in pieces, and divided the spoil with\nthe unjust judges.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nDeplorable are the times when open barefaced villany is protected and\nencouraged, when innocence is obnoxious, honesty contemptible, and it is\nreckoned criminal to espouse the cause of virtue. Men originally entered\ninto covenants and civil compacts with each other for the promotion of\ntheir happiness and well-being, for the establishment of justice and\npublic peace. How comes it then that they look stupidly on, and tamely\nacquiesce, when wicked men pervert this end, and establish an arbitrary\ntyranny of their own upon the foundation of fraud and oppression? Among\nbeasts, who are incapable of being civilized by social laws, it is no\nstrange thing to see innocent helpless Sheep fall a prey to Dogs,\nWolves, and Kites: but it is amazing how mankind could ever sink down to\nsuch a low degree of base cowardice, as to suffer some of the worst of\ntheir species to usurp a power over them, to supersede the righteous\nlaws of good government, and to exercise all kinds of injustice and\nhardship, in gratifying their own vicious lusts. Wherever such\nenormities are practised, it is when a few rapacious statesmen combine\ntogether to get and secure the power in their own hands, and agree to\ndivide the spoil among themselves. For as long as the cause is to be\ntried only among themselves, no question but they will always vouch for\neach other. But, at the same time, it is hard to determine which\nresemble brutes most, they in acting, or the people in suffering them to\nact, their vile selfish schemes.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE PEACOCK AND THE CRANE.]\n\n\nThe Peacock and the Crane by chance met together in the same place. The\nPeacock erecting his tail, displayed his gaudy plumes, and looked with\ncontempt upon the Crane, as some mean ordinary person. The Crane,\nresolving to mortify his insolence, took occasion to say, that Peacocks\nwere very fine birds indeed, if fine feathers could make them so; but\nthat he thought it a much nobler thing to be able to rise above the\nclouds, than to strut about upon the ground, and be gazed at by\nchildren.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIt is very absurd to slight or insult another upon his wanting a\nproperty which we possess; for he may, for any thing we know, have as\njust reason to triumph over us, by being master of some good quality of\nwhich we are incapable. But, in regard to the fable before us, that\nwhich the Peacock values himself upon, the glitter and finery of dress,\nis one of the most trifling considerations in nature; and what a man of\nsense would be ashamed to reckon even as the least part of merit.\nIndeed, children, and those people who think much about the same pitch\nwith them, are apt to be taken with varnish and tinsel: but they who\nexamine by the scale of common sense must find something of weight and\nsubstance, before they can be persuaded to set a value. The mind which\nis stored with virtuous and rational sentiments, and the behaviour which\nspeaks complacence and humility, stamps an estimate upon the possessor,\nwhich all judicious spectators are ready to admire and acknowledge. But\nif there be any merit in an embroidered coat, a brocade waistcoat, a\nshoe, a stocking, or a sword-knot, the person who wears them has the\nleast claim to it; let it be ascribed where it justly belongs--to the\nseveral artizans who wrought and disposed the materials of which they\nconsist. This moral is not intended to derogate any thing from the\nmagnificence of fine clothes and rich equipages, which, as times and\ncircumstances require, may be used with decency and propriety enough:\nbut one cannot help being concerned, lest any worth should be affixed to\nthem more than their own intrinsic value.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLV.\n\n[Illustration: THE VIPER AND THE FILE.]\n\n\nA Viper entering a smith's shop, looked up and down for something to\neat; and seeing a File, fell to gnawing it as greedily as could be. The\nFile told him, very gruffly, that he had best be quiet and let him\nalone; for he would get very little by nibbling at one who, upon\noccasion, could bite iron and steel.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nBy this fable we are cautioned to consider what any person is, before we\nmake an attack upon him after any manner whatsoever: particularly how we\nlet our tongues slip in censuring the actions of those who are, in the\nopinion of the world, not only of an unquestioned reputation, so that\nnobody will believe what we insinuate against them; but of such an\ninfluence, upon account of their own veracity, that the least word from\nthem would ruin our credit to all intents and purposes. If wit be the\ncase, and we have a satirical vein, which at certain periods must have a\nflow, let us be cautious at whom we level it; for if the person's\nunderstanding be of better proof than our own, all our ingenious\nsallies, like liquor squirted against the wind, will recoil back upon\nour own faces, and make us the ridicule of every spectator. This fable,\nbesides, is not an improper emblem of envy; which, rather than not bite\nat all, will fall foul where it can hurt nothing but itself.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE ASS, THE LION, AND THE COCK.]\n\n\nAn Ass and a Cock happened to be feeding together in the same place,\nwhen on a sudden they spied a Lion approaching them. This beast is\nreported, above all things, to have an aversion, or rather antipathy, to\nthe crowing of a Cock; so that he no sooner heard the voice of that\nbird, but he betook him to his heels, and run away as fast as ever he\ncould. The Ass fancying he fled for fear of him, in the bravery of his\nheart, pursued him, and followed him so far, that they were quite out of\nthe hearing of the Cock; which the Lion no sooner perceived, but he\nturned about and seized the Ass; and just as he was ready to tear him to\npieces, the sluggish creature is said to have expressed himself\nthus:--'Alas! fool that I was, knowing the cowardice of my own nature,\nthus, by an affected courage, to throw myself into the jaws of death,\nwhen I might have remained secure and unmolested!'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThere are many who, out of an ambition to appear considerable, affect to\nshow themselves men of fire, spirit, and courage: but these being\nqualities, of which they are not the right owners, they generally expose\nthemselves, and show the little title they have to them, by endeavouring\nto exert and produce them at unseasonable times, or with improper\npersons. A bully, for fear you should find him out to be a coward,\noveracts his part, and calls you to account for affronts which a man of\ntrue bravery would never have thought of: and a cowardly silly fellow,\nobserving that he may take some liberties with impunity, where perhaps\nthe place or the company protect him, falsely concludes from thence,\nthat the person with whom he made free is a greater coward than himself;\nso that he not only continues his offensive raillery and impertinence\nfor the present, but probably renews them in some place not so\nprivileged as the former, where his insolence meets with a due\nchastisement; than which nothing is more equitable in itself, or\nagreeable to the discreet part of mankind.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE JACKDAW AND PEACOCKS.]\n\n\nA certain Jackdaw was so proud and ambitious, that, not contented to\nlive within his own sphere, he picked up the feathers which fell from\nthe Peacocks, stuck them in among his own, and very confidently\nintroduced himself into an assembly of those beautiful birds. They soon\nfound him out, stripped him of his borrowed plumes, and, falling upon\nhim with their sharp bills, punished him as his presumption deserved.\nUpon this, full of grief and affliction, he returned to his old\ncompanions, and would have flocked with them again; but they, knowing\nhis late life and conversation, industriously avoided him, and refused\nto admit him into their company: and of them, at the same time, gave him\nthis serious reproof--'If, friend, you could have been contented with\nour station, and had not disdained the rank in which Nature had placed\nyou, you had not been used so scurvily by those upon whom you intruded\nyourself, nor suffered the notorious slight which now we think ourselves\nobliged to put upon you.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWhat we may learn from this fable is, in the main, to live contentedly\nin our own condition, whatever it be, without affecting to look bigger\nthan we are, by a false or borrowed light. To be barely pleased with\nappearing above what a man really is, is bad enough; and what may justly\nrender him contemptible in the eyes of his equals: but if, to enable him\nto do this with something of a better grace, he has clandestinely\nfeathered his nest with his neighbour's goods, when found out, he has\nnothing to expect but to be stripped of his plunder, and used like a\nfelonious rogue into the bargain.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE ANT AND THE FLY.]\n\n\nOne day there happened some words between the Ant and the Fly about\nprecedency, and the point was argued with great warmth and eagerness on\nboth sides. Says the Fly, 'It is well known what my pretensions are, and\nhow justly they are grounded: there is never a sacrifice that is offered\nbut I always taste of the entrails, even before the gods themselves. I\nhave one of the uppermost seats at church, and frequent the altar as\noften as any body: I have a free admission at court; and can never want\nthe king's ear, for I sometimes sit upon his shoulder. There is not a\nmaid of honour, or handsome young creature, comes in my way, but, if I\nlike her, I settle betwixt her balmy lips, and then I eat and drink the\nbest of every thing, without having any occasion to work for my living.\nWhat is there that such country pusses as you enjoy, to be compared with\na life like this?'--The Ant, who by this time had composed herself,\nreplied with a great deal of temper, and no less severity--'Indeed, to\nbe a guest at an entertainment of the gods, is a very great honour, if\none is invited; but I should not care to be a disagreeable intruder any\nwhere. You talk of the king and the court, and the fine ladies there,\nwith great familiarity; but, as I have been getting in my harvest in\nsummer, I have seen a certain person under the town walls, making a\nhearty meal upon something that is not so proper to be mentioned. As to\nyour frequenting the altars, you are in the right to take sanctuary\nwhere you are like to meet with the least disturbance: but I have known\npeople before now run to altars, and call it devotion, when they have\nbeen shut out of all good company, and had no where else to go. You do\nnot work for your living, you say,--true: therefore, when you have\nplayed away the summer, and winter comes, you have nothing to live upon;\nand, while you are starving with cold and hunger, I have a good warm\nhouse over my head, and plenty of provisions about me.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable points out to us the different characters of those that\nrecommend themselves in a vain-glorious way by false and borrowed\nlights; and of those whose real merit procures them a good esteem\nwherever they go. Poverty and folly having, at the same time,\npossession of any one man, cannot fail of making him an object of pity,\nif not of contempt; but, when an empty conceited pride happens to be\njoined with them, they render the creature in whom they meet at the same\ntime despicable and ridiculous. One who often attends at court, not\nbecause he has a place, but because he has not, should not value himself\nupon his condition. They who go to church out of vanity and curiosity,\nand not for pure devotion, should not value themselves upon their\nreligion, for it is not worth a straw. They who eat at a threepenny\nordinary, and sometimes not so well, should not boast either of their\ndinner or company. In short, nobody is a better gentleman, than he whose\nown honest industry supplies him with a plenty of all necessaries; who\nis so well acquainted with honour, as never to say or do a mean and\nunjust thing; and who despises an idle scoundrel, but knows how to\nesteem men of his own principles. Such a one is a person of the first\nquality, though he has never a title, and ought to take place of every\nman who is not so good as himself.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XLIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER.]\n\n\nIn the winter season, a commonwealth of Ants was busily employed in the\nmanagement and preservation of their corn; which they exposed to the air\nin heaps round about the avenues of their little country habitation. A\nGrasshopper, who had chanced to outlive the summer, and was ready to\nstarve with cold and hunger, approached them with great humility, and\nbegged that they would relieve his necessity, with one grain of wheat or\nrye. One of the Ants asked him, how he had disposed of his time in\nsummer, that he had not taken pains, and laid in a stock, as they had\ndone?--'Alas, gentlemen,' says he, 'I passed away the time merrily and\npleasantly, in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never once thought\nof winter.'--'If that be the case,' replied the Ant, laughing, 'all I\nhave to say is, that they who drink, sing, and dance in the summer, must\nstarve in winter.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nAs summer is the season of the year in which the industrious and\nlaborious husbandman gathers and lays up such fruits as may supply his\nnecessities in winter, so youth and manhood are the times of life which\nwe should employ and bestow in laying in such a stock of all kind of\nnecessaries as may suffice for the craving demands of helpless old age.\nYet, notwithstanding the truth of this, there are many of those which we\ncall rational creatures, who live in a method quite opposite to it, and\nmake it their business to squander away, in a profuse prodigality,\nwhatever they get in their younger days: as if the infirmity of age\nwould require no supplies to support it; or, at least, would find them\nadministered to in some miraculous way. From this fable we learn this\nadmirable lesson, never to lose any present opportunity of providing\nagainst the future evils and accidents of life. While health and the\nflower and vigour of our age remain firm and entire, let us lay them out\nto the best advantage, that, when the latter days take hold of us, and\nspoil us of our strength and abilities, we may have a store moderately\nsufficient to subsist upon, which we laid up in the morning of our age.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE L.\n\n[Illustration: THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE.]\n\n\nA villager, in a frosty, snowy winter, found a snake under a hedge,\nalmost dead with cold. He could not help having compassion for the poor\ncreature, so brought it home, and laid it upon the hearth near the fire;\nbut it had not lain there long, before (being revived with the heat) it\nbegan to erect itself, and fly at his wife and children, filling the\nwhole cottage with dreadful hissings. The Countryman hearing an outcry,\nand perceiving what the matter was, catched up a mattock, and soon\ndispatched him; upbraiding him at the same time in these words--'Is\nthis, vile wretch, the reward you make to him that saved your life? Die,\nas you deserve; but a single death is too good for you.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIt is the nature of ingrates to return evil for good: and the moralists,\nin all ages, have incessantly declaimed against the enormity of this\ncrime, concluding, that they who are capable of hurting their\nbenefactors, are not fit to live in a community; being such, as the\nnatural ties of parent, friend, or country, are too weak to restrain\nwithin the bounds of society. Indeed, the sin of ingratitude is so\ndetestable, that as none but the most inhuman temper can be guilty of\nit, so, in writing to men, there is no occasion to use many words,\neither in exposing the vice itself, or dissuading people from the\ncommission of it. Therefore it is not likely that a person of \u00c6sop's\nsagacity would have compiled this fable, without having something else\nin view besides this trite and obvious subject. He certainly intended to\nput us in mind that, as none but a poor silly clown would go to take up\na Snake and cherish it, so we shall be very negligent and ill-advised\nif, in doing good offices, we do not take care to bestow our benevolence\nupon proper objects. It was not at all unnatural in the Snake to hiss,\nand brandish his tongue, and fly at the first that came near him; as\nsoon at the person that saved his life as any other; indeed, more\nlikely, because nobody else had so much to do with him. Nor is it\nstrange at any time to see a reprobate fool throwing his poisonous\nlanguage about, and committing his extravagancies against those, more\nespecially, who are so inadvertent as to concern themselves with him.\nThe Snake and the reprobate will not appear extraordinary in their\nmalevolence: but the sensible part of mankind cannot help thinking those\nguilty of great indiscretion, who receive either of them into their\nprotection.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LI.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE SICK LION.]\n\n\nIt was reported that the Lion was sick, and the beasts were made to\nbelieve that they could not make their court better than by going to\nvisit him. Upon this they generally went; but it was particularly taken\nnotice of, that the Fox was not one of the number. The Lion therefore\ndispatched one of his Jackals to sound him about it, and ask him why he\nhad so little charity and respect, as never to come near him, at a time\nwhen he lay so dangerously ill, and every body else had been to see\nhim?--'Why,' replies the Fox, 'pray present my duty to his majesty, and\ntell him, that I have the same respect for him as ever, and have been\ncoming several times to kiss his royal hand: but I am so terribly\nfrightened at the mouth of his cave, to see the print of my\nfellow-subjects feet all pointing forwards and none backwards, that I\nhave not resolution enough to venture in.' Now the truth of the matter\nwas, that this sickness of the Lion's was only a sham to draw the beasts\ninto his den, the more easily to devour them.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nA man should weigh and consider the nature of any proposal well before\nhe gives into it; for a rash and hasty compliance has been the ruin of\nmany a one. And it is the quintessence of prudence not to be too easy of\nbelief. Indeed the multitude think altogether in the same track, and are\nmuch upon a footing. Their meditations are confined in one channel, and\nthey follow one another, very orderly, in a regular stupidity. Can a man\nof thought and spirit be harnessed thus, and trudge along like a\npack-horse, in a deep, stinking, muddy road, when he may frisk it over\nthe beauteous lawns, or lose himself agreeably in the shady verdant\nmazes of unrestrained contemplation? It is impossible. Vulgar notions\nare so generally attended with error, that wherever one traces the\nfootsteps of the many, tending all one way, it is enough to make one\nsuspect, with the Fox in the fable, that there is some trick in it. The\neye of reason is dulled and stupified when it is confined, and made to\ngaze continually upon the same thing: it rather chooses to look about\nit, and amuse itself with variety of objects, as they lie scattered up\nand down in the unbounded prospect. He that goes implicitly into a\nthing, may be mistaken, notwithstanding the number of those who keep him\ncompany; but he that keeps out till he sees reason to enter, acts upon\ntrue maxims of policy and prudence. In short, it becomes us, as we are\nreasonable creatures, to behave ourselves as such, and to do as few\nthings as possible, of which we may have occasion to repent.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LII.\n\n[Illustration: THE WANTON CALF.]\n\n\nA Calf, full of play and wantonness, seeing the Ox at plough, could not\nforbear insulting him. 'What a sorry poor drudge art thou,' says he, 'to\nbear that heavy yoke upon your neck, and go all day drawing a plough at\nyour tail, to turn up the ground for your master! but you are a wretched\ndull slave, and know no better, or else you would not do it. See what a\nhappy life I lead: I go just where I please; sometimes I lie down under\nthe cool shade; sometimes frisk about in the open sunshine; and, when I\nplease, slake my thirst in the clear sweet brook; but you, if you were\nto perish, have not so much as a little dirty water to refresh you.' The\nOx, not at all moved with what he said, went quietly and calmly on with\nhis work; and, in the evening, was unyoked and turned loose. Soon after\nwhich he saw the Calf taken out of the field, and delivered into the\nhands of a priest, who immediately led him to the altar, and prepared to\nsacrifice him. His head was hung round with fillets of flowers, and the\nfatal knife was just going to be applied to his throat, when the Ox drew\nnear, and whispered him to this purpose--'Behold the end of your\ninsolence and arrogance; it was for this only you were suffered to live\nat all; and pray now, friend, whose condition is best, yours or mine?'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nTo insult people in distress is the property of a cruel, indiscreet, and\ngiddy temper; for, as the proceedings of fortune are very irregular and\nuncertain, we may, the next turn of the wheel, be thrown down to their\ncondition, and they exalted to ours. We are likewise given to understand\nby this fable what the consequence of an idle life generally is, and how\nwell satisfied laborious diligent men are, in the end, when they come\nquietly to enjoy the fruits of their industry. They who by little tricks\nand sharpings, or by open violence and robbery, live in a high expensive\nway, often in their hearts, at least, despise the poor honest man who is\ncontented with the virtuous product of his daily labour, and patiently\nsubmits to his destiny. But how often is the poor man comforted, by\nseeing these wanton villains led in triumph to the altar of justice,\nwhile he has many a cheerful summer's morning to enjoy abroad, and many\na long winter's evening to indulge himself in at home, by a quiet\nhearth, and under an unenvied roof: blessings which often attend a sober\nindustrious man, though the idle and the profligate are utter strangers\nto them. Luxury and intemperance, besides their being certain to shorten\na man's days, are very apt not only to engage people with their seeming\ncharms into a debauched life, utterly prejudicial to their health, but\nto make them have a contempt for others, whose good sense and true taste\nof happiness inspire them with an aversion to idleness and effiminacy,\nand put them upon hardening their constitution by innocent exercise and\nlaudable employment. How many do gluttony and sloth tumble into an\nuntimely grave! while the temperate and the active drink sober draughts\nof life, and spin out their thread to the most desirable length.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LIII.\n\n[Illustration: HERCULES AND THE CARTER.]\n\n\nAs a clownish Fellow was driving his cart along a deep miry lane, the\nwheels stuck so fast in the clay, that the horses could not draw them\nout. Upon this, he fell a bawling and praying to Hercules to come and\nhelp him. Hercules, looking down from a cloud, bid him not lie there,\nlike an idle rascal as he was, but get up and whip his horses stoutly,\nand clap his shoulder to the wheel; adding, that this was the only way\nfor him to obtain his assistance.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable shows us how vain and ill-grounded the expectations of those\npeople are who imagine they can obtain whatever they want by\nimportuning heaven with their prayers; for it is so agreeable to the\nnature of the Divine Being to be better pleased with virtuous actions\nand an honest industry than idle prayers, that it is a sort of blasphemy\nto say otherwise. These were the sentiments of honest good heathens, who\nwere strangers to all revealed religion: but it is not strange that they\nshould embrace and propagate such a notion, since it is no other than\nthe dictate of common reason. What is both strange in itself, and\nsurprising how it could be made so fashionable, is, that most of those\nwhose reason should be enlightened by revelation, are very apt to be\nguilty of this stupidity, and, by praying often for the comforts of\nlife, to neglect that business which is the proper means of procuring\nthem. How such a mistaken devotion came to prevail one cannot imagine,\nunless from one of these two motives; either that people, by such a veil\nof hypocrisy, would pass themselves upon mankind for better than they\nreally are, or are influenced by unskilful preachers (which is\nsometimes, indeed too often, the case) to mind the world as little as\npossible, even to the neglect of their necessary callings. No question\nbut it is a great sin for a man to fail in his trade or occupation by\nrunning often to prayers; it being a demonstration in itself, though the\nScripture had never said it, that we please God most when we are doing\nthe most good: and how can we do more good than, by a sober honest\nindustry, 'to provide for those of our own household,' and to endeavour\n'to have to give to him that needeth?' The man who is virtuously and\nhonestly engaged, is actually serving God all the while, and is more\nlikely to have his silent wishes, accompanied with strenuous endeavours,\ncomplied with by the Supreme Being, than he who begs with a fruitless\nvehemence, and solicits with an empty hand: a hand which would be more\nreligious were it usefully employed, and more devout were it stretched\nforth to do good to those that want it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS.]\n\n\nIn former days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body enjoyed\nthe faculty of speech, and had separate views and designs of their own,\neach part, it seems, in particular for himself, and in the name of the\nwhole, took exception at the conduct of the Belly, and were resolved to\ngrant him supplies no longer. They said they thought it very hard that\nhe should lead an idle good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering\naway, upon his own ungodly guts, all the fruits of their labour; and\nthat, in short, they were resolved for the future, to strike off his\nallowance, and let him shift for himself as well as he could. The Hands\nprotested they would not lift up a finger to keep him from starving;\nand the Mouth wished he might never speak again if he took in the least\nbit of nourishment for him as long as he lived; and, say the Teeth, may\nwe be rotten if ever we chew a morsel for him for the future. This\nsolemn league and covenant was kept as long as any thing of that kind\ncan be kept, which was until each of the rebel members pined away to the\nskin and bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was\nno doing without the Belly, and that, as idle and insignificant as he\nseemed, he contributed as much to the maintenance and welfare of all the\nother parts as they did to his.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable was spoken by Menenius Agrippa, a famous Roman consul and\ngeneral, when he was deputed by the senate to appease a dangerous tumult\nand insurrection of the people. The many wars that nation was engaged\nin, and the frequent supplies they were obliged to raise, had so soured\nand inflamed the minds of the populace, that they were resolved to\nendure it no longer, and obstinately refused to pay the taxes which were\nlevied upon them. It is easy to discern how the great man applied this\nfable. For, if the branches and members of a community refuse the\ngovernment that aid which its necessities require, the whole must perish\ntogether. The rulers of a state, as idle and insignificant as they may\nsometimes seem, are yet as necessary to be kept up and maintained in a\nproper and decent grandeur, as the family of each private person is in a\ncondition suitable to itself. Every man's enjoyment of that little which\nhe gains by his daily labour, depends upon the government's being\nmaintained in a condition to defend and secure him in it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LV.\n\n[Illustration: THE HORSE AND THE LION.]\n\n\nA Lion seeing a fine plump Nag, had a great mind to eat a bit of him,\nbut knew not which way to get him into his power. At last he bethought\nhimself of this contrivance: he gave out that he was a physician, who,\nhaving gained experience by his travels into foreign countries, had made\nhimself capable of curing any sort of malady or distemper incident to\nany kind of beast, hoping by this stratagem to get an easier admittance\namong cattle, and find an opportunity to execute his design. The Horse,\nwho smoked the matter, was resolved to be even with him; and, so\nhumouring the thing, as if he suspected nothing, he prayed the Lion to\ngive him his advice in relation to a thorn he had got in his foot, which\nhad quite lamed him, and gave him great pain and uneasiness. The Lion\nreadily agreed and desired he might see the foot. Upon which the Horse\nlifted up one of his hind legs, and, while the Lion pretended to be\nporing earnestly upon his hoof, gave him such a kick in the face as\nquite stunned him, and left him sprawling upon the ground. In the mean\ntime the Horse trotted away, neighing and laughing merrily at the\nsuccess of the trick, by which he had defeated the purpose of one who\nintended to have tricked him out of his life.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThough all manner of fraud and tricking is mean, and utterly beneath a\nman of sense and honour, yet, methinks, equity itself allows us to\ndisappoint the deceiver, and to repel craft by cunning. Treachery has\nsomething so wicked and worthy of punishment in its nature, that it\ndeserves to meet with a return of its own kind: an open revenge would be\ntoo liberal for it, and nothing matches it but itself. However,\ntherefore, abominable it is to be the aggressor in this point, yet it\ncannot be inconsistent with virtue to counterplot and to take all manner\nof advantage against the man who is undermining us.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE HUSBANDMAN AND THE STORK.]\n\n\nThe Husbandman pitched a net in his fields to take the Cranes and Geese\nwhich came to feed upon the new-sown corn. Accordingly he took several,\nboth Cranes and Geese; and among them a Stork, who pleaded hard for his\nlife, and, among other apologies which he made, alleged, that he was\nneither Goose nor Crane, but a poor harmless Stork, who performed his\nduty to his parents to all intents and purposes, feeding them when they\nwere old, and, as occasion required, carrying them from place to place\nupon his back.--'All this may be true,' replies the Husbandman; 'but, as\nI have taken you in bad company, and in the same crime, you must expect\nto suffer the same punishment.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIf bad company had nothing else to make us shun and avoid it, this,\nmethinks, might be sufficient, that it infects and taints a man's\nreputation, to as great a degree as if he were thoroughly versed in the\nwickedness of the whole gang. What is it to me if the thief who robs me\nof my money gives part of it to build a church? Is he ever the less a\nthief? Shall a woman's going to prayers twice a day save her reputation,\nif she is known to be a malicious lying gossip? No, such mixtures of\nreligion and sin make the offence but the more flagrant, as they\nconvince us that it was not committed out of ignorance. Indeed, there is\nno living without being guilty of some faults, more or less; which the\nworld ought to be good-natured enough to overlook, in consideration of\nthe general frailty of mankind, when they are not too gross and too\nabundant: but when we are so abandoned to stupidity, and a neglect of\nour reputation, as to keep bad company, however little we may be\ncriminal in reality, we must expect the same censure and punishment as\nis due to the most notorious of our companions.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE CAT AND THE COCK.]\n\n\nThe Cat, having a mind to make a meal of the Cock, seized him one\nmorning by surprise, and asked him what he could say for himself why\nslaughter should not pass upon him?--The Cock replied, that he was\nserviceable to mankind by crowing in the morning, and calling them up to\ntheir daily labour.--'That is true,' says the Cat, 'and is the very\nobjection that I have against you; for you make such a shrill\nimpertinent noise, that people cannot sleep for you. Besides you are an\nincestuous rascal, and make no scruple of lying with your mother and\nsisters.'--'Well,' says the Cock, 'this I do not deny; but I do it to\nprocure eggs and chickens for my master.'--'Ah! villain,' says the Cat,\n'hold your wicked tongue; such impieties as these declare that you are\nno longer fit to live.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWhen a wicked man in power has a mind to glut his appetite in any\nrespect, innocence, or even merit, is no protection against him. The\ncries of justice and the voice of reason are of no effect upon a\nconscience hardened in iniquity, and a mind versed in a long practice of\nwrong and robbery. Remonstrances, however reasonably urged, or movingly\ncouched, have no more influence upon the heart of such a one, than the\ngentle evening breeze has upon the oak when it whispers among its\nbranches, or the rising surges upon the deaf rock when they dash and\nbreak against its sides. Power should never be trusted in the hands of\nan impious selfish man, and one that has more regard to the\ngratification of his own unbounded avarice than to public peace and\njustice. Were it not for the tacit consent and heartless compliance of a\ngreat majority of fools, mankind would not be ridden, as oftentimes they\nare, by a little majority of knaves, to their great misfortune: for,\nwhatever people may think of the times, if they were ten times worse\nthan they are, it is principally owing to their own stupidity. Why do\nthey trust the man a moment longer who has once injured and betrayed\nthem?\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE LEOPARD AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nThe Leopard one day took it into his head to value himself upon the\ngreat variety and beauty of his spots, and truly he saw no reason why\neven the Lion should take place of him, since he could not show so\nbeautiful a skin. As for the rest of the wild beasts of the forest, he\ntreated them all, without distinction, in the most haughty disdainful\nmanner. But the Fox being among them, went up to him with a great deal\nof spirit and resolution, and told him, that he was mistaken in the\nvalue he was pleased to set upon himself; since people of judgment were\nnot used to form their opinion of merit from an outside appearance, but\nby considering the good qualities and endowments with which the mind was\nstored within.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHow much more heavenly and powerful would beauty prove, if it were not\nso frequently impaired by the affectation and conceitedness of its\npossessor! If some women were but as modest and unassuming as they are\nhandsome, they might command the hearts of all that behold them: but\nNature seemed to foresee, and has provided against such an\ninconvenience, by tempering its great master-pieces with a due\nproportion of pride and vanity; so that their power, depending upon the\nduration of their beauty only, is like to be but of a short continuance;\nwhich, when they happen to prove tyrants, is no small comfort to us; and\nthen, even while it lasts, will abate much of its severity by the allay\nof those two prevailing ingredients. Wise men are chiefly captivated\nwith the charms of the mind; and whenever they are infatuated with a\npassion for any thing else, it is generally observed that they cease,\nduring that time at least, to be what they were, and are indeed looked\nupon to be only playing the fool. If the fair ones we have been speaking\nof have a true ascendant over them, they will oblige them to divest\nthemselves of common sense, and to talk and act ridiculously, before\nthey can think them worthy of the least regard. Should one of these fine\ncreatures be addressed in the words of Juba,\n\n 'Tis not a set of features, or complexion,\n The tincture of a skin, that I admire.\n Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover,\n Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense.\n The virtuous Marcia towers above her sex.\n True, she is fair; oh, how divinely fair!\n But still the lovely maid improves her charms\n With inward greatness, unaffected wisdom,\n And sanctity of manners.----\n\nThe man that should venture the success of a strong passion upon the\nconstruction she would put upon such a compliment, might have reason to\nrepent of his conduct.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE SHEPHERD'S BOY.]\n\n\nA certain Shepherd's Boy kept his Sheep upon a common, and, in sport and\nwantonness, would often cry out, The Wolf! The Wolf! By this means he\nseveral times drew the Husbandmen, in an adjoining field, from their\nwork; who, finding themselves deluded, resolved for the future to take\nno notice of his alarm. Soon after the Wolf came indeed. The Boy cried\nout in earnest: but no heed being given to his cries, the Sheep were\ndevoured by the Wolf.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHe that is detected for being a notorious liar, besides the ignominy and\nreproach of the thing, incurs this mischief, that he will scarce be able\nto get any one to believe him again as long as he lives. However true\nour complaint may be, or how much soever it may be for our interest to\nhave it believed, yet, if we have been frequently caught tripping\nbefore, we shall hardly be able to gain credit to what we relate\nafterwards. Though mankind are generally stupid enough to be often\nimposed upon, yet few are so senseless as to believe a notorious liar,\nor to trust a cheat upon record. These little shams, when found out, are\nsufficiently prejudicial to the interest of every private person who\npractises them. But, when we are alarmed with imaginary dangers in\nrespect of the public, till the cry grows quite stale and threadbare,\nhow can it be expected we should know when to guard ourselves against\nreal ones.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LX.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE GOAT.]\n\n\nA Fox, having tumbled by chance into a Well, had been casting about a\nlong while, to no purpose, how he should get out again; when at last a\nGoat came to the place, and, wanting to drink, asked Reynard whether the\nwater was good. 'Good!' says he; 'ay, so sweet, that I am afraid I have\nsurfeited myself, I have drank so abundantly.' The Goat upon this,\nwithout any more ado, leaped in; and the Fox, taking the advantage of\nhis horns, by the assistance of them as nimbly leaped out, leaving the\npoor Goat at the bottom of the Well to shift for himself.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe doctrine taught us by this fable is no more than this, that we ought\nto consider who it is that advises us before we follow the advice: for,\nhowever plausible the counsel may seem, if the person that gives it is a\ncrafty knave, we may be assured that he intends to serve himself in it\nmore than us, if not to erect something to his own advantage out of our\nruin.\n\nThe little, poor, country attorney, ready to perish, and sunk to the\nlowest depth of poverty for want of employment, by such arts as these\ndraws the esquire, his neighbour, into the gulf of the law; till, laying\nhold on the branches of his revenue, he lifts himself out of obscurity,\nand leaves the other immured in the bottom of a mortgage.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXI.\n\n[Illustration: CUPID AND DEATH.]\n\n\nCupid, one sultry summer's noon, tired with play, and faint with heat,\nwent into a cool grotto to repose himself, which happened to be the cave\nof Death. He threw himself carelessly down on the floor, and his quiver\nturning topsy-turvy, all the arrows fell out, and mingled with those of\nDeath, which lay scattered up and down the place. When he awoke, he\ngathered them up as well as he could; but they were so intermingled\nthat, though he knew the certain number, he could not rightly\ndistinguish them; from which it happened that he took up some of the\narrows which belonged to Death, and left several of his own in the room\nof them. This is the cause that we, now and then, see the hearts of the\nold and decrepit transfixed with the bolts of Love; and with equal grief\nand surprise behold the youthful blooming part of our species smitten\nwith the darts of Death.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIf we allow for this fable's being written by a heathen, and according\nto the scheme of the ancient pagan theology, it will appear to be a\npretty probable solution of some parts of the dispensation of\nProvidence, which otherwise seem to be obscure and unaccountable. For,\nwhen we see the young and the old fall promiscuously by the hand of\nDeath, and at the same time consider that the world is governed by an\nall-wise Providence, we are puzzled how to account for so seemingly\npreposterous and unnatural a way of working. We should look upon a\ngardener to be mad, or at least very capricious, who, when his young\ntrees are just arrived to a degree of bearing, should cut them down for\nfuel, and choose out old, rotten, decayed, sapless stocks to graft and\ninoculate upon: yet the irregular proceedings of those two levellers,\nLove and Death, appear to be every jot as odd and unreasonable. However,\nwe must take it for granted that these things, though the method of them\nis hidden from our eyes, are transacted after the most just and fit\nmanner imaginable: but, humanly speaking, it is strange that Death\nshould be suffered to make such undistinguished havoc in the world; and,\nat the same time, just as shocking and unnatural to see old age laid\nbetwixt a pair of wedding sheets, as it is for youth and beauty to be\nlocked up in the cold embraces of the grave.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXII.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD MAN AND HIS SONS.]\n\n\nAn Old Man had many Sons, who were often falling out with one another.\nWhen the Father had exerted his authority, and used other means in order\nto reconcile them, and all to no purpose, at last he had recourse to\nthis expedient: he ordered his Sons to be called before him, and a short\nbundle of sticks to be brought; and then commanded them, one by one, to\ntry if, with all their might and strength, they could any of them break\nit. They all tried, but to no purpose; for the sticks being closely and\ncompactly bound up together, it was impossible for the force of man to\ndo it. After this the Father ordered the bundle to be untied, and gave a\nsingle stick to each of his Sons; at the same time bidding him try to\nbreak it: which, when each did with all imaginable ease, the Father\naddressed himself to them to this effect--'O my Sons, behold the power\nof unity! For if you, in like manner, would but keep yourselves strictly\nconjoined in the bonds of friendship, it would not be in the power of\nany mortal to hurt you; but when once the ties of brotherly affection\nare dissolved, how soon do you fall to pieces, and are liable to be\nviolated by every injurious hand that assaults you!'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nNothing is more necessary towards completing and continuing the\nwell-being of mankind, than their entering into and preserving\nfriendships and alliances. The safety of a government depends chiefly\nupon this; and therefore it is weakened and exposed to its enemies, in\nproportion as it is divided by parties. \"A kingdom divided against\nitself, is brought to desolation:\" and the same holds good among all\nsocieties and corporations of men, from the constitution of the nation\ndown to every little parochial vestry. But the necessity of friendship\nextends itself to all sorts of relations in life, as it conduces\nmightily to the advantage of particular clans and families. Those of the\nsame blood and lineage have a natural disposition to unite together,\nwhich they ought by all means to cultivate and improve. It must be a\ngreat comfort to people, when they fall under any calamity, to know\nthere are many others who sympathize with them; a great load of grief is\nmightily lessened, when it is parcelled out into many shares. And then\njoy, of all our passions, loves to be communicative, and generally\nincreases in proportion to the number of those who partake of it with\nus. We defy the threats and malice of an enemy, when we are assured that\nhe cannot attack us single, but must encounter a bundle of allies at the\nsame time. But they that behave themselves so as to have few or no\nfriends in the world, live in perpetual fear and jealousy of mankind,\nbecause they are sensible of their own weakness, and know themselves\nliable to be crushed, or broken to pieces, by the first aggressor.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE STAG AND THE FAWN.]\n\n\nA Stag, grown old and mischievous, was, according to custom, stamping\nwith his foot, making offers with his head, and bellowing so terribly,\nthat the whole herd quaked for fear of him: when one of the little Fawns\ncoming up, addressed him to this purpose--'Pray, what is the reason that\nyou, who are so stout and formidable at all other times, if you do but\nhear the cry of the hounds, are ready to fly out of your skin for\nfear?'--'What you observe is true,' replied the Stag, 'though I know not\nhow to account for it: I am indeed vigorous, and able enough, I think,\nto make my party good any where, and often resolve with myself, that\nnothing shall ever dismay my courage for the future; but, alas! I no\nsooner hear the voice of a hound but all my spirits fail me, and I\ncannot help making off as fast as ever my legs can carry me.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis is the case of many a cowardly bully in the world. He is disposed\nto be imperious and tyrannical, and to insult his companions, and takes\nall opportunities of acting according to his inclination; but yet is\ncautious where he makes his haunts, and takes care to have to do only\nwith a herd of rascally people, as vile and mean as himself. A man of\ncourage quashes him with a word; and he who has threatened death in\nevery sentence, for a twelvemonth together, to those whom he knew it\nwould affright, at the very frown of an intrepid man has leaped out of a\nwindow. It is no unpleasant sight to be present when any of these\ngentlemen happen to be disarmed of their terror before the face of their\nhumble admirers: there is a strange boisterous struggle betwixt fear,\nshame, and revenge, which blinds them with confusion; and, though they\nwould fain exert a little courage, and show themselves men, yet, they\nknow not how; there is something within which will not suffer them to do\nit. The predominance of nature will show itself, upon occasion, in its\ntrue colours, through all the disguises which artful men endeavour to\nthrow over it. Cowardice, particularly, gives us but the more suspicion\nwhen it would conceal itself under an affected fierceness; as they who\nwould smother an ill smell by a cloud of perfume, are imagined to be\nbut the more offensive. When we have done all, Nature will remain what\nshe was, and show herself whenever she is called upon; therefore\nwhatever we do in contradiction to her laws, is so forced and affected,\nthat it must needs expose and make us ridiculous. We talk nonsense when\nwe would argue against it: like Teague, who being asked why he fled from\nhis colours, said, his heart was as good as any in the regiment; but\nprotested his cowardly legs would run away with him whatever he could\ndo.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD HOUND.]\n\n\nAn Old Hound, who had been an excellent good one in his time, and given\nhis master great sport and satisfaction in many a chase, at last, by the\neffect of years, became feeble and unserviceable. However, being in the\nfield one day, when the stag was almost run down, he happened to be the\nfirst that came in with him, and seized him by one of his haunches; but,\nhis decayed and broken teeth not being able to keep their hold, the deer\nescaped, and threw him quite out. Upon which his master, being in a\ngreat passion, and going to strike him, the honest old creature is said\nto have barked out his apology--'Ah! do not strike your poor old\nservant; it is not my heart and inclination, but my strength and speed,\nthat fail me. If what I now am displeases, pray don't forget what I have\nbeen.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable may serve to give us a general view of the ingratitude of\nthe greatest part of mankind. Notwithstanding all the civility and\ncomplaisance that is used among people where there is a common\nintercourse of business, yet let the main spring, the probability of\ntheir being serviceable to each other, either in point of pleasure or\nprofit, be but once broken, and farewell courtesy: so far from\ncontinuing any regard in behalf of past favours, it is very well if they\nforbear doing any thing that is injurious. If the master had only ceased\nto caress and make much of the Old Hound, when he was past doing any\nservice, it had not been very strange; but to treat a poor creature ill,\nnot for a failure of inclination, but merely a defect of nature, must,\nnotwithstanding the crowd of examples there are to countenance it, be\npronounced inhuman and unreasonable.\n\nThere are two accounts upon which people that have been useful are\nfrequently neglected. One, when they are so decayed, either through age\nor some accident, that they are no longer able to do the services they\nhave formerly done; the other, when the occasion or emergency which\nrequired such talents no longer exists. Ph\u00e6drus, who more than once\ncomplains of the bad consequences of age, makes no other application to\nthis fable than by telling his friend Philetus, with some regret, that\nhe wrote it with such a view; having, it seems, been repaid with\nneglect, or worse usage, for services done in his youth to those who\nwere then able to afford him a better recompense.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXV.\n\n[Illustration: JUPITER AND THE CAMEL.]\n\n\nThe Camel presented a petition to Jupiter, complaining of the hardship\nof his case in not having, like bulls and other creatures, horns, or any\nweapons of defence, to protect himself from the attacks of his enemies,\nand praying that relief might be given him in such manner as might be\nthought most expedient. Jupiter could not help smiling at the\nimpertinent address of the great silly beast, but, however, rejected the\npetition; and told him that, so far from granting his unreasonable\nrequest, henceforward he would take care his ears should be shortened,\nas a punishment for his presumptuous importunity.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe nature of things is so fixed in every particular, that they are very\nweak superstitious people who dream it is to be altered. But, besides\nthe impossibility of producing a change by addresses of this nature,\nthey who employ much of their time upon such accounts, instead of\ngetting, are sure to lose in the end. When any man is so frivolous and\nvexatious as to make unreasonable complaints, and to harbour undue\nrepinings in his heart, his peevishness will lessen the real good which\nhe possesses, and the sourness of his temper shorten that allowance of\ncomfort which he already thinks too scanty. Thus, in truth, it is not\nProvidence, but ourselves who punish our own importunity in soliciting\nfor impossibilities, with a sharp corroding care, which abridges us of\nsome part of that little pleasure which Providence has cast into our\nlot.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX WITHOUT A TAIL.]\n\n\nA Fox, being caught in a steel trap by his tail, was glad to compound\nfor his escape with the loss of it; but, upon coming abroad into the\nworld, began to be so sensible of the disgrace such a defect would bring\nupon him, that he almost wished he had died rather than left it behind\nhim. However, to make the best of a bad matter, he formed a project in\nhis head to call an assembly of the rest of the Foxes, and propose it\nfor their imitation, as a fashion which would be very agreeable and\nbecoming. He did so, and made a long harangue upon the unprofitableness\nof tails in general, and endeavoured chiefly to show the awkwardness and\ninconvenience of a Fox's tail in particular: adding, that it would be\nboth more graceful and more expeditious to be altogether without them;\nand that, for his part, what he had only imagined and conjectured\nbefore, he now found by experience; for that he never enjoyed himself so\nwell, and found himself so easy as he had done since he cut off his\ntail. He said no more, but looked about with a brisk air, to see what\nproselytes he had gained; when a sly old thief in the company, who\nunderstood trap, answered him with a leer--'I believe you may have found\na conveniency in parting with your tail, and when we are in the same\ncircumstances, perhaps we may do so too.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIf men were but generally as prudent as Foxes, they would not suffer so\nmany silly fashions to obtain as are daily brought in vogue, for which\nscarce any reason can be assigned besides the humour of some conceited\nvain creature; unless, which is full as bad, they are intended to\npalliate some defect in the person that introduces them. The petticoat\nof a whole sex has been sometimes swelled to such a prodigious extent,\nto screen an enormity of which only one of them has been guilty. And it\nis no wonder that Alexander the Great could bring a wry-neck into\nfashion, in a nation of slaves, when we consider what power of this\nnature some little, insignificant, dapper fellows have had among a free\npeople.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE CROW.]\n\n\nA Crow having taken a piece of cheese out of a cottage window, flew up\ninto a high tree with it, in order to eat it; which a Fox observing,\ncame and sat underneath, and began to compliment the Crow upon the\nsubject of her beauty. 'I protest,' says he, 'I never observed it\nbefore, but your feathers are of a more delicate white than any that\never I saw in my life! Ah; what a fine shape and graceful turn of body\nis there! And I make no question but you have a tolerable voice. If it\nis but as fine as your complexion, I do not know a bird that can pretend\nto stand in competition with you.' The Crow, tickled with this very\ncivil language, nestled and riggled about, and hardly knew where she\nwas; but thinking the Fox a little dubious as to the particular of her\nvoice, and having a mind to set him right in that matter, began to sing,\nand in the same instant let the cheese drop out of her mouth. This being\nwhat the Fox wanted, he chopped it up in a moment, and trotted away,\nlaughing to himself at the easy credulity of the Crow.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThey that love flattery (as it is to be feared too many do) are in a\nfair way to repent of their foible in the long run. And yet how few are\nthere among the whole race of mankind who may be said to be full proof\nagainst its attacks! The gross way by which it is managed by some silly\npractitioners, is enough to alarm the dullest apprehension, and make it\nto value itself upon the quickness of its insight into the little plots\nof this nature: but let the ambuscade be disposed with due judgment, and\nit will scarce fail of seizing the most guarded heart. How many are\ntickled to the last degree with the pleasure of flattery, even while\nthey are applauded for their honest detestation of it! There is no way\nto baffle the force of this engine but by every one's examining,\nimpartially for himself, the true estimate of his own qualities: if he\ndeals sincerely in the matter, nobody can tell so well as himself what\ndegree of esteem ought to attend any of his actions, and therefore he\nshould be entirely easy as to the opinion men are like to have of them\nin the world. If they attribute more to him than is his due, they are\neither designing or mistaken: if they allow him less, they are envious,\nor, possibly, still mistaken; and, in either case, are to be despised or\ndisregarded. For he that flatters, without designing to take advantage\nof it, is a fool; and whoever encourages that flattery which he has\nsense enough to see through, is a vain coxcomb.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE HAWK AND THE FARMER.]\n\n\nA Hawk, pursuing a Pigeon over a corn-field with great eagerness and\nforce, threw himself into a net which a husbandman had planted there to\ntake the Crows; who being employed not far off, and seeing the Hawk\nfluttering in the net, came and took him: but, just as he was going to\nkill him, the Hawk besought him to let him go, assuring him that he was\nonly following a Pigeon, and neither intended nor had done any harm to\nhim. To whom the Farmer replied--'And what harm had the poor Pigeon done\nto you?' Upon which he wrung his head off immediately.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nPassion, prejudice, or power, may so far blind a man as not to suffer\nhim justly to distinguish whether he is not acting injuriously at the\nsame time that he fancies he is only doing his duty. Now the best way\nof being convinced, whether what we do is reasonable and fit, is to put\nourselves in the place of the persons with whom we are concerned, and\nthen consult our conscience about the rectitude of our behaviour. For\nthis we may be assured of, that we are acting wrong whenever we are\ndoing any thing to another which we should think unjust if it was done\nto us. Nothing but an habitual inadvertency, as to this particular, can\nbe the occasion that so many ingenious noble spirits are often engaged\nin courses so opposite to virtue and honour. He that would startle, if a\nlittle attorney should tamper with him to forswear himself, to bring off\nsome small offender, some ordinary trespasser, will, without scruple,\ninfringe the constitution of his country for the precarious prospect of\na place or a pension. Which is most corrupt, he that lies, like a knight\nof the post, for half-a-crown and a dinner, or he that does it for the\nmore substantial consideration of a thousand pounds a year? Which would\nbe doing most service to the public, giving true testimony in a cause\nbetween two private men, and against one little common thief who has\nstolen a gold watch; or voting honestly and courageously against a rogue\nof state, who has gagged and bound the laws, and stripped the nation?\nLet those who intend to act justly, but view things in this light, and\nall would be well. There would be no danger of their oppressing others,\nor fear of being oppressed themselves.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE NURSE AND THE WOLF.]\n\n\nA nurse, who was endeavouring to quiet a froward bawling child, among\nother attempts, threatened to throw it out of doors to the Wolf, if it\ndid not leave off crying. A Wolf, who chanced to be prowling near the\ndoor, just at that time, heard the expression, and believing the woman\nto be in earnest, waited a long while about the house, in expectation of\nseeing her words made good. But at last the child, wearied with its own\nimportunities, fell asleep, and the poor Wolf was forced to return back\nto the woods empty and supperless. The Fox meeting him, and surprised to\nsee him going home so thin and disconsolate, asked him what the matter\nwas, and how he came to speed no better that night?--'Ah! do not ask\nme,' says he; 'I was so silly as to believe what the Nurse said, and\nhave been disappointed.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nAll the moralists have agreed to interpret this fable as a caution to us\nnever to trust a woman. What reasons they could have for giving so rough\nand uncourtly a precept, is not easy to be imagined: for, however fickle\nand unstable some women may be, it is well known there are several who\nhave a greater regard for truth, in what they assert or promise, than\nmost men. There is not room, in so short a compass, to express a due\nconcern for the honour of the ladies upon this occasion, nor to show how\nmuch one is disposed to vindicate them: and, though there is nothing bad\nwhich can be said to them but may with equal justice be averred of the\nother sex, yet one would not venture to give them quite so absolute a\nprecaution as the old mythologists have affixed to this fable; but only\nto advise them to consider well and thoroughly of the matter before they\ntrust any man living.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXX.\n\n[Illustration: THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.]\n\n\nA Hare insulted a tortoise upon account of his slowness, and vainly\nboasted of her own great speed in running.--'Let us make a match,'\nreplied the Tortoise; 'I will run with you five miles for five pounds,\nand the Fox yonder shall be the umpire of the race.' The Hare agreed;\nand away they both started together. But the Hare, by reason of her\nexceeding swiftness, outran the Tortoise to such a degree, that she made\na jest of the matter; and, finding herself a little tired, squatted in a\ntuft of fern that grew by the way, and took a nap; thinking that, if the\nTortoise went by, she could at any time fetch him up with all the ease\nimaginable. In the meanwhile the Tortoise came jogging on with slow but\ncontinued motion; and the Hare, out of a too great security and\nconfidence of victory, oversleeping herself, the Tortoise arrived at the\nend of the race first.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIndustry and application to business makes amends for the want of a\nquick and ready wit. Hence it is, that the victory is not always to the\nstrong, nor the race to the swift. Men of fine parts are apt to despise\nthe drudgery of business; but, by affecting to show the superiority of\ntheir genius, upon many occasions, they run into too great an extreme\nthe other way; and the administration of their affairs is ruined through\nidleness and neglect. What advantage has a man from the fertility of his\ninvention, and the vivacity of his imagination, unless his resolutions\nare executed with a suitable and uninterrupted rapidity? In short, your\nmen of wit and fire, as they are called, are oftentimes sots, slovens,\nand lazy fellows: they are generally proud and conceited to the last\ndegree; and, in the main, not the fittest persons for either\nconversation or business. Such is their vanity, they think the\nsprightliness of their humour inconsistent with a plain sober way of\nthinking and speaking, and able to atone for all the little neglects of\ntheir business and persons. But the world will not be thus imposed upon;\nthe man who would gain the esteem of others, and make his own fortune,\nmust be one that carries his point effectually, and finishes his course\nwithout swerving or loitering. Men of dull parts, and a slow\napprehension, assisted by a continued diligence, are more likely to\nattain this than your brisk retailers of wit, with their affected spleen\nand indolence. And if business be but well done, no matter whether it be\ndone by the sallies of a refined wit, or the considering head of a plain\nplodding man.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXI.\n\n[Illustration: THE YOUNG MAN AND HIS CAT.]\n\n\nA certain Young Man used to play with a Cat, of which he grew so fond,\nthat at last he fell in love with it, and to such a degree, that he\ncould rest neither night nor day for the excess of his passion. At last\nhe prayed to Venus, the goddess of beauty, to pity him, and relieve his\npain. The good-natured goddess was propitious, and heard his prayers:\nbefore he rose up from kneeling, the Cat, which he held in his arms, was\ntransformed into a beautiful girl. The Youth was transported with joy,\nand married her that very day. At night they went to bed, and as the new\nbride lay encircled in the embraces of her amorous husband, she\nunfortunately heard a Mouse behind the hangings, and sprung from his\narms to pursue it. Venus, offended to see her sacred rites profaned by\nsuch an indecent behaviour, and perceiving that her new convert, though\na woman in outward appearance, was a Cat in her heart, she made her\nreturn to her old form again, that her manners and person might be\nagreeable to each other.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nPeople, as to their manners and behaviour, take a strong bias from\ncustom and education, but a much stronger from Nature. Her laws are so\nstrong, that it is in vain for us to go to oppose them; we may refine\nand improve, but can never totally alter her works. Upon this account it\nis that we oftentimes see silly awkward blockheads displaying their\nidiotism and folly through all their ensigns of dignity; for some\nnatures are so coarse and rustic, that all the embroidery of a court\ncannot conceal them. Doubtless such people were intended by Nature for\nnothing above driving Hogs to a fair, and laughing at the jokes of a\ncountry Merry Andrew. Fortune has found them worthy of her favours, and\ngiven them a lift out of the mire: but yet they do not fail to give\nfrequent indications of their true composition, by a thousand little\ndirty actions. A fine equipage, and a great estate, may raise a man to\nan exalted station, and procure a respect to his outward person;\nnotwithstanding which it may so happen, that every time he speaks and\nacts he cannot help playing the fool for the blood of him.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXII.\n\n[Illustration: THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.]\n\n\nAn Ass finding the skin of a Lion, put it on; and, going into the woods\nand pastures, threw all the flocks and herds into a terrible\nconsternation. At last, meeting his owner, he would have frightened him\nalso; but the good man, seeing his long ears slick out, presently knew\nhim, and with a good cudgel made him sensible that, notwithstanding his\nbeing dressed in a Lion's Skin, he was really no more than an Ass.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nAs all affectation is wrong, and tends to expose and make a man\nridiculous, so the more distant he is from the thing which he affects to\nappear, the stronger will the ridicule be which he excites, and the\ngreater the inconveniences into which he runs himself thereby. How\nstrangely absurd it is for a timorous person to procure a military post\nin order to keep himself out of danger! and to fancy a red coat the\nsurest protection for cowardice! yet there have been those who have\npurchased a commission to avoid being insulted; and have been so silly\nas to think courage was interwoven with a sash, or tied up in a cockade.\nBut it would not be amiss for such gentlemen to consider, that it is not\nin the power of scarlet cloth to alter nature; and that, as it is\nexpected a soldier should show himself a man of courage and intrepidity\nupon all proper occasions, they may, by this means, meet the disgrace\nthey intended to avoid, and appear greater asses than they need to have\ndone. However, it is not in point of fortitude only that people are\nliable to expose themselves, by assuming a character to which they are\nnot equal; but he who puts on a show of learning, of religion, of a\nsuperior capacity in any respect, or, in short, of any virtue or\nknowledge to which he has no proper claim, is, and will always be found\nto be, \"An Ass in a Lion's Skin.\"\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE MOUNTAINS IN LABOUR.]\n\n\nThe Mountains were said to be in labour, and uttered most dreadful\ngroans. People came together far and near to see what birth would be\nproduced; and, after they wailed a considerable time in expectation, out\ncrept a Mouse.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nGreat cry and little wool is the English proverb; the sense of which\nbears an exact proportion to this fable; by which are exposed all those\nwho promise something exceeding great, but come off with a production\nridiculously little. Projectors of all kinds, who endeavour by\nartificial rumours to raise the expectations of mankind, and then by\ntheir mean performances defeat and disappoint them, have, time out of\nmind, been lashed with the recital of this fable. How agreeably\nsurprising is it to see an unpromising favourite, whom the caprice of\nfortune has placed at the helm of state, serving the commonwealth with\njustice and integrity, instead of smothering and embezzling the public\ntreasure to his own private and wicked ends! and, on the contrary, how\nmelancholy, how dreadful, or rather, how exasperating and provoking a\nsight is it to behold one, whose constant declarations for liberty and\nthe public good have raised people's expectations of him to the highest\npitch, as soon as he is got into power exerting his whole art and\ncunning to ruin and enslave his country! The sanguine hopes of all those\nthat wished well to virtue, and flattered themselves with a reformation\nof every thing that opposed the well-being of the community, vanish away\nin smoke, and are lost in a dark, gloomy, uncomfortable prospect.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE SATYR AND THE TRAVELLER.]\n\n\nA Satyr, as he was ranging the forest in an exceeding cold snowy season,\nmet with a Traveller, half-starved with the extremity of the weather. He\ntook compassion on him, and kindly invited him home to a warm\ncomfortable cave he had in the hollow of a rock. As soon as they had\nentered and sat down, notwithstanding there was a good fire in the\nplace, the chilly Traveller could not forbear blowing his fingers' ends.\nUpon the Satyr's asking him why he did so, he answered, that he did it\nto warm his hands. The honest sylvan having seen little of the world,\nadmired a man who was master of so valuable a quality as that of blowing\nheat, and therefore was resolved to entertain him in the best manner he\ncould. He spread the table before him with dried fruits of several\nsorts; and produced a remnant of cold cordial wine, which, as the rigour\nof the season made very proper, he mulled with some warm spices, infused\nover the fire, and presented to his shivering guest. But this the\nTraveller thought fit to blow likewise; and, upon the Satyr's demanding\na reason why he blowed again, he replied, to cool his dish. This second\nanswer provoked the Satyr's indignation as much as the first had kindled\nhis surprise: so, taking the man by the shoulder, he thrust him out of\ndoors, saying, he would have nothing to do with a wretch who had so vile\na quality as to blow hot and cold with the same mouth.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThough the poor Traveller in the fable was not guilty of any real crime\nin what he did, yet one cannot help approving the honest simplicity of\nthe Satyr, who could not be reconciled to such double dealing. In the\nmoral sense of the fable, nothing can be more offensive to one of a\nsincere heart, than he that blows with a different breath from the same\nmouth; who flatters a man to his face, and reviles him behind his back.\nSome again, just like this man, to serve a present view, will blow\nnothing but what is warm, benevolent, and cherishing; and, when they\nhave raised the expectations of a dependent to a degree which they think\nmay prove troublesome, can, with putting on a cold air, easily chill and\nblast all his blooming hopes. But such a temper, whether it proceeds\nfrom a designed or natural levity, is detestable, and has been the cause\nof much trouble and mortification to many a brave deserving man. Unless\nthe tenor of a man's life be always true and consistent with itself, the\nless one has to do with him the better.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXV.\n\n[Illustration: THE SICK KITE.]\n\n\nA Kite had been sick a long time, and finding there were no hopes of\nrecovery, begged of his mother to go to all the churches and religious\nhouses in the country, to try what prayers and promises would effect in\nhis behalf. The old Kite replied--'Indeed, dear son, I would willingly\nundertake any thing to save your life, but I have great reason to\ndespair of doing you any service in the way you propose: for, with what\nface can I ask any thing of the gods in favour of one whose whole life\nhas been a continual scene of rapine and injustice, and who has not\nscrupled, upon occasion, to rob the very altars themselves?'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe rehearsal of this fable almost unavoidably draws our attention to\nthat very serious and important point, the consideration of a death-bed\nrepentance. And, to expose the absurdity of relying upon such a weak\nfoundation, we need only ask the same question with the Kite in the\nfable: how can he that has offended the gods all his life-time, by doing\nacts of dishonour and injustice, expect that they should be pleased with\nhim at last, for no other reason but because he fears he shall not be\nable to offend them any longer? when, in truth, such a repentance can\nsignify nothing but a confirmation of his former impudence and folly:\nfor sure no stupidity can exceed that of the man who expects a future\njudgment, and yet can bear to commit any piece of injustice with a sense\nand deliberation of the fact.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE HAWK AND THE NIGHTINGALE.]\n\n\nA Nightingale, sitting all alone among the shady branches of an oak,\nsung with so melodious and shrill a pipe, that she made the woods echo\nagain, and alarmed a hungry Hawk, who was at some distance off watching\nfor his prey; he had no sooner discovered the little musician, but,\nmaking a stoop at the place, he seized her with his crooked talons, and\nbid her prepare for death.--'Ah!' says she, 'for mercy's sake don't do\nso barbarous a thing, and so unbecoming yourself; consider, I never did\nyou any wrong, and am but a poor small morsel for such a stomach as\nyours; rather attack some larger fowl, which may bring you more credit\nand a better meal, and let me go.'--'Aye!' says the Hawk, 'persuade me\nto it if you can: I have been upon the watch all day long, and have not\nmet with one bit of any thing till I caught you; and now you would have\nme let you go, in hopes of something better, would you? Pray, who would\nbe the fool then?'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThey who neglect the opportunity of reaping a small advantage, in hopes\nthey shall obtain a better, are far from acting upon a reasonable and\nwell-advised foundation. The figure of Time is always drawn with a\nsingle lock of hair hanging over his forehead, and the back part of his\nhead bald; to put us in mind that we should be sure to lay hold of an\noccasion, when it presents itself to us, lest afterwards we repent us of\nour omission and folly, and would recover it when it is too late. It is\na very weak reason to give for our refusal of an offer of kindness, that\nwe do it because we desire or deserve a better; for it is time enough to\nrelinquish the small affair when the great one comes, if ever it does\ncome. But, supposing it should not, how can we forgive ourselves for\nletting any thing slip through our hands, by vainly gaping after\nsomething else, which we never could obtain? He who has not been guilty\nof any of these kind of errors, however poorly he may come off at last,\nhas only the malice of fortune, or of somebody else, to charge with his\nill success; and may applaud himself with some comfort, in never having\nlost an opportunity, though ever so small, of bettering and improving\nhis circumstances. Unthinking people have oftentimes the unhappiness to\nfret and tease themselves with retrospects of this kind, which they, who\nattend to the business of life as they ought, never have occasion to\nmake.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE PEACOCK'S COMPLAINT.]\n\n\nThe Peacock presented a memorial to Juno, importing how hardly he\nthought he was used in not having so good a voice as the Nightingale;\nhow that pretty animal was agreeable to every ear that heard it, while\nhe was laughed at for his ugly screaming noise, if he did but open his\nmouth. The goddess, concerned at the uneasiness of her favourite bird,\nanswered him very kindly to this purpose: 'If the Nightingale is blest\nwith a fine voice, you have the advantage in point of beauty and\nlargeness of person.'--'Ah!' says he, 'but what avails my silent\nunmeaning beauty, when I am so far excelled in voice!'--The goddess\ndismissed him, bidding him consider, that the properties of every\ncreature were appointed by the decree of fate: to him beauty; strength\nto the Eagle; to the Nightingale a voice of melody; the faculty of\nspeech to the Parrot; and to the Dove innocence. That each of these was\ncontented with his own peculiar quality; and unless he had a mind to be\nmiserable, he must learn to be so too.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nSince all things, as Juno says, are fixed by the eternal and unalterable\ndecree of fate, how absurd it is to hear people complaining and\ntormenting themselves for that which it is impossible ever to obtain!\nThey who are ambitious of having more good qualities, since that is\nimpracticable, should spare for no pains to cultivate and recommend\nthose they have; which a sourness and peevishness of temper, instead of\nimproving, will certainly lessen and impair, whether they are of the\nmind or body. If we had all the desirable properties in the world, we\ncould be no more than easy and contented with them; and if a man, by a\nright way of thinking, can reconcile himself to his own condition,\nwhatever it be, he will fall little short of the most complete state\nthat mortals ever enjoyed.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE ANGLER AND THE LITTLE FISH.]\n\n\nA man was angling in a river, and caught a small Perch; which, as he was\ntaking off the hook and going to put into his basket, opened its mouth,\nand began to implore his pity, begging that he would throw it into the\nriver again. Upon the man's demanding what reason he had to expect such\na favour?--'Why,' says the Fish, 'because, at present, I am but young\nand little, and consequently not so well worth your while as I shall be\nif you take me some time hence, when I am grown larger.'--'That may be,'\nreplies the man, 'but I am not one of those fools who quit a certainty,\nin expectation of an uncertainty.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable points much the same way as the seventy-sixth, so that one\nmoral may very well serve for both. But the lesson they teach is so\nuseful and instructive, that a repetition of it is by no means\nsuperfluous. The precept which they would instil into us is, never to\nlet slip the present opportunity, but to secure to ourselves every\nlittle advantage, just in the nick that it offers, without a vain\nreliance upon, and fruitless expectation of, something better in time to\ncome. We may cheer up our spirits with hoping for that which we cannot\nat present obtain; but at the same time let us be sure we give no\noccasion of condemning ourselves for omitting any thing which it was in\nour power to secure.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE GEESE AND THE CRANES.]\n\n\nA flock of Geese and a parcel of Cranes used often to feed together in a\ncorn field. At last the owner of the corn, with his servants, coming\nupon them of a sudden, surprised them in the very fact; and the geese,\nbeing heavy, fat, full-bodied creatures, were most of them sufferers;\nbut the Cranes, being thin and light, easily flew away.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWhen the enemy comes to make a seizure, they are sure to suffer most\nwhose circumstances are the richest and fattest. In any case of\npersecution, money hangs like a dead weight about a man; and we never\nfeel gold so heavy as when we endeavour to make off with it. Therefore\nwise and politic ministers of state, whenever they see a storm begin to\ngather over their heads, always take care to unlade themselves of a good\npart of their cargo; and, by this means, seldom find but the blasts of\nobloquy, through which they are to make their way, are less deaf and\ninexorable than the stormy waves of the ocean. Indeed, poverty is too\nfrequently the occasion of mens' being treated as if they were guilty of\nthe greatest crimes and reproaches; but then these sort of criminals\nhave this advantage, that no one thinks fit to treat them with any thing\nworse than contempt: whereas if any pretence can be found to fall upon\nthe man who is rich, it is a miracle if he escapes with both life and\nmoney. In short, riches are like the baggage of an army: very useful\nwhile we lie in quiet possession of the camp, or are powerful enough to\ndefy the enemy; but when once we are put to the rout, if we would get\noff with our lives or liberties, we must quit our baggage as soon as\npossible, and leave it for plunder to our pursuers. Nay, however\nstrongly intrenched we may think ourselves, as long as money is in the\ncase, it is good to look about us for fear of a surprise: for, after\nall, he that does not, upon occasion, make himself wings with his riches\nto fly off with, deserves to be punished, like a Goose as he is, for his\nheaviness.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXX.\n\n[Illustration: THE DOG AND THE SHADOW.]\n\n\nA Dog, crossing a little rivulet with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw\nhis own Shadow represented in the clear mirror of the limpid stream;\nand, believing it to be another dog, who was carrying another piece of\nflesh, he could not forbear catching at it; but was so far from getting\nany thing his greedy design, that he dropped the piece he had in his\nmouth, which immediately sunk to the bottom, and was irrecoverably lost.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHe that catches at more than belongs to him justly deserves to lose what\nhe has. Yet nothing is more common, and, at the same time, more\npernicious, than this selfish principle. It prevails from the king to\nthe peasant; and all orders and degrees of men are, more or less,\ninfected with it. Great monarchs have been drawn in, by this greedy\nhumour, to grasp at the dominions of their neighbours; not that they\nwanted any thing more to feed their luxury, but to gratify their\ninsatiable appetite for vain-glory. If the kings of Persia could have\nbeen contented with their own vast territories, they had not lost all\nAsia for the sake of a little petty state of Greece. And France, with\nall its glory, has, ere now, been reduced to the last extremity by the\nsame unjust encroachments.\n\nHe that thinks he sees another's estate in a pack of cards, or a box and\ndice, and ventures his own in the pursuit of it, should not repine if he\nfinds himself a beggar in the end.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXI.\n\n[Illustration: THE ASS AND THE LITTLE DOG.]\n\n\nThe Ass observing how great a favourite the Little Dog was with his\nmaster, how much caressed and fondled, and fed with good bits at every\nmeal; and for no other reason, as he could perceive, but skipping and\nfrisking about, wagging his tail, and leaping up into his master's lap;\nhe was resolved to imitate the same, and see whether such a behaviour\nwould not procure him the same favours. Accordingly, the master was no\nsooner come home from walking about his fields and gardens, and was\nseated in his easy chair, but the Ass, who observed him, came gamboling\nand braying towards him, in a very awkward manner. The master could not\nhelp laughing aloud at the odd sight. But his jest was soon turned into\nearnest, when he felt the rough salute of the Ass's fore-feet, who,\nraising himself upon his hinder legs, pawed against his breast with a\nmost loving air, and would fain have jumped into his lap. The good man,\nterrified at this outrageous behaviour, and unable to endure the weight\nof so heavy a beast, cried out; upon which, one of his servants running\nin with a good stick, and laying on heartily upon the bones of the poor\nAss, soon convinced him that every one who desires it is not qualified\nto be a favourite.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nSome men are as engaging in their ways as little dogs. They can fawn,\nwheedle, cringe, or, if occasion requires, leap backward and forward\nover a stick, to the great emolument of their master, and entertainment\nof those that behold them. But these are qualifications to which every\nbody cannot pretend; and therefore none but those who have a genius for\nit should aspire at the employment. Many a man envies the happiness of\nthese favourites, and would fain insinuate himself into the same good\ngraces, if he did but know the way; but, whoever has a tolerable share\nof discretion, will distrust his abilities in this respect, and modestly\nforbear the attempt, for fear he should miscarry and look like an Ass.\nBut, in short, the true moral of this fable is, that every one should\nconsider the just turn and temper of his parts, and weigh the talents by\nwhich he hopes to be distinguished. After such an examination, he may\nthe more certainly know how to apply them to the most proper purposes;\nat least, so as not to hurt, or even mortify himself, by any mistaken\naddress. Since there is such a variety of tempers in the world, and a no\nless multiplicity of arts and studies to fit and tally with them, how\nreasonable is it in general, and how much would it be for the true\ninterest of every one in particular, if men would but be directed, by\nthe natural bent of their genius, to such pursuits as are most agreeable\nto their capacities, and to the rudiments of education which they have\nmost strongly imbibed.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXII.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOLF AND THE CRANE.]\n\n\nA Wolf, after devouring his prey, happened to have a bone stick in his\nthroat, which gave him so much pain, that he went howling up and down,\nand importuning every creature he met to lend him a kind hand, in order\nto his relief; nay, he promised a reasonable reward to any one that\nshould undertake the operation with success. At last the Crane, tempted\nwith the lucre of the reward, and having first procured him to confirm\nhis promise with an oath, undertook the business, and ventured his long\nneck into the rapacious felon's throat. In short, he plucked out the\nbone, and expected the promised gratuity. When the Wolf, turning his\neyes disdainfully towards him, said,--'I did not think you had been so\nunconscionable; I had your head in my mouth, and could have bit it off\nwhenever I pleased, but suffered you to take it away without any\ndamage, and yet you are not contented.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThere is a sort of people in the world, to whom a man may be in the\nwrong for doing services, upon a double score: first, because they never\ndeserved to have a good office done them; and, secondly, because, when\nonce engaged, it is so hard a matter to get well rid of their\nacquaintance.\n\nThis fable is not an example of ingratitude, as at first sight it seems\nto be, and as some of the mythologists have understood it; to make it a\nparallel in that case, the Crane ought to have been under some\ndifficulties in his turn, and the Wolf have refused to assist him when\nit was in his power. The whole stress of it lies in this: that we ought\nto consider what kind of people they are to whom we are desired to do\ngood offices, before we do them; for he that grants a favour, or even\nconfides in a person of no honour, instead of finding his account in it,\ncomes off well if he is no sufferer.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE ENVIOUS MAN AND THE COVETOUS.]\n\n\nAn Envious Man happened to be offering up his prayers to Jupiter just in\nthe time and place with a Covetous Miserable Fellow. Jupiter, not caring\nto be troubled with their impertinences himself, sent Apollo to examine\nthe merits of their petitions, and to give them such relief as he should\nthink proper. Apollo therefore opened his commission, and withal told\nthem that, to make short of the matter, whatever the one asked the other\nshould have it double. Upon this, the Covetous Man, though he had a\nthousand things to request, yet forbore to ask first, hoping to receive\na double quantity; for he concluded that all men's wishes sympathized\nwith his. By this means, the Envious Man had an opportunity of\npreferring his petition first, which was the thing he aimed at; so,\nwithout much hesitation, he prayed to be relieved, by having one of his\neyes put out: knowing that, of consequence, his companion would be\ndeprived of both.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIn this fable the folly of those two vices, Envy and Avarice, is fully\nexposed, and handsomely rallied. The Miser, though he has the riches of\nthe world, without stint, laid open to his choice, yet dares not name\nthe sum, for fear another should be richer than himself. The advantage\nof a double quantity, by receiving last, is what he cannot bear to lose,\nand he fares accordingly. The Envious Man, though he has a power of\ncalling for good things, without measure, to himself or others, yet\nwaves this happy privilege, and is content to punish himself by a very\ngreat loss, even that of an eye, that he may bring down a double portion\nof the like calamity upon another. These are the true tempers of the\ncovetous and envious; one can scarce determine, whether they are more\nmischievous to themselves, or to the public; but it is manifest, that\nthey are highly noxious to both, and should be treated accordingly.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE TWO POTS.]\n\n\nAn Earthen Pot, and one of Brass, standing together upon the river's\nbrink, were both carried away by the flowing-in of the tide. The Earthen\nPot showed some uneasiness, as fearing he should be broken; but his\ncompanion of Brass bid him be under no apprehensions, for that he would\ntake care of him.--'O,' replies the other, 'keep as far off as ever you\ncan, I entreat you; it is you I am most afraid of: for, whether the\nstream dashes you against me, or me against you, I am sure to be the\nsufferer; and therefore, I beg of you, do not let us come near one\nanother.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nA man of a moderate fortune, who is contented with what he has, and\nfinds he can live happily upon it, should take care not to hazard and\nexpose his felicity by consorting with the great and the powerful.\nPeople of equal conditions may float down the current of life, without\nhurting each other; but it is a point of some difficulty to steer one's\ncourse in the company of the great, so as to escape without a bulge. One\nwould not choose to have one's little country-box situated in the\nneighbourhood of a very great man; for whether I ignorantly trespass\nupon him, or he knowingly encroaches upon me, I only am like to be the\nsufferer. I can neither entertain nor play with him upon his own terms;\nfor that which is moderation and diversion to him, in me would be\nextravagance and ruin.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXV.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE STORK.]\n\n\nThe Fox invited the Stork to dinner, and being disposed to divert\nhimself at the expense of his guest, provided nothing for the\nentertainment but a soup, in a wide shallow dish. This himself could lap\nup with a great deal of ease; but the Stork, who could but just dip in\nthe point of his bill, was not a bit the better all the while: however,\nin a few days after, he returned the compliment, and invited the Fox;\nbut suffered nothing to be brought to table but some minced meat in a\nglass jar, the neck of which was so deep, and so narrow, that, though\nthe Stork with his long bill made a shift to fill his belly, all that\nthe Fox, who was very hungry, could do, was to lick the brim, as the\nStork slabbered them with his eating. Reynard was heartily vexed at\nfirst; but, when he came to take his leave, owned ingenuously, that he\nhad been used as he deserved; and that he had no reason to take any\ntreatment ill, of which himself had set the example.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nIt is mighty imprudent, as well as inhuman and uncivil, to affront any\nbody; and whoever takes the liberty to exercise his witty talent that\nway, must not think much of it if he meets reprisals. Indeed, if all\nthose who are thus paid in their own coin would take it with the same\nfrankness the Fox did, the matter would not be much; but we are too apt,\nwhen the jest comes to be turned home upon ourselves, to think that\ninsufferable in another, which we looked upon as pretty and facetious\nwhen the humour was our own. The rule of doing as we would be done by,\nso proper to be our model in every transaction of life, may more\nparticularly be of use in this respect: because people seldom or never\nreceive any advantage by these little ludicrous impositions; and yet, if\nthey were to ask themselves the question, would find that another's\nusing them in the same manner would be very displeasing.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE BEAR AND THE BEE HIVES.]\n\n\nA Bear, climbing over the fence into a place where Bees were kept, began\nto plunder the Hives, and rob them of their honey. But the Bees, to\nrevenge the injury, attacked him in a whole swarm together; and, though\nthey were not able to pierce his rugged hide, yet, with their little\nstings, they so annoyed his eyes and nostrils, that, unable to endure\nthe smarting pain, with impatience he tore the skin over his ears with\nhis own claws, and suffered ample punishment for the injury he did the\nBees in breaking open their waxen cells.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nMany and great are the injuries of which some men are guilty towards\nothers, for the sake of gratifying some liquorish appetite. For there\nare those who would not stick at bringing desolation upon their country,\nand run the hazard of their own necks into the bargain, rather than\nbaulk a wicked inclination, either of cruelty, ambition, or avarice. But\nit were to be wished all who are hurried by such blind impulses, would\nconsider a moment before they proceed to irrevocable execution. Injuries\nand wrongs not only call for revenge and reparation with the voice of\nequity itself, but oftentimes carry their punishment along with them;\nand, by an unforeseen train of events, are retorted at the head of the\nactor of them; and not seldom, from a deep remorse, expiated upon\nhimself by his own hand.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR.]\n\n\nTwo men being to travel through a forest together, mutually promised to\nstand by each other in any danger they should meet upon the way. They\nhad not gone far before a Bear came rushing towards them out of a\nthicket; upon which one, being a light nimble fellow, got up into a\ntree; the other falling flat upon his face, and holding his breath, lay\nstill while the Bear came up and smelled at him; but that creature,\nsupposing him to be a dead carcass, went back again into the wood,\nwithout doing him the least harm. When all was over, the Spark who had\nclimbed the tree came down to his companion, and, with a pleasant smile,\nasked him what the Bear said to him--'For,' says he, 'I took notice that\nhe clapt his mouth very close to your ear.'----'Why,' replies the\nother, 'he charged me to take care, for the future, not to put any\nconfidence in such cowardly rascals as you.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThough nothing is more common than to hear people profess services of\nfriendship where there is no occasion for them, yet scarce any thing is\nso hard to be found as a true friend, who will assist us in time of\ndanger and difficulty. All the declarations of kindness which are made\nto an experienced man, though accompanied by a squeeze of the hand, and\na solemn asseveration, should leave no greater impression upon his mind\nthan the whistling of the hollow breeze which brushes one's ear with an\nunmeaning salute, and is presently gone. He that succours our necessity\nby a well-timed assistance, though it were not ushered in by previous\ncompliments, will ever after be looked upon as our friend and protector;\nand, in so much a greater degree, as the favour was unasked and\nunpromised; as it was not extorted by importunities on the one side, nor\nled in by a numerous attendance of promises on the other. Words are\nnothing till they are fulfilled by actions; and therefore we should not\nsuffer ourselves to be deluded by a vain hope and reliance upon them.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE TRUMPETER TAKEN PRISONER.]\n\n\nA trumpeter, being taken prisoner in a battle, begged hard for quarter,\ndeclaring his innocence, and protesting that he neither had nor could\nkill any man, bearing no arms but only his trumpet, which he was obliged\nto sound at the word of command.--'For that reason,' replied his\nenemies, 'we are determined not to spare you; for though you yourself\nnever fight, yet, with that wicked instrument of yours, you blow up\nanimosity between other people, and so become the occasion of much\nbloodshed.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nA man may be guilty of murder who has never handled a sword, or pulled a\ntrigger, or lifted up his arm with any mischievous weapon. There is a\nlittle incendiary, called the tongue, which is more venomous than a\npoisoned arrow, and more killing than a two-edged sword. The moral of\nthe fable therefore is this, that if in any civil insurrection the\npersons taken in arms against the government deserve to die, much more\ndo they whose devilish tongues gave birth to the sedition, and excited\nthe tumult. When wicked priests, instead of preaching peace and charity,\nemploy that engine of scandal their tongue to foment rebellions, whether\nthey succeed in their designs or no, they ought to be severely punished;\nfor they have done what in them lay to set folks together by the ears;\nthey have blown the trumpet and sounded the alarm, and if thousands are\nnot destroyed by the sword, it is none of their fault.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE LXXXIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE PARTRIDGE AND THE COCKS.]\n\n\nA certain man, having taken a Partridge, plucked some of the feathers\nout of its wings, and turned it into a little yard, where he kept game\nCocks. The Cocks, for awhile, made the poor bird lead a sad life,\ncontinually pecking and driving it away from the meat. This treatment\nwas taken the more unkindly, because offered to a stranger; and the\nPartridge could not but conclude them the most inhospitable uncivil\npeople he had ever met with. But at last, observing how frequently they\nquarrelled and fought with each other, he comforted himself with this\nreflection; that it was no wonder they were so cruel to him, since there\nwas so much bickering and animosity among themselves.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable comes home to ourselves, we of this island having always been\nlooked upon as cruel to strangers. Whether there is any thing in the\nmanner of our situation, as an island, which consequently can be no\nthoroughfare to other countries, and so is not made use of by strangers\nupon that account, which makes us thus shy and uncivil; or, whether it\nbe a jealousy upon account of our liberties, which puts us upon being\nsuspicious of, and unwilling to harbour any that are not members of the\nsame community, perhaps it would not be easy to determine. But that it\nis so in fact, is too notorious to be denied; and probably can be\naccounted for no better way than from the natural bent of our temper, as\nit proceeds from something peculiar to our air and climate. It has been\naffirmed, that there is not in the whole world besides a breed of Cocks\nand Dogs so fierce and incapable of yielding as that of ours; but that\neither of them, carried into foreign countries, would degenerate in a\nfew years. Why may not the same be true of our men? But if strangers\nfind any inconvenience in this, there is a comfortable consideration to\nbalance it on the other side, which is, that there are no people under\nthe sun so much given to division and contention among themselves as we\nare. Can a stranger think it hard to be looked upon with some shyness,\nwhen he beholds how little we spare one another? Was ever any\nforeigner, merely for being a foreigner, treated with half that malice\nand bitterness which differing parties express towards each other? One\nwould willingly believe that this proceeds in the main, on both sides,\nfrom a passionate concern for our liberties and well-being; for there is\nnothing else which can so well excuse it. But it cannot be denied, that\nour aversion, notwithstanding our being a trading nation, to have any\nintercourse with strangers, is so great, that when we want other objects\nfor our churlishness, we raise them up among ourselves; and there is,\nsometimes, as great a strangeness kept up between one county and another\nhere, as there is between two distinct kingdoms abroad. One cannot so\nmuch wonder at the constant hostilities which are observed between the\ninhabitants of South and North Britain, of Wales and Ireland, among one\nanother, when a Yorkshireman shall be looked upon as a foreigner by a\nnative of Norfolk, and both be taken for outlandish intruders by one\nthat happens to be born within the bills of mortality.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XC.\n\n[Illustration: THE FALCONER AND THE PARTRIDGE.]\n\n\nA falconer having taken a Partridge in his net, the bird begged hard for\na reprieve, and promised the man, if he would let him go, to decoy other\nPartridges into his net.--'No,' replies the Falconer, 'I was before\ndetermined not to spare you, but now you have condemned yourself by your\nown words: for he who is such a scoundrel as to offer to betray his\nfriends to save himself, deserves, if possible, worse than death.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHowever it may be convenient for us to like the treason, yet we must be\nvery destitute of honour not to hate and abominate the traitor. And\naccordingly history furnishes us with many instances of kings and great\nmen who have punished the actors of treachery with death, though the\npart they acted had been so conducive to their interests as to give them\na victory, or perhaps the quiet possession of a throne. Nor can princes\npursue a more just maxim than this; for a traitor is a villain of no\nprinciples, that sticks at nothing to promote his own selfish ends; he\nthat betrays one cause for a great sum of money, will betray another\nupon the same account; and therefore it must be very impolitic in a\nstate to suffer such wretches to live in it. Since then this maxim is so\ngood, and so likely at all times to be practised, what stupid rogues\nmust they be who undertake such precarious dirty work! If they miscarry,\nit generally proves fatal to them from one side or other; if they\nsucceed, perhaps they may have the promised reward, but are sure to be\ndetested, if suffered to live, by the very person that employs them.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCI.\n\n[Illustration: THE EAGLE AND THE CROW.]\n\n\nAn Eagle flew down from the top of a high rock, and settled upon the\nback of a Lamb; and then instantly flying up into the air again, bore\nhis bleating prize aloft in his pounces. A Crow, who sat upon an elm,\nand beheld this exploit, resolved to imitate it; so flying down upon the\nback of a Ram, and entangling his claws in the wool, he fell a\nchattering and attempting to fly; by which means he drew the observation\nof the Shepherd upon him, who finding his feet hampered in the fleece of\nthe Ram, easily took him, and gave him to his boys for their sport and\ndiversion.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nEvery quality which is excellent and commendable, is not, however,\nalways a proper object for our imitation. We ought to state our own\naccount honestly and fairly, that we may see what our abilities are, and\nhow our circumstances stand; otherwise we may not only become ridiculous\nto others, but prejudicial to ourselves, by some awkward and ill-judged\nemulation, though it happen to be in a qualification truly laudable and\ngreat. It behoves every man to exert a good share of industry towards\nthe advancement of his interest, or, if he pleases, of his reputation.\nBut then it is highly necessary that he does this with a true regard to\nhis own capacity, and without any danger of exposing or embarrassing\nhimself in the operation.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCII.\n\n[Illustration: THE LION, THE ASS, AND THE FOX.]\n\n\nThe Lion, the Ass, and the Fox went a hunting together in the forest;\nand it was agreed, that whatever was taken should be divided amongst\nthem. They happened to have very good sport, and caught a large fat\nStag, which the Lion ordered the Ass to divide. The Ass, according to\nthe best of his capacity, did so, and made three pretty equal shares.\nBut such levelling doings not suiting at all with the craving temper of\nthe greedy Lion, without farther delay he flew upon the Ass, and tore\nhim in pieces; and then bid the Fox divide it into two parts. Reynard,\nwho seldom wanted a prompter, however, had his cue given him\nsufficiently upon this occasion; and so nibbling off one little bit for\nhimself, he laid forth all the rest for the Lion's portion. The royal\nbrute was so delighted at this dutiful and handsome proof of his\nrespect, that he could not forbear expressing the satisfaction it gave\nhim; and asked him withal, where he could possibly have learned so\nproper and so courtly a behaviour?--'Why,' replies Reynard, 'to tell\nyour majesty the truth, I was taught it by the Ass that lies dead\nthere.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nWe may learn a great deal of useful experience from the examples of\nother people, if we will but take the pains to observe them. And,\nbesides the profit of the instructions, there is no small pleasure in\nbeing taught any proper science at the expense of somebody else. To this\npurpose, the history of former times, as well as the transactions of the\npresent, are very well adapted; and so copious, as to be able to furnish\nus with precedents upon almost every occasion. The rock upon which\nanother has split is a kind of light-house or beacon to warn us from the\nlike calamity; and by taking such an advantage, how easily may we steer\na safe course! He that, in any negociation with his betters, does not\nwell and wisely consider how to behave himself, so as not to give\noffence, may very likely come off as the Ass did: but a cool thinking\nman, though he should despair of ever making friends of the people in\npower, will be cautious and prudent enough to do nothing which may\nprovoke them to be his enemies.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.]\n\n\nA Fox, very hungry, chanced to come into a vineyard, where there hung\nbranches of charming ripe grapes; but nailed up to a trellis so high,\nthat he leaped till he quite tired himself, without being able to reach\none of them. At last--'Let who will take them!' says he, 'they are but\ngreen and sour; so I will even let them alone.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable is a good reprimand to a parcel of vain coxcombs in the\nworld, who, because they would never be thought to be disappointed in\nany of their pursuits, pretend a dislike to every thing which they\ncannot obtain. There is a strange propensity in mankind to this temper,\nand there are numbers of grumbling malcontents in every different\nfaculty and sect in life. The discarded statesman, considering the\ncorruption of the times, would not have any hand in the administration\nof affairs for all the world. The country squire damns a court life, and\nwould not go cringing and creeping to a drawing-room for the best place\nthe king has at his disposal. A young fellow, being asked how he liked a\ncelebrated beauty, by whom all the world knew he was despised, answered,\nshe had a stinking breath. How insufferable is the pride of this poor\ncreature man! who would stoop to the basest vilest actions, rather than\nbe thought not able to do any thing. For what is more base and vile than\nlying? And when do we lie more notoriously than when we disparage and\nfind fault with a thing, for no other reason but because it is out of\nour power?\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE HORSE AND THE STAG.]\n\n\nThe Stag with his sharp horns, got the better of the Horse, and drove\nhim clear out of the pasture where they used to feed together. So the\nlatter craved the assistance of man; and, in order to receive the\nbenefit of it, suffered him to put a bridle into his mouth and a saddle\nupon his back. By this way of proceeding he entirely defeated his enemy;\nbut was mightily disappointed when, upon returning thanks, and desiring\nto be dismissed, he received this answer:--'No, I never knew before how\nuseful a drudge you were; now I have found what you are good for, you\nmay depend upon it I will keep you to it.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nAs the foregoing fable was intended to caution us against consenting to\nany thing that might prejudice public liberty, this may serve to keep\nus upon our guard in the preservation of that which is of a private\nnature. This is the use and interpretation given of it by Horace, the\nbest and most polite philosopher that ever wrote. After reciting the\nfable, he applies it thus:--'This,' says he, 'is the case of him, who\ndreading poverty, parts with that invaluable jewel, liberty; like a\nwretch as he is, he will always be subject to a tyrant of some sort or\nother, and be a slave for ever; because his avaricious spirit knew not\nhow to be contented with that moderate competency, which he might have\npossessed independent of all the world.'\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCV.\n\n[Illustration: THE YOUNG MAN AND THE SWALLOW.]\n\n\nA prodigal Young Spendthrift, who had wasted his whole patrimony in\ntaverns and gaming-houses, among lewd idle company, was taking a\nmelancholy walk near a brook. It was in the month of January; and\nhappened to be one of those warm sunshiny days which sometimes smile\nupon us even in that winterly season of the year; and, to make it the\nmore flattering, a Swallow, which had made his appearance, by mistake,\ntoo soon, flew skimming along upon the surface of the water. The giddy\nYouth observing this, without any further consideration, concluded that\nsummer was now come, and that he should have little or no occasion for\nclothes, so went and pawned them at the broker's, and ventured the money\nfor one stake more, among his sharping companions. When this too was\ngone the same way with the rest, he took another solitary walk in the\nsame place as before. But the weather being severe and frosty, had made\nevery thing look with an aspect very different from what it did before;\nthe brook was quite frozen over, and the poor Swallow lay dead upon the\nbank of it: the very sight of which cooled the young Spark's brains; and\ncoming to a kind of sense of his misery, he reproached the deceased bird\nas the author of all his misfortunes:--'Ah, wretch that thou wert!' says\nhe, 'thou hast undone both thyself and me, who was so credulous as to\ndepend upon thee.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThey who frequent taverns and gaming-houses, and keep bad company,\nshould not wonder if they are reduced, in a very small time, to penury\nand want. The wretched young fellows, who once addict themselves to such\na scandalous kind of life, scarce think of, or attend to, any one thing\nbesides. They seem to have nothing else in their heads, but how they may\nsquander what they have got, and where they may get more when that is\ngone. They do not make the same use of their reason that other people\ndo; but, like the jaundiced eye, view every thing in that false light in\nwhich their distemper and debauchery represent it. The Young Man in the\nfable gives us a pretty example of this; he sees a Swallow in the midst\nof winter, and instead of being surprised at it, as a very irregular\nand extraordinary thing, concludes from thence that it is summer, as if\nhe had never thought before about the season. Well, the result of this\nwise conclusion is of a piece with the conclusion itself; if it is\nsummer, he shall not want so many clothes, therefore he sells them: for\nwhat?--More money to squander away; as if (had his observation been\njust) summer would have lasted all the year round. But the true result\nand conclusion of all this is--when both his money and clothes are\nirrecoverably gone, he comes to his right senses; is ready to perish\nwith hunger, to starve with cold, and to tear his own flesh with remorse\nand vexation at his former stupidity.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE MAN AND HIS GOOSE.]\n\n\nA certain Man had a Goose, which laid him a golden egg every day. But,\nnot contented with this, which rather increased than abated his avarice,\nhe was resolved to kill the Goose, and cut up her belly, that so he\nmight come at the inexhaustible treasure which he fancied she had within\nher. He did so; and, to his great sorrow and disappointment, found\nnothing.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThey who are of such craving impatient tempers, that they cannot live\ncontented when fortune has blessed them with a constant and continued\nsufficiency, deserve even to be deprived of what they have. And this has\nbeen the case of many ambitious and covetous men, who, by making an\nessay to grow very rich at once, have missed what they aimed at, and\nlost what they had before. But this comes so near the sense of the\nforty-seventh fable, that the same application may very well serve for\nboth. If any thing further can be couched in this, it may possibly be\nintended to show us the unreasonableness and inconvenience of being\nsolicitous about what may happen hereafter, and wanting to pry into the\nwomb of futurity: which if we could do, all we should get for our pains\nwould be, to spoil our pleasures by anticipation, and double our\nmisfortunes by a previous sense and apprehension of them. There are some\nthings that entertain and delight us very agreeably while we view them\nat a proper distance; which, perhaps, would not stand the test of a too\nnear inspection. Beauty, being only the external form of a thing which\nstrikes the eye in a pleasing manner, is a very thin glossy being, and,\nlike some nice paintings of a peculiar composition, will not well bear\neven to be breathed on: to preserve our good opinion of it, we must not\napproach too close; for if, like the man in the fable, we have a mind to\nsearch for a treasure within, we may not only fail of our expectations\nthere, but even lose the constant relish we enjoyed from a remoter\ncontemplation.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE DOG AND THE WOLF.]\n\n\nA lean, hungry, half-starved Wolf, happened, one moonshiny night, to\nmeet with a jolly, plump, well-fed mastiff; and, after the first\ncompliments were passed, says the Wolf--'You look extremely well; I\nprotest, I think, I never saw a more graceful comely person. But how\ncomes it about, I beseech you, that you should live so much better than\nI? I may say, without vanity, that I venture fifty times more than you\ndo; and yet I am almost ready to perish with hunger.'--The Dog answered\nvery bluntly--'Why you may live as well, if you will do the same for it\nthat I do.'--'Indeed! What is that?' says he.--'Why,' says the Dog,\n'only to guard the house a nights, and keep it from thieves.'--'With\nall my heart,' replies the Wolf, 'for at present I have but a sorry time\nof it; and, I think, to change my hard lodging in the woods, where I\nendure rain, frost, and snow, for a warm roof over my head, and a belly\nfull of good victuals, will be no bad bargain.'--'True,' says the Dog;\n'therefore you have nothing more to do but to follow me.' Now, as they\nwere jogging on together, the Wolf spied a crease in the Dog's neck,\nand, having a strange curiosity, could not forbear asking him what it\nmeant.--'Pugh! nothing,' says the Dog. 'Nay, but pray,'--says the Wolf.\n'Why,' says the Dog, 'if you must know, I am tied up in the day-time,\nbecause I am a little fierce, for fear I should bite people, and am only\nlet loose a nights. But this is done with design to make me sleep a\ndays, more than any thing else, and that I may watch the better in the\nnight-time; for, as soon as ever the twilight appears, out I am turned,\nand may go where I please. Then my master brings me plates of bones from\nthe table with his own hands, and whatever scraps are left by any of the\nfamily, all fall to my share; for you must know I am a favourite with\nevery body. So you see how you are to live.--Come, come along; what is\nthe matter with you?'--'No,' replied the Wolf, 'I beg your pardon; keep\nyour happiness all to yourself. Liberty is the word with me; and I would\nnot be a king upon the terms you mention.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe lowest condition of life, with freedom attending it, is better than\nthe most exalted station under a restraint. \u00c6sop and Ph\u00e6drus, who had\nboth felt the bitter effects of slavery, though the latter of them had\nthe good fortune to have the mildest prince that ever was for his\nmaster, cannot forbear taking all opportunities to express their great\nabhorrence of servitude, and their passion for liberty, upon any terms\nwhatsoever. Indeed, a state of slavery, with whatever seeming grandeur\nand happiness it may be attended, is yet so precarious a thing, that he\nmust want sense, honour, courage, and all manner of virtue, who can\nendure to prefer it in his choice. A man who has so little honour as to\nbear to be a slave, when it is in his power to prevent or redress it,\nwould make no scruple to cut the throats of his fellow creatures, or to\ndo any wickedness that the wanton unbridled will of his tyrannical\nmaster could suggest.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOOD AND THE CLOWN.]\n\n\nA country Fellow came one day into the Wood, and looked about him with\nsome concern; upon which the Trees, with a curiosity natural to some\nother creatures, asked him what he wanted.--He replied--'That he only\nwanted a piece of wood to make a handle to his hatchet.' Since that was\nall, it was voted unanimously, that he should have a piece of good,\nsound, tough ash. But he had no sooner received and fitted it for his\npurpose, than he began to lay about him unmercifully, and to hack and\nhew without distinction, felling the noblest trees in all the forest.\nThen the Oak is said to have spoke thus to the Beech in a low\nwhisper,--'Brother, we must take it for our pains.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nNo people are more justly liable to suffer than they who furnish their\nenemies with any kind of assistance. It is generous to forgive; it is\nenjoined us by religion to love our enemies; but he that trusts an\nenemy, much more contributes to the strengthening and arming of him, may\nalmost depend upon repenting him for his inadvertent benevolence; and\nhas, moreover, this to add to his distress, that, when he might have\nprevented it, he brought his misfortune upon himself by his own\ncredulity.\n\nAny person in a community, by what name or title soever distinguished,\nwho affects a power which may possibly hurt the people, is an enemy to\nthat people, and therefore they ought not to trust him: for though he\nwere ever so fully determined not to abuse such a power, yet he is so\nfar a bad man, as he disturbs the people's quiet, and makes them jealous\nand uneasy by desiring to have it, or even retaining it, when it may\nprove mischievous. If we consult history, we shall find that the thing\ncalled Prerogative has been claimed and contended for chiefly by those\nwho never intended to make a good use of it; and as readily resigned and\nthrown up by just and wise princes, who had the true interest of their\npeople at heart. How like senseless stocks do they act, who, by\ncomplimenting some capricious mortal, from time to time, with parcels of\nprerogative, at last put it out of their power to defend and maintain\nthemselves in their just and natural liberty!\n\n\n\n\nFABLE XCIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD LION.]\n\n\nA Lion, worn out with old age, lay fetching his last gasp, and agonizing\nin the convulsive struggles of death. Upon which occasion several of the\nbeasts, who had formerly been sufferers by him, came and revenged\nthemselves upon him. The Boar, with his mighty tusks, drove at him in a\nstroke that glanced like lightning. And the Bull gored him with his\nviolent horns. Which, when the Ass saw they might do without any danger,\nhe too came up, and threw his heels into the Lion's face. Upon which,\nthe poor old expiring tyrant uttered these words with his last dying\ngroan:--'Alas! how grievous is it to suffer insults, even from the brave\nand the valiant; but to be spurned by so base a creature as this is, who\nis the disgrace of Nature, is worse than dying ten thousand deaths.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nHe that would be reverenced and respected by the rest of mankind, must\nlay in a foundation for it of some kind or other; for people cannot be\npersuaded to pay deference and esteem for nothing. So that, though we\nhave lived in good repute in the world, if ever we should happen to\noutlive our stock, we must not be surprised to find ourselves slighted\nand affronted, even by the vilest scum of the people. If therefore we\nwould raise to ourselves a dignity that will continue not only to the\nend of our lives, but extend itself far down among the ages of\nposterity, we should take care to establish it upon a foundation of\nvirtue and good-nature: this will not only preserve us from the insults\nof enemies, but, upon occasion, surround us with a trusty guard of\nfaithful and sincere friends.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE C.\n\n[Illustration: THE HORSE AND THE LOADED ASS.]\n\n\nAn idle Horse, and an Ass labouring under a heavy burden, were\ntravelling the road together; they both belonged to a country fellow,\nwho trudged it on foot by them. The Ass, ready to faint under his heavy\nload, entreated the Horse to assist him, and lighten his burden, by\ntaking some of it upon his back. The Horse was ill-natured, and refused\nto do it; upon which the poor Ass tumbled down in the midst of the\nhighway, and expired in an instant. The countryman ungirted his\npack-saddle, and tried several ways to relieve him, but all to no\npurpose: which, when he perceived, he took the whole burden and laid it\nupon the Horse, together with the skin of the dead Ass: so that the\nHorse, by his moroseness in refusing to do a small kindness, justly\nbrought upon himself a great inconvenience.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nSelf-love is no such ill principle, if it were but well and truly\ndirected; for it is impossible that any man should love himself to any\npurpose, who withdraws his assistance from his friends or the public.\nEvery government is to be considered as a body politic; and every man\nwho lives in it as a member of that body. Now, to carry on the allegory,\nno member can thrive better than when they all jointly unite in their\nendeavours to assist and improve the whole. If the hand was to refuse\nits assistance in procuring food for the mouth, they must both starve\nand perish together. And when those, who are parties concerned in the\nsame community, deny such assistance to each other, as the preservation\nof that community necessarily requires, their self-interestedness, in\nthat case, is ill-directed, and will have a quite contrary effect from\nwhat they intended. How many people are so senseless as to think it hard\nthat there should be any taxes in the nation; whereas, were there to be\nnone indeed, those very people would be undone immediately. That little\nproperty they have would be presently plundered by foreign or domestic\nenemies; and then they would be glad to contribute their quota, even\nwithout an act of parliament. The charges of supporting a government are\nnecessary things, and easily supplied by a due and well proportioned\ncontribution. But, in a narrower and more confined view, to be ready to\nassist our friends upon all occasions, is not only good, as it is an act\nof humanity, but highly discreet, as it strengthens our interest, and\ngives us an opportunity of lightening the burden of life.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CI.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD MAN AND DEATH.]\n\n\nA poor feeble old man who had crawled out into a neighbouring wood to\ngather a few sticks, had made up his bundle, and, laying it over his\nshoulders was trudging homeward with it; but, what with age, and the\nlength of the way, and the weight of his burden, he grew so faint and\nweak that he sunk under it: and, as he sat on the ground, called upon\nDeath to come, once for all, and ease him of his troubles. Death no\nsooner heard him, but he came and demanded of him what he wanted. The\npoor old creature, who little thought Death had been so near, and\nfrighted almost out of his senses with his terrible aspect, answered him\ntrembling, that having by chance let his bundle of sticks fall, and\nbeing too infirm to get it up himself, he had made bold to call upon him\nto help him: that, indeed, this was all he wanted at present; and that\nhe hoped his worship was not offended with him for the liberty he had\ntaken in so doing.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThis fable gives us a lively representation of the general behaviour of\nmankind towards that grim king of terrors, Death. Such liberties do they\ntake with him behind his back, that, upon every little cross accident\nwhich happens in their way, Death is immediately called upon; and they\neven wish it might be lawful for them to finish by their own hands a\nlife so odious, so perpetually tormenting and vexatious. When, let but\nDeath only offer to make his appearance, and the very sense of his near\napproach almost does the business. Oh, then all they want is a little\nlonger life; and they would be glad to come off so well as to have their\nold burden laid upon their shoulders again. One may well conclude what\nan utter aversion they, who are in youth, health, and vigour of body,\nhave to dying, when age, poverty, and wretchedness, are not sufficient\nto reconcile us to the thought.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CII.\n\n[Illustration: THE BOAR AND THE ASS.]\n\n\nA little scoundrel of an Ass, happening to meet with a Boar, had a mind\nto be arch upon him,--'And so, brother,' says he, 'your humble servant.'\nThe Boar, somewhat nettled at his familiarity, bristled up to him, and\ntold him, he was surprised to hear him utter so impudent an untruth, and\nwas just going to show his noble resentment, by giving him a rip in the\nflank; but wisely stifling his passion, he contented himself with only\nsaying--'Go, you sorry beast! I could be amply and easily revenged of\nyou; but I do not care to foul my tusks with the blood of so base a\ncreature.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nFools are sometimes so ambitious of being thought wits, that they run\ngreat hazards in attempting to show themselves such. This is not the\nfirst Ass, who, after a handsome rebuke from one superior to himself\nboth in courage and merit, has continued his awkward raillery even to\nthe last degree of offence. But such a dull creature is so far from\nraising himself the least esteem by his ludicrous vein, that he has very\ngood luck if he escapes with a whole skin. Buffoons, like dwarfs, should\nbe matched with those of their own level; a man, in sense or stature,\nwould be ashamed to encounter either of them. But notwithstanding all\nthis, and though the Boar in the fable is a very good example to men of\ngenerous brave spirits not to give themselves up to passion, nor to be\ndistempered with thoughts of revenge upon the insolent behaviour of\nevery Ass that offends them, because their hands would be dishonoured by\nthe tincture of a base man's blood; yet among human creatures, the\ncorrection of an Ass that would be unseasonably witty, may be performed\nwith justness and propriety enough, provided it be done in good humour.\nThe blood of a coward, literally speaking, would stain the character of\na man of honour; when we chastise such wretches, it should be done, if\npossible, in the utmost calmness of temper. It takes off something from\nthe reputation of a great soul, when we see it is in the power of a fool\nto ruffle and unsettle it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE TUNNY AND THE DOLPHIN.]\n\n\nA fish called a Tunny being pursued by a Dolphin, and driven with great\nviolence, not minding which way he went, was thrown by the force of the\nwaves upon a rock, and left there. His death now was inevitable; but,\ncasting his eyes on one side, and seeing the Dolphin in the same\ncondition lay gasping by him.--'Well,' says he, 'I must die, it is true;\nbut I die with pleasure, when I behold him who is the cause of it\ninvolved in the same fate.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nRevenge though a blind mischievous passion, is yet a very sweet thing:\nso sweet, that it can even soothe the pangs and reconcile us to the\nbitterness of death. And, indeed, it must be a temper highly\nphilosophical, that could be driven out of life by any tyrannical unjust\nprocedure, and not be touched with a sense of pleasure to see the author\nof it splitting upon the same rock. When this is allowed, and it is\nfurther considered how easily the revenge of the meanest person may be\nexecuted even upon the highest, it should, methinks, keep people upon\ntheir guard, and prevail with them not to persecute or be injurious to\nany one. The moral turpitude of doing wrong is sufficient to influence\nevery brave honest man, and to secure him from harbouring even the least\nthought of it in his breast: but the knave and the coward should weigh\nthe present argument, and, before they attempt the least injury, be\nassured of this truth, that nothing is more sweet, nor scarce any thing\nso easy to compass, as revenge.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CIV.\n\n[Illustration: THE PEACOCK AND THE MAGPIE.]\n\n\nThe birds met together upon a time to choose a king; and the Peacock\nstanding candidate, displayed his gaudy plumes, and catched the eyes of\nthe silly multitude with the richness of his feathers. The majority\ndeclared for him, and clapped their wings with great applause: but just\nas they were going to proclaim him, the Magpie stepped forth in the\nmidst of the assembly, and addressed himself thus to the new king--'May\nit please your majesty elect, to permit one of your unworthy subjects to\nrepresent to you his suspicions and apprehensions, in the face of this\nwhole congregation: we have chosen you for our king, we have put our\nlives and fortunes into your hands, and our whole hope and dependence is\nupon you; if therefore, the Eagle, or the Vulture, or the Kite, should\nat any time make a descent upon us, as it is highly probable they will,\nmay your majesty be so gracious as to dispel our fears, and clear our\ndoubts, about that matter, by letting us know how you intend to defend\nus against them?'--This pithy unanswerable question drew the whole\naudience into so just a reflection, that they soon resolved to proceed\nto a new choice. But, from that time, the Peacock has been looked upon\nas a vain insignificant pretender, and the Magpie esteemed as eminent a\nspeaker as any among the whole community of birds.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nForm and outside, in the choice of a ruler, should not be so much\nregarded as the qualities and endowments of the mind. In choosing heads\nof corporations, from the king of the land down to the master of a\ncompany, upon every new election it should be inquired into, which of\nthe candidates is most capable of advancing the good and welfare of the\ncommunity; and upon him the choice should fall. But the eyes of the\nmultitude are so dazzled with pomp and show, noise and ceremony, that\nthey cannot see things really as they are: and from hence it comes to\npass, that so many absurdities are committed and maintained in the\nworld. People should examine and weigh the real weight and merit of the\nperson, and not be imposed upon by false colours and pretences of I know\nnot what.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CV.\n\n[Illustration: THE FORESTER AND THE LION.]\n\n\nThe Forester meeting with a Lion one day, they discoursed together for\nawhile without differing much in opinion. At last, a dispute happening\nto arise about the superiority between a Man and a Lion, the Man,\nwanting a better argument, showed the Lion a marble monument, on which\nwas placed the statue of a man striding over a vanquished Lion.--'If\nthis,' says the Lion, 'is all you have to say for it, let us be the\ncarvers, and we will make the Lion striding over the Man.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nContending parties are very apt to appeal for the truth to records\nwritten by their own side; but nothing is more unfair, and at the same\ntime insignificant and unconvincing. Such is the partiality of mankind\nin favour of themselves and their own actions, that it is almost\nimpossible to come at any certainty by reading the accounts which are\nwritten on one side only. We have few or no memoirs come down to us of\nwhat was transacted in the world during the sovereignty of ancient Rome,\nbut what were written by those who had a dependency upon it; therefore\nit is no wonder that they appear, upon most occasions, to have been so\ngreat and glorious a nation. What their contemporaries of other\ncountries thought of them we cannot tell, otherwise than from their own\nwriters: it is not impossible but they might have described them as a\nbarbarous, rapacious, treacherous, unpolite people; who, upon their\nconquest of Greece, for some time, made as great havoc and destruction\nof the arts and sciences, as their fellow plunderers, the Goths and\nVandals, did afterwards in Italy. What monsters would our own\nparty-zealots make of each other, if the transactions of the times were\nto be handed down to posterity by a warm hearty man on either side! and,\nwere such records to survive two or three centuries, with what\nperplexities and difficulties must they embarrass a young historian, as\nby turns he consulted them for the characters of his great forefathers!\nIf it should so happen, it were to be wished this application might be\nliving at the same time that young readers, instead of doubting to which\nthey should give their credit, would not fail to remember that this was\nthe work of a man, that of a lion.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CVI.\n\n[Illustration: THE STAG LOOKING INTO THE WATER.]\n\n\nA Stag that had been drinking at a clear spring, saw himself in the\nwater: and, pleased with the prospect, stood afterwards for some time\ncontemplating and surveying his shape and features from head to\nfoot.--'Ah!' says he, 'what a glorious pair of branching horns are\nthere! how gracefully do those antlers hang over my forehead, and give\nan agreeable turn to my whole face! If some other parts of my body were\nbut proportionable to them, I would turn my back to nobody; but I have a\nset of such legs as really makes me ashamed to see them. People may talk\nwhat they please of their conveniencies, and what great need we stand in\nof them upon several occasions; but, for my part, I find them so very\nslender and unsightly, that I had as lief have none at all.' While he\nwas giving himself these airs, he was alarmed with the noise of some\nhuntsmen, and a pack of hounds that had been just laid on upon the\nscent, and were making towards him. Away he flies, in some\nconsternation, and, bounding nimbly over the plain, threw dogs and men\nat a vast distance behind him. After which, taking a very thick copse,\nhe had the ill-fortune to be entangled by his horns in a thicket; where\nhe was held fast till the hounds came in and pulled him down. Finding\nnow how it was like to go with him, in the pangs of death he is said to\nhave uttered these words:--'Unhappy creature that I am! I am too late\nconvinced, that what I prided myself in has been the cause of my\nundoing, and what I so much disliked was the only thing that could have\nsaved me.'\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nPerhaps we cannot apply this better than by supposing the fable to be a\nparable! which may be thus explained. The Deer, viewing itself in the\nwater, is a beautiful young lady at her looking-glass. She cannot help\nbeing sensible of the charms which lie blooming in every feature of her\nface. She moistens her lips, languishes with her eyes, adjusts every\nlock of her hair with the nicest exactness, gives an agreeable attitude\nto her whole body; and then, with a soft sigh, says to herself,--'Ah!\nhow happy might I be, in a daily crowd of admirers, if it were not for\nthe censoriousness of the age! when I view that face, where Nature, to\ngive her her due, has been liberal enough of charms, how easy should I\nbe, if it were not for that slender particular, my honour. The odious\nidea of that comes across all my happy moments, and brings a\nmortification with it that damps my most flattering tender hopes. Oh!\nthat there were no such thing in the world!'--In the midst of these\nsoliloquies she is interrupted by the voice of her lover, who enters her\nchamber singing a rigadoon air; and, introducing his discourse in a\nfamiliar easy manner, takes occasion to launch out in praise of her\nbeauty; sees she is pleased with it, snatches her hand, kisses it in a\ntransport; and, in short, pursues his point so close, that she is not\nable to disengage herself from him. But, when the consequence of all\nthis approaches, in an agony of grief and shame, she fetches a deep sigh\nand says--'Ah! how mistaken have I been! the virtue I slighted might\nhave saved me; but the beauty I prized so much has been my undoing.'\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CVII.\n\n[Illustration: THE STAG AND THE OX-STALL.]\n\n\nA Stag, roused out of his thick cover in the midst of the forest, and\ndriven hard by the hounds, made towards a farm-house, and seeing the\ndoor of an Ox-Stall open, entered therein, and hid himself under a heap\nof straw. One of the Oxen, turning his head about, asked him what he\nmeant by venturing himself in such a place as that was, where he was\nsure to meet with his doom?--'Ah!' says the Stag, 'if you will but be so\ngood as to favour me with your concealment, I hope I shall do well\nenough; I intend to make off again the first opportunity.'--Well, he\nstaid there till towards night; in came the ox-man with a bundle of\nfodder, and never saw him. In short, all the servants of the farm came\nand went, and not a soul of them smelt any thing of the matter. Nay,\nthe bailiff himself came according to form, and looked in, but walked\naway no wiser than the rest. Upon this the Stag, ready to jump out of\nhis skin for joy, began to return thanks to the good-natured Oxen,\nprotesting that they were the most obliging people he had ever met with\nin his life. After he had done his compliments, one of them answered him\ngravely--'Indeed, we desire nothing more than to have it in our power to\ncontribute to your escape; but there is a certain person, you little\nthink of, who has a hundred eyes; if he should happen to come, I would\nnot give this straw for your life.'--In the interim, home comes the\nmaster himself, from a neighbour's, where he had been invited to dinner;\nand, because he had observed the cattle to look but scurvily of late, he\nwent up to the rack, and asked, why they did not give them more fodder?\nthen, casting his eyes downward,--'Hey-day!' says he, 'why so sparing of\nyour litter? pray scatter a little more here. And these cobwebs--but I\nhave spoke so often, that unless I do it myself--' Thus, as he went on,\nprying into every thing, he chanced to look where the Stag's horns lay\nsticking out of the straw; upon which he raised a hue-and-cry, called\nall his people about him, killed the poor Stag, and made a prize of him.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nThe moral of this fable is, that nobody looks after a man's affairs so\nwell as he himself. Servants, being but hirelings, seldom have the true\ninterest of their master at heart, but let things run on in a negligent\nconstant disorder; and this, generally, not so much for want of capacity\nas honesty. Their heads are taken up with the cultivation of their own\nprivate interest; for the service and promotion of which that of their\nmaster is postponed, and often entirely neglected.\n\nFew families are reduced to poverty and distress merely by their own\nextravagance and indulgence in luxury: the inattention of servants\nswells every article of expense in domestic oeconomy; and the retinue of\ngreat men, instead of exerting their industry to conduce as far as\npossible to the increase of their master's wealth, commonly exercise no\nother office than that of locusts and caterpillars, to consume and\ndevour it.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CVIII.\n\n[Illustration: THE DOVE AND THE ANT.]\n\n\nThe Ant, compelled by thirst, went to drink in a clear purling rivulet;\nbut the current, with its circling eddy, snatched her away, and carried\nher down the stream. The Dove, pitying her distressed condition, cropped\na branch from a neighbouring tree, and let it fall into the water, by\nmeans of which the Ant saved herself, and got ashore. Not long after, a\nfowler having a design upon the Dove, planted his nets in due order,\nwithout the bird's observing what he was about; which the Ant\nperceiving, just as he was going to put his design in execution, she bit\nhim by the heel, and made him give so sudden a start, that the Dove took\nthe alarm, and flew away.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nOne good turn deserves another; and gratitude is excited by so noble and\nnatural a spirit, that he ought to be looked upon as the vilest of\ncreatures who has no sense of it. It is, indeed, so very just and\nequitable a thing, and so much every man's duty, that, to speak of it\nproperly, one should not mention it as any thing meritorious, or that\nmay claim praise and admiration, any more than we should say a man ought\nto be rewarded or commended for not killing his father, or forbearing to\nset fire to his neighbour's house. The bright and shining piece of\nmorality, therefore, which is recommended to us in this fable, is set\nforth in this example of the Dove, who, without any obligation or\nexpectation, does a voluntary office of charity to its fellow creature\nin distress. The constant uninterrupted practice of this virtue, is the\nonly thing in which we are capable of imitating the great Author of our\nbeing; whose beloved Son, besides the many precepts he has given to\nenforce this duty, used this expression as a common saying, 'It is more\nblessed to give than to receive.'\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CIX.\n\n[Illustration: THE LION IN LOVE.]\n\n\nThe Lion, by chance, saw a fair Maid, the forester's daughter, as she\nwas tripping over a lawn, and fell in love with her. Nay, so violent was\nhis passion, that he could not live unless he made her his own; so that,\nwithout any more delay, he broke his mind to the father, and demanded\nthe damsel for his wife. The man, as odd as the proposal seemed at\nfirst, yet soon recollected, that by complying he might get the Lion\ninto his power; but, by refusing him, should only exasperate and provoke\nhis rage. Therefore he consented; but told him it must be upon these\nconditions: that, considering the girl was young and tender, he must\nagree to let his teeth be plucked out, and his claws cut off, lest he\nshould hurt her, or at least frighten her, with the apprehension of\nthem. The Lion was too much in love to hesitate; but was no sooner\ndeprived of his teeth and claws, than the treacherous forester attacked\nhim with a huge club, and knocked his brains out.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nOf all the ill consequences that may attend that blind passion, love,\nseldom any prove so fatal as that one, of its drawing people into a\nsudden and ill-concerted marriage. They commit a rash action in the\nmidst of a fit of madness, of which, as soon as they come to themselves,\nthey may find reason to repent as long as they live. Many an unthinking\nyoung fellow has been treated as much like a savage, in this respect, as\nthe Lion in the fable. He has, perhaps, had nothing valuable belonging\nto him but his estate, and the writings which made his title to it; and,\nif he is so far captivated as to be persuaded to part with these, his\nteeth and his claws are gone, and he lies entirely at the mercy of madam\nand her relations. All the favour he is to expect, after this, is from\nthe accidental goodness of the family he falls into; which, if it happen\nto be of a particular strain, will not fail to keep him in a distant\nsubjection, after they have stripped him of all his power. Nothing but a\ntrue friendship, and a mutual interest, can keep up reciprocal love\nbetween the conjugal pair; and when that is wanting, and nothing but\ncontempt and aversion remain to supply the place, matrimony becomes a\ndownright state of enmity and hostility: and what a miserable case he\nmust be in, who has put himself and his whole power into the hands of\nhis enemy, let those consider, who, while they are in their sober\nsenses, abhor the thoughts of being betrayed into their ruin, by\nfollowing the impulse of a blind unheeding passion.\n\n\n\n\nFABLE CX.\n\n[Illustration: THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE.]\n\n\nThe Tortoise, weary of his condition, by which he was confined to creep\nupon the ground, and being ambitious to have a prospect, and look about\nhim, gave out, that if any bird would take him up into the air, and show\nhim the world, he would reward him with a discovery of many precious\nstones, which he knew were hidden in a certain place of the earth: the\nEagle undertook to do as he desired, and, when he had performed his\ncommission, demanded the reward; but finding the Tortoise could not make\ngood his words, he stuck his talons into the softer parts of his body,\nand made him a sacrifice to his revenge.\n\n\nAPPLICATION.\n\nAs men of honour ought to consider calmly how far the things which they\npromise may be in their power, before they venture to make promises\nupon this account, because the non-performance of them will be apt to\nexcite an uneasiness within themselves, and tarnish their reputation in\nthe eyes of other people; so fools and cowards should be as little rash\nin this respect as possible, lest their impudent forgeries draw upon\nthem the resentment of those whom they disappoint, and that resentment\nmakes them undergo smart, but deserved, chastisement. The man who is so\nstupid a knave as to make a lying promise where he is sure to be\ndetected, receives the punishment of his folly unpitied by all that know\nhim.\n\n\nFINIS.\n\n\nPrinted by C. WHITTINGHAM, Chiswick.\n\n\n * * * * *\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nThe header \"Fable I\" has been added.\n\nVariations in spelling and hyphenation have been preserved except in\nobvious cases of typographical error.","title":"\u00c6sop's Fables, Embellished with One Hundred and Eleven Emblematical Devices.","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":47057}