Pleasure of Providence Nature is pleas'd to Entertain her self with Variety Some of her Works are for Ornament others for the Use and Service of Mankind But they have All Respectively their Proprieties and their Vertues for she does nothing in Vain The Peacock Values himself upon the Gracefulness of his Train The Crane's Pride is in the Rankness of her Wing Which are only Two Excellencies in several Kinds Take them apart and they are Both Equally Perfect but Good Things Themselves have their Degrees and That which is most Necessary and Useful must be Allow'd a Preference to the Other FAB CCXXXV A Tyger and a Fox AS a Huntsman was upon the Chace and the Beasts flying before him Let Me alone says a Tyger and I 'll put an end to This War my self At which Word he Advanced toward the Enemy in his Single Person The Resolution was no sooner Taken but he found himself Struck through the Body with an Arrow He Fasten'd upon it presently with his Teeth and while he was Trying to Draw it out a Fox Ask'd him from what Bold Hand it was that he Receiv'd This Wound I know Nothing of That says the Tyger but by the Circumstances it should be a Man The MORAL There 's No Opposing Brutal Force to the Stratagems of Humane Reason REFLEXION BOLDNESS without Counsel is no better then an Impetus which is commonly Worsted by Conduct and Design There 's No Man so Daring but some time or Other he Meets with his Match The Moral in short holds forth This Doctrine that Reason is too Hard for Force and that Temerity puts a Man off his Guard 'T is a High Point of Honour Philosophy and Vertue for a Man to be so Present to Himself as to be always Provided against All Encounters and Accidents whatsoever but This will not Hinder him from Enquiring Diligently into the Character the Strength Motions and Designs of an Enemy The Tyger lost his Life for want of This Circumspection FAB CCXXXVI A Lyon and Bulls THere was a Party of Bulls that Struck up a League to Keep and Feed together and to be One and All in case of a Common Enemy If the Lyon could have Met with any of them Single he would have done His Work but so long as they Stuck to This Confederacy there was No Dealing with them They fell to Variance at last among Themselves The Lyon made his Advantage of it and then with Great Ease he Gain'd his End The MORAL This is to tell us the Advantage the Necessity and the Force of Union And that Division brings Ruine REFLEXION THERE 's No Resisting of a Common Enemy No Maintaining of a Civil Community without an Union for a Mutual Defence and there may be also on the Other Hand a Conspiracy of Common Enmity and Aggression There are Cases indeed of Great Nicety that fall under the Topique of the Right and Lawfulness of Joyning in such Leagues He that is not Sui Iuris must not Enter into any Covenants or Contracts to the Wrong of his Master But there are Certain Rules of Honesty and Methods of Government to Direct us in all Agreements of This Quality A Thing simply Good in it self may become Unjust and Unrighteous under such and such Circumstances In a Word the Main Bond of All Bodies and Interests is Union which is No Other in Effect then a Common Stock of Strength and Counsel Joyn'd in One. While the Bulls kept together they were Safe but so soon as ever they separated they became a Prey to the Lyon FAB CCXXXVII A Fir and a Bramble THere goes a Story of a Fir-Tree that in a Vain spiteful Humour was mightily upon the Pin of Commending it self and Despising the Bramble My Head says the Fir is advanc'd among the Stars I furnish Beams for Palaces Masts for Shipping The very Sweat of my Body is a Sovereign Remedy for the Sick and Wounded Whereas the Rascally Bramble runs creeping in the Dirt and serves for No Purpose in the World but Mischief Well says the Bramble that Over-heard all This You might have said somewhat of your Own Misfortune and to My Advantage too if Your Pride and Envy would have suffer'd you to do it But pray will you tell me however when the Carpenter comes next with his Axe into the Wood to Fell Timber whether you had not rather be a Bramble then a Fir-Tree The MORAL Poverty Secures a Man from Thieves Great and Small Whereas the Rich and the Mighty are the Mark of Malice and Cross Fortune and still the Higher they Are the Nearer the Thunder REFLEXION THERE is no State of Life without a Mixture in 't of Good and Evil and the Highest Pitch of Fortune is not without Dangers Cares and Fears This Doctrine is Verify'd by Examples Innumerable thorough the Whole History of the World and that the Mean is Best both for Body Mind and Estate Pride is not only Uneasie but Unsafe too for it has the Power and Justice of Heaven and the Malicious Envy of Men to Encounter at the same Time and the Axe that Cuts down the Fir is Rightly Moralliz'd in the Stroke of Divine Vengeance that brings down the Arrogant while the Bramble Contents it self in its Station That is to say Humility is a Vertue that never goes without a Blessing FAB CCXXXVIII A Covetous Man and an Envious THere was a Covetous and an Envious Man that Joyn'd in a Petition to Iupiter who very Graciously Order'd Apollo to tell them that their Desire should be Granted at a Venture provided only that whatever the One Ask'd should be Doubled to the Other The Covetous Man that thought he could never have enough was a good While at a Stand Considering that let him Ask Never so much the Other should have Twice as much But he came however by Degrees to Pitch upon One Thing after Another and his Companion had it Double It was now the Envious Man's turn to Offer up His Request which was that One of his Own Eyes might be put out for his Companion was then to lose Both. The MORAL Avarice and Envy are Two of the most Diabolical and Insociable Vices under Heaven The One Assumes All to it self and the Other Wishes Every bit it's Neighbour Eats may Choak him REFLEXION THERE are some Pestilent Humours and Froward Natures that Heaven it self has much ado to please Envy Places it's Happiness in the Misery and Misfortune of Others and Avarice is never to be Pleas'd unless it can get All to it self They may seem to be nearer a-Kin then in truth they Are though the One is seldom or never to be found without the Other The Best Use of This Application is to Possess us with a True Sense of the Restlesness of these Two Passions and Consequently to make Those Weaknesses Odious to our selves that are so Troublesome to the World and in truth no Better then the Common Pest of Mankind FAB CCXXXIX A Crow and a Pitcher A Crow
than in the Hyperboles of their Flatterers For they know very well that Wise Books are the Only True Friends There 's a Fawning Crafty Knave and a Vain Easie Fool well met in this Fable of the Fox and the Raven which is no more at last than One sort of Rascal Cajoling Another And then to shew us both that Impudence will stick at Nothing and that a Self-Conceited Fop will swallow Any thing the Raven's Beauty forsooth and his Voice are the Topiques that Reynard has made choice of to Dilate upon The two main Ends of Flattery are Profit or Safety though there are many others too that are less Principal but in some respect or other Reducible to these Heads The One is too Mercenary and the Other too Servile for a man of Worth There are also several sorts and degrees of it under this Division and divers ways of Address and Application But Flattery is Flattery still and the Moral extends to All. 'T is in it self an Unmanly Slavish Vice but it is much Worse yet for the Alliance it has to Hypocrisie for while we make other people think Better of themselves than they Deserve we make them think Better of Us too than We Deserve For Self-love and Vanity on the One hand Assists the Falseness and the Considence on the Other while it serves to confirm weak Minds in the Opinion they had of Themselves before and makes them Parties effectually in a Conspiracy to their Own Ruin The Measures and the Artifices of it are Many and in divers Cases so like Sincerity that what betwixt Custom and the Nature of the Thing it looks in truth like a Virtue and a Duty that is to say where it is so manag'd as to be rather Instructive than pussing up As for Example for a body to say This or That was Wisely foreseen Or You intend I presume to go This or That Way to Work and the like Such an Insinuation as this is carries the Force in it of a Tacite and a prudent Advice for it both serves to point out the Reason of the thing and it preserves the Decency of that Respect which ought to go along with it 'T is a good Hint the very suggesting of such or such a Precaution though the consideration perhaps never came near the t' others Thought But there is a certain Habitual Meanness of Soul which has so far prevail'd in the World that Common Civility is no less Tainted by Course and Custom than Friendship and Conversation is by Corruption It is the Parasites Act to cast himself into all Shapes that may sort with the Figure of his Patron in what Post Function or Administration soever and to frame the Air and Countenance of his Words Looks and Actions accordingly with a respect to his Power Wisdom Conduct Bravery Generosity Justice or what other Subject he thinks fit to treat upon So that let him be never so Perfidious Shallow Rash Timorous Envious Malicious Proud Covetous c. a Little Court Holy-Water Washes off all Stains And what is this upon the Main now but an Exchange of Air for Substance and parting with All that either is or ought to be Dear to us for a Song The Flatterer first Counsels his Patron to his Loss and then betrays him into the making himself Ridiculous as what can be more so than for a Raven to Value Himself upon his Croaking or an Asse upon his Braying The only Benefit or Good of Flattery is this that by Hearing what we are Not we may be Instructed what we Ought to be FAB XIV An Old Lion A Lion that in the Days of his Youth and Strength had been very Outrageous and Cruel came in the end to be Reduced by Old Age and Infirmity to the last Degree of Misery and Contempt Insomuch that All the Beasts of the Forrest some out of Insolence others in Revenge some in fine upon One Pretence some upon Another fell upon him by Consent He was a Miserable Creature to all Intents and Purposes but Nothing went so near the Heart of him in his Distress as to find himself Batter'd by the Heel of an Asse The MORAL A Prince that does not secure Friends to Himself while he is in Power and Condition to oblige them must never expect to find Friends when he is Old and Impotent and no longer Able to do them any Good If he Governs Tyrannically in his Youth he will be sure to be Treated Contemptuously in his Age and the Baser his Enemies are the more Insolent and Intollerable will be the Affront REFLEXION This may serve for a Lesson to men in Power that they Treasure up Friends in their Prosperity against a time of Need for He that does not Secure himself of a stock of Reputation in his Greatness shall most Certainly fall Unpity'd in his Adversity And the Baser his Enemies are the more insupportable is the Insolence and the forwarder will they be to Trample upon him The Case of this Miserable Old Lion may serve to put Great Men in mind that the Wheele of Time and of Fortune is still Rolling and that they themselves are to lie down at last in the Grave with Common Dust And without any thing to support them in their Age but the Reputation Virtue and Conscience of a well spent Youth Nay Age it self is well-nigh sufficient to Deface every Letter and Action in the History of a Meritorious Life For Old Services are Bury'd under the Ruines of an Old Carcass But there are None yet that fall so Unpity'd so Just so Necessary and so Grateful a Sacrifice to the Rage and Scorn of the common People as those that have rais'd themselves upon the Spoiles of the Publick Especially when that Oppression is Aggravated with a Wanton Cruelty and with Blood and Rapine for the very love of Wickedness It is a kind of Arrogance in such a case to be Honest where 't is both a Fashion and a Credit to be Other The Lion is here upon his Death-Bed Not a Friend left him nor so much as an Enemy with either Fangs or Claws that does not stand Gaping and Waiting for a Collop of him Here he lies Faint Poor and Defenceless under the Judgment of Divine Vengeance and the Animadversion of Humane Justice both at once stung in his own Thoughts with the Guilty Remembrance of the Pride and Riot of his Youth Abandon'd and Despis'd by the Righteous Retaliation of Heaven it self All his Sins as well as all his Adversaries his Frauds and Cruelties Broken Vows Promises and Contracts his Tyranny and Hypocrisie and the Iniquity in fine of All his Councels and Practices for the Ruine of the Guiltless flying in the face of him FAB XV. An Asse and a Whelp A Gentleman had got a Favourite Spaniel that would be still Toying and Leaping upon him Licking his Cheeks and playing a Thousand pretty Gambles which the Master was well enough pleas'd withall This Wanton Humour succeeded so well with the
he 's fain to squeeze hard before he can get off again and glad to Compound with his very Skin for his Carcases FAB LVI A Boare and a Horse A Boar happen'd to be Wallowing in the Water where a Horse was going to Drink and there grew a Quarrel upon 't The Horse went presently to a Man to Assist him in his Revenge They agreed upon the Conditions and the Man immediately Arm'd himself and Mounted the Horse who carry'd him to the Boare and had the satisfaction of seeing his Enemy Kill'd before his Face The Horse Thank'd the Cavalier for his Kindness but as he was just about to take leave the Man say'd he should have further Occasion for him and so Order'd him to be Ty'd up in the Stable The Horse came by This Time to Understand that his Liberty was gone and No Help for 't and that he had pay'd Dear for his Revenge FAB LVII A Stag and a Horse UPon a Dispute betwixt a Stag and a Horse about a piece of Pasture the Stag got the Better on 't and beat the Other out of the Field The Horse upon This Affront Advis'd with a Man what Course to Take who told him that if he would Submit to be Bridled and Sadled and take a Man upon his Back with a Lance in his Hand he would Undertake to give him the Satisfaction of a Revenge The Horse came to his Terms and for the Gratifying of a Present Passion made himself a Slave all the days of his Life Stesichorus made use of This Fable to Divert the Himerenses from Chusing Phalaris the Tyrant for their General This Horse's Case says he will be Yours if you go on with your Proposals 'T is true You 'l have your Revenge but you 'l lose your Liberties Upon which Words the Motion fell The MORAL of the two FABLES above Let every man take a True Measure of Himself what he is Able to do and what Not before he comes to any Peremptory Resolution how to Proceed He is a Madman that to Avoid a Present and a Less Evil runs Blindfolded into a Greater and for the Gratifying of a Froward Humour makes himself a Slave All the days of his Life REFLEXION THESE Fables lay Open to us the Folly of Those People that make themselves Slaves to their Revenge for no man should be so Angry with Another as to Hurt Himself for 't We should likewise Consider that there 's More Hazzard in the succour of a New Powerful Friend then in the Hostility of an Old Dangerous Enemy and that the Greatest Empires upon the face of the Earth have had their Rise from the Pretence of Taking up Quarrels or Keeping the Peace These Fables tell us that it is a Rule of Good Discretion in all Matters of Quarrel and Controversie for Him that is Worsted to have a Great Care Whom he calls to his Aid Especially when there 's more of Passion then Necessity in the Case The Horse might have Quench'd his Thirst with Troubled Water or he might have stay'd the Clearing of it Or Chang'd his Wat'ring Place Or when he was forc'd out of One Pasture he might have taken-up in Another which would have Preserv'd his Liberty upon the Main though not as to This Particular But his Stomach was too Great it seems to Digest the Affront without having his Enemy at his Feet so that he gives up his Freedom to Gain his Revenge He has Fair Words however Rich Trappings and Large Promises but Works only for his Master and if at any time he does but Slacken his Pace or abate either in his Zeale or in his Mettle the Spurr is presently in the Flank of him Or if he be Unruly the Bit's upon the Check to keep him to his Duty The Stag was too Hard for the Horse and the Horse flyes for Succour to One that 's to Hard for Him and Rides the One to Death and Outright Kills the Other It were Well if Possible to keep All Potent Enemies to the Behaviour in such a Case as This Especially if they Appear under the Shape of Friends But if People will Venture Life Liberty and All for the Clawing of an Itch and lay Violent Hands upon Themselves there 's no Fence for 't That which Men are to Horses in the Scale of Creatures Men in Power and Authority are in some Proportion to the Poor and Weak That is to say in the Analogy of Servitude and Drudgery and in the carrying of some sort of Burdens that are a Shame to the Bearer They Toyle and Moyle for the Interest of their Masters that in requital break the very Hearts of them for their Pleasure and the Freer they are of their Flesh the more Scandalous is the Bondage When they have done All that Horses can do they are Lash'd Spurr'd Revil'd and Ill Treated for not being able to do More They are Hurry'd on without either Respite or Reason And after they have carry'd their Riders safe over All Leaps and thorough All Dangers and by All Ways and Means Contributed to the Ease Credit and Security of their Masters what comes of them in the End but to be Strain'd Founder'd or Broken Winded Old Age Overtakes them and they are e'en Glad to take up in a Mill at last with Grains and Thistles and there spend the Remainder of a Wretched Life in a Circulation of Misery and Labour If any Man of War or State shall find This Case to be his Own and Himself Touch'd in the Moral of This Fable let him keep his Own Councel and learn to be Wiser hereafter And we may learn This Lesson of the Horse too not to Sacrifice our Honour Liberty and Conscience to a Freak FAB LVIII Two Young Men and a Cook TWo Young Fellows Slipt into a Cooks Shop and while the Master was Busie at his Work One of them Stole a piece of Flesh and Convey'd it to the Other The Master Miss'd it immediately and Challeng'd them with the Theft He that Took it Swore He had None on 't And He that Had it Swore as Desperately that He did not Take it The Cook Reflecting upon the Conceit Well My Masters says he These Frauds and Fallacies may pass upon men but there 's an Eye Above that sees thorough them The MORAL There 's No Putting of Tricks upon an All-Seeing Power as if He that Made our Hearts and knows Every Nook and Corner of them could not see thorough the Childish Fallacy of a Double-Meaning REFLEXION THIS Fable concerns those that think to Deceive God with Fallacies of Words Equivocations Mental Reservations and Double Meanings but though Frauds and Perjuries may pass upon Men for a Season they are as Open as the Light yet to Him that Searches the Heart A Man had Better be a Downright Atheist then in such a Case as This an Equivocating Hypocrite For He that Denies a Providence or Doubts whether there be any God at all is much more Pardonable then Another that Acknowledges
contrary that only Seem Terrible but are found upon Experience to be more Dangerous then we took them for as in the Strength the Nimbleness the Fierceness and the Appetite of a Lyon These are Things I say that the Better we Know them the More we Dread them So that though we have Apprehensions as well where there is No Peril as where there Is Yet Time teaches us to Distinguish the One from the Other The Allusion would much better have held in the case of a Battle where the Soldier grows Every day less apprehensive of the Hazzard by seeing so many People Scape and by Computing upon the Disproportion of Those that Outlive it to Those that Fall in 't We may however Learn from hence that people may be Frighted as well Without Reason as With it Now in Propriety of Speaking and in a Right Understanding of the Thing too People were not so much Frighted as they were Surpriz'd at the Bigness and Uncouth Deformity of the Camel But I could Wish the Fox had been More and More affraid of the Lyon the Oftner he Saw him and the Doctrine would then have been to Govern our Passions by the Truth and Reason of Things not by Appearances but it holds however that Custom goes a Great Way in making Matters Indifferent to us 'T is much the same Case too betwixt the People and Bugg-Laws and Acts of State that it is here betwixt the Fox and the Lyon Men look upon the First Opening of a Publique Fast as if Heaven and Earth were going together Not a Shop Open The Streets Quiet and so Dismal a Countenance Every where as if it were to Rain Fire and Brimstone the Next Moment The Second Day is a Little Uneasy too but not half so Frightful as the Former and so in Two or Three days more the Awe goes quite off and the People come to their Wits and fall to their Trade again without any further Heed to the Matter FAB LXXII An Eagle and a Fox THere was a Bargain struck up betwixt an Eagle and a Fox to be Wonderful Good Neighbours and Friends The One Took-up in a Thicket of Brushwood and the Other Timber'd upon a Tree hard by The Eagle One Day When the Fox was abroad a Forraging fell into his Quarters and carry'd away a Whole Litter of Cubbs at a Swoop The Fox came time enough back to see the Eagle upon Wing with her Prey in the Foot and to send many a Heavy Curse after her but there was No overtaking her It happen'd in a very Short time after This upon the Sacrificing of a Goat that the same Eagle made a Stoop at a piece of Flesh upon the Altar and she took it away to her Young But Some Live Coales it seems that Stuck to 't set the Nest a fire The Birds were not as yet Fledge enough to Shift for Themselves but upon Sprawling and Struggling to get Clear of the Flame down they Tumbled half Roasted into the very Mouth of the Fox that stood Gaping under the Tree to see the End on 't So that the Fox had the satisfaction at last of Devouring the Children of her Enemy in the very Sight of the Damm The MORAL God Reserves to Himself the Punishment of Faithless and Oppressing Governours and the Vindication of his Own Worship and Altars REFLEXION THIS is to give Great Men to Understand that No Power upon Earth can Protect them in the Exercise of Tyranny and Injustice but that Sooner or Later Vengeance will Overtake Oppressors It does likewise Condemn Treachery and breach of Faith even toward the most Perfidious The Morality of This Fiction looks several Ways Here 's first a League betwixt an Eagle and a Fox which would be a most Incongruous Allyance if it were not in the case of That Princely Birds Departure from the Dignity of her Character and from the Obligation of Royal Justice so that Aesop has aptly enough Match'd a Faith-Breaking Prince with a Perâ—…idious Subject and Fancy'd a Knavish Favourite as the Fittest Minister for such a Governour In the Eagles Destroying the Foxes Cubbs there 's Power Exercis'd with Oppression and the Curses of the Fox that Pursu'd the Oppressor were not sent in Vain neither as appears by the Sequel We are likewise to take Notice that Justice is Sacred and that No Provocation either of Insolent Language or Behaviour can Warrant the Violation of it And it is further Suggested to us that when People are in a Train of Wickedness One Sin Treads upon the Heel of Another The Eagle begins with an Invasion upon the Rights of Hospitality and Common Faith and at the Next Step Advances to Sacrilege in Robbing the Altar And what follows upon it now but a Divine Judgment that sets fire to her Nest and Avenges the Cause of the very Fox though One of the Falsest of Creatures From hence we are to Gather These Two Doctrines for our Instruction First That the Misdemeanors of Temporal Sovereign Powers are subjected only to the Animadversion of the supreme Lord of the Universe And secondly That in the Case of Tyranny it self it is not for Private Men to pretend to any Other Appeal FAB LXXIII A Husbandman and a Stork A Poor Innocent Stork had the Ill Hap to be taken in a Net that was layd for Geese and Cranes The Storks Plea for her self was Simplicity and Piety The Love she bore to Mankind and the Service she did in Picking up of Venomous Creatures This is all True says the Husbandman But They that Keep Ill Company if they be Catch'd with Ill Company must Expect to suffer with Ill Company The MORAL 'T is as much as a man's Life Fortune and Reputation are Worth to keep Good Company over and above the Contagion of Lewd Examples for as Birds of a Feather will Flock together so if the Good and the Bad be taken together they must Expect to go the Way of All Flesh together REFLEXION THIS is to bid men have a care What Company they keep for when the Good and Bad are Taken together they must Go together Not but that a man may lye under some Obligation of Duty and Respect to Visit Eat and Correspond with Many People that he does not Like And This may be well enough Done too provided it be out of Decency Discretion or Good Manners rather then upon Choice and Inclination We cannot Honestly let a Civil Enemy into a Town that 's Besieg'd or hold any sort of Intelligence with him though but in a Bare Curiosity about the Affairs of the Garrison Let a man Consider now how much more Dangerous and Unwarrantable it is to take an Enemy into Our Souls then into our Forts With all Honour yet to a Brave Adversary apart from his Cause 'T is the Fortune of many a Good Man to fall into Bad Company and to be Undone by 't and yet no way Guilty all this while of the Iniquity of his Companions The Letter of the
the same Steps and Degrees with This Inimitable Example It Deliberates Projects Executes Weighes and Approves Nature does Nothing in a Huddle and Human Prudence should Govern it self by the same Measures A Plurality of Voices 't is true carryes the Question in all our Debates but rather as an Expedient for Peace then an Eviction of the Right for there are Millions of Errors to One Reason and Truth And a Point is not so Easy to be Hit In a Word the Old Saying is a shrewd One that Wise Men Propose and Fools Determine Take the World to pieces and there are a thousand Sots to one Philosopher and as many Swarms of Flyes to One Eagle Lions do not come into the World by Litters FAB CXXIII Two Cocks Fighting TWO Cocks fought a Duell for the Mastery of a Dunghill He that was Worsted slunk away into a Corner and Hid himself T'other takes his Flight up to the Top of the House and there with Crowing and Clapping of his Wings makes Proclamation of his Victory An Eagle made a Stoop at him in the Middle of his Exultation and carry'd him away By This Accident the Other Cock had a Good Riddance of his Rival took Possession of the Province they Contended for and had All his Mistresses to Himself again The MORAL A Wise and a Generous Enemy will make a Modest Use of a Victory for Fortune is Variable REFLEXION THIS Combat of Two Cocks for a Dunghill may be Moraliz'd by an Application of it to the Competition of the Greatest Princes for Empire and Dominion For what 's the World more then a Mass of Dirt on the One hand as to the Subject of the Quarrell and there 's the same Thirst of Blood too betwixt the Combatants on the Other We have again the Various Chance of Warr Exhibited on Both Sides For 't is with Kings as with These Cocks He that 's a Victor This Moment may be a Slave the Next And this Volubility of Human Affaires what is it but either the Sport or the Judgment of Providence in the Punishment of Arrogance and Oppression We are given finally to Understand that as the Levity of Fortune leaves us Nothing to Trust to or to Presume upon so at the same Time there 's Nothing to Despair of The Conquering Cock was Cut off in the very Song of his Triumph and the Conquer'd re-instated in the Possession of his former Pretenses FAB CXXIV A Fawn and a Stag. A Fawn was Reasoning the Matter with a Stag why he should run away from the Dogs still for says he you are Bigger and Stronger then They. If you have a Mind to stand y' are better Arm'd And then y' are Fleeter if you 'll Run for 't I can't Imagine what should make you so Fearful of a Company of Pityful Currs Nay says the Stag 't is All True that you say and 't is no more then I say to my self Many Times and yet whatever the Matter is let me take up what Resolutions I please when I hear the Hounds once I cannot but betake my self to my Heels The MORAL 'T is One thing to Know what we ought to do and Another thing to Execute it and to bring up our Practice to our Philosophy He that is naturally a Coward is not to be made Valiant by Councell REFLEXION NATURAL Infirmities are well nigh Insuperable and Men that are Cowards by Complexion are hardly ever to be made Valiant by Discourse But They are Conscious yet of the Scandal of that Weakness and may make a shift perhaps to Reason themselves now and then into a kind of Temporary Resolution which they have not the Power afterwards to go Thorough with We find it to be much the same Case in the Government of our Affections and Appetites that it is in These Bodyly Frailties of Temperament and Complexion Providence has Arm'd us with Powers and Faculties sufficient for the Confounding of All the Enemies we have to Encounter We have Life and Death before us That is to say Good and Evil And we know which is which too Beside that it is at our Choice to Take or to Refuse So that we understand what we ought to do but when we come to Deliberate we play Booty against our selves And while our Judgments and our Consciences direct us One Way our Corruptions Hurry us Another This Stag in fine is a Thorough Emblem of the State and Infirmity of Mankind We are both of us Arm'd and Provided either for the Combat or for Flight We see the Danger we Ponder upon it and now and then by Fits take up some Faint Resolutions to Outbrave and break thorough it But in the Conclusion we shrink upon the Tryal We betake our selves from our Heads to our Heels from Reason to Flesh and Bloud from our Strength to our Weaknesses and suffer under One Common Fate FAB CXXV Iupiter and a Bee A Bee made Iupiter a Present of a Pot of Hony which was so kindly Taken that he bad her Ask what she would and it should be Granted her The Bee desir'd that where-ever she should set her Sting it might be Mortal Iupiter was loth to leave Mankind at the Mercy of a Little Spiteful Insect and so bad her have a care how she Kill'd any Body for what Person soever she Attacqu'd if she left her Sting behind her it should cost her her Life The MORAL Spiteful Prayers are no better than Curses in a Disguise and the Granting of them turns commonly to the Mischief of the Petitioner REFLEXION CRUELTY and Revenge are directly contrary to the very Nature of the Divine Goodness and the Mischief that is Design'd for Other People returns commonly upon the Head of the Author How many Men are there in the World that put up as Malicious Prayers in Christian Assemblyes to the True God as the Bee does to Iupiter here in the Fable And Prayers too against their very Patrons and Masters their Benefactors that Entertain Feed and Protect them Will Heaven Heare These Prayers shall we think or Curses rather and not Punish them This Bee did not Pray for a Power to Kill without a Previous Disposition and Design to put that Venemous Power in Execution She had Mischief in her Heart allready and only wanted some Destructive Faculty answerable to her Will And so pray'd to Iupiter as Men do in many Cases to the Iehovah for the Blessing of an Ability to Commit Murder FAB CXXVI Wasps in a Honey-Pot THere was a Whole Swarm of Wasps got into a Hony-Pot and there they Cloy'd and Clamm'd themselves till there was no getting Out again which brought them to Understand in the Conclusion that they had pay'd too Deare for their Sweet-Meats The MORAL Loose Pleasures become Necessary to Us by the Frequent Use of them and when they come once to be Habitual there 's no getting Clear again REFLEXION THESE Wasps in a Hony-Pot are so many Sensual Men that are Plung'd in their Lusts and Pleasures and when
Thing was Acceptable enough but not the Presenter for says Iupiter though Gifts are Wellcome to me of Themselves I must not yet receive any from a Serpent The MORAL He that receives a Present Contracts an Obligation which a Body would be Asham'd of in the Case of an Ill Man for it looks toward making a Friendship with him REFLEXION A Good Man would not Willingly lye under any Obligation to a Person of a Lewd Character and Conversation for beside the Danger he Incurrs it would not be for his Credit neither where Presents are Scandals and rather Snares then Benefits 'T is a kind of Incumbrance upon the freedom of a Generous Mind to be debt to an Ill Man even upon any Score whatsoever that does but carry the face of Good Will or Respect for 't is a Debt that a Man 's both Asham'd and Weary of 'till 't is paid off He lives uneasily under the Burden of it and Consequently it is the Debt of All Others that ought first to be Answer'd And there 's Somthing more in 't yet too which is that when All Common Scores are made even the Morality of the Obligation still remains for there 's no Cancelling the Bonds of Honor and Justice Kindnesses are to be paid in specie as well as Mony That is to say there must be Affection in the Return as well as Justice Now as there can be No True Friendship betwixt a Good Man and a Wicked Man there should be no Intercourse betwixt them that looks like Friendship and therefore the Less Commerce the Better As Iupiter we see would have Nothing to do with the Serpent FAB CXXXIX A Flea and a Man A Fellow finding somewhat Prick him Popt his Finger upon the Place and it prov'd to be a Flea What art thou says he for an Animal to Suck thy Livelyhood out of My Carcass Why 't is the Livelyhood says the Flea that Nature has Allotted me and My Stinging is not Mortal neither Well says the Man but 't is Troublesome however and now I Have ye I ll secure ye for ever Hurting me again either Little or Much. The MORAL Live and Let Live is the Rule of Common Iustice but if People will be Troublesome on the One hand the Obligation is Discharg'd on the other REFLEXION IT is as Natural for a Man to Kill a Flea as it is for a Flea to Bite a Man There 's a kind of self-Preservation on Both sides and without Any Malice on Either Hand The Flea cannot Live without Nourishment nor the Man without Rest. So that here 's only a Present Dispatch on the One Hand to prevent a Lingring Death on the Other as a Restless Life is in Truth no Better There are in the World as many Illustrations of This Fable as there are Instances of Petulant Pragmatical and Impertinent People that Break in upon Men of Government and Bus'ness Distractions have much in them of Flea-Bitings That is to say they keep us Waking and Hinder our Repose The Flea thought it hard to suffer Death for an Importunity But to a Man that knows how to Value his Time and his Quiet One Importunity upon the Neck of Another is the Killing of a Man Alive and the very Worst of Deaths FAB CXL A Flea and Hercules THere was a Fellow that upon a Flea-Biting call'd out to Hercules for Help The Flea gets away and the Man Expostulates upon the Matter Well! Hercules says he You that would not take My Part against a Sorry Flea will never stand by me in a Time of Need against a more Powerful Enemy The MORAL We Neglect God in Greater Matters and Petition him for Trifles nay and Take Pett at last if we cannot have our Askings REFLEXION 'T is an Ill Habit to turn Offices and Duties of Piety into Matters and Words only of Course and to Squander away our Wishes and our Prayers upon Paltry Fooleries when the Great Concerns of Life and Death Heaven and Hell lye all at stake Who but a Mad man that has so many Necessary and Capital Duties of Christianity to Think of would ever have made a Deliverance from a Flea-Biting a Part of his Litany It makes our Devotions Ridiculous to be so Unfeeling on the One side and so Over-sensible and Sollicitous on the Other By this Foolish and Impertinent Way of our Proceeding toward the Almighty Men Slide by little and little into some sort of Doubt if not a Direct Disbelief and Contempt of his Power And then with the Country Fellow here if we cannot Obtain Every Vain Thing we Ask our next Bus'ness is to take Pet at the Refusal and so in Revenge to give over Praying for Good and All and so to Renounce Heaven for a Flea-Biting FAB CXLI A Man and Two Wives IT was now Cuckow-Time and a Certain Middle-Ag'd Man that was Half-Gray Half-Brown took a fancy to Marry Two Wives of an Age One under Another and Happy was the Woman that could please him Best They took Mighty Care of him to All manner of Purposes and still as they were Combing the Good Man's Head they 'd be Picking out here and there a Hair to make it all of a Colour The Matronly Wife she Pluck'd out All the Brown Hairs and the Younger the White So that they left the Man in the Conclusion no better then a Bald Buzzard betwixt them The MORAL 'T is a much Harder Thing to Please Two Wives then Two Masters and He 's a Bold Man that offers at it REFLEXION MARRIAGES are Govern'd rather by an Over-ruling Fatality then by any Solemnity of Choice and Judgment though 't is a Hard Matter to find out a Woman even at the Best that 's of a Just Scantling for her Age Person Humour and Fortune to make a Wife of This Fable presents us with One single Disparity that is of it self Sufficient without a more then Ordinary Measure of Virtue and Prudence to make a Man Miserable and Ridiculous I speak of a Disparity of Years which in the Moral takes-in all Other Disproportions The One's too Young T'other too Old to shew us that Marriage is out of Season if it does not Hit the very Critical Point betwixt them 'T is much with Wedlock as it is with our Sovereign Cordials and Antidotes There go a Thousand Ingredients to the making of the Composition But then if they be not Tim'd Proportion'd and Prepar'd according to Art 't is a Clog to us rather then a Relief So that it would have been Well if Nature had Prescrib'd the Dos of Womans-Flesh as she has Determin'd the Necessity of it FAB CXLII Two Frogs that wanted Water UPon the Drying up of a Lake Two Frogs were forc'd to Quit and to seek for Water Elsewhere As they were upon the Search they Discover'd a very Deep Well Come says One to T'other Let us e'en go down here without Looking any further You say well says her Companion but what if the Water should fail us Here
Protectors FAB CXLIX A Goat and a Uine A Goat that was hard Press'd by the Huntsmen took Sanctuary in a Vineyard and there he lay Close under the Covert of a Vine So soon as he thought the Danger was Over he fell presently to Browzing upon the Leaves and whether it was the Rusling or the Motion of the Boughs that gave the Huntsmen an Occasion for a Stricter Search is Uncertain but a Search there was and in the End Discover'd the Goat and shot him He dy'd in fine with this Conviction upon him that his Punishment was Just for offering Violence to his Protector The MORAL Ingratitude Perverts all the Measures of Religion and Society by making it Dangerous to be Charitable and Good Natur'd REFLEXION INGRATITUDE is Abhorr'd both by God and Man and there is a Certain Vengeance Attends those that Repay Evil for Good and seek the Ruine of their Protectors This Fable Exposes the Baseness of That Horrid Vice and it Preaches Thankfulness and Justice The Obligations of Hospitality and Protection are so Sacred that Nothing can Absolve us from the Discharge of Those Duties 'T is True that This particular Instance holds better in the Morality of the Application then it does in the Reason of the Thing for the Question is not what the Beast does in his Kind but what Ought to be done with a respect to such a Benefit receiv'd If a man should Launch into the History and Practice of Humane Nature we should find Nothing more Common there then one Rebellion Started upon the Pardoning of Another and the very Minions of Princes Linck'd in Conspiracies against their Master But Those Things ever were and ever will be so long as Men are Men and carry their Corruptions about them There will be Goats in fine and there will be Vines to answer This Moral in Saeculae Saeculorum FAB CL. An Asse a Lyon and a Cock. AS a Cock and an Asse were Feeding-together up comes a Lion Open-Mouth toward the Asse The Cock presently cryes out Away Scoures the Lyon and the Ass after him Now 't was the Crowing of the Cock that Frighted the Lyon not the Braying of the Asse as That Stupid Animal Vainly Fancy'd to Himself for so soon as ever they were gotten out of the Hearing of the Cock the Lyon turn'd short upon him and tore him to pieces with These Words in his Mouth Let never any Creature hereafter that has not the Courage of a Hare Provoke a Lyon The MORAL The Force of Unaccountable Aversions is Insuparable The Fool that is Wise and Brave Only in his Own Conceit runs on without Fear or Wit but Noise does no Bus'ness REFLEXION MANY a Bragging Coxcomb is Ruin'd by a Mistake of Fear in an Enemy and a Fancy of Courage in Himselfe Baudoin Remarks upon the Lyons's Aversion to the Cock that there 's Nothing so Great but it has its Failings and so he makes the Pursuit of the Lyon to be a Particular Mark of the Asses Weakness Meslier will have the Fear to be Counterfeited with a Design to Surprize the Pursuer but This Fable seems still to look Another way It may appear a very Extravagant Surprizing Encounter that Aesop has Exhibited to us in This Fable Here 's a Lyon running away from a Cock and an Asse Pursuing a Lyon That is to say here are Two of the most Unlikely Things in Nature brought together in the Semblance of Fear in the One and of Resolution in the Other But the Moral is never the Worse yet for the Seeming Disproportions of the Figure and the Characters in the Fiction are well enough Suited to the Truth and Life of the Case The Flight of the Lyon must be Imputed here to the Natural Aversion that he has to the Crowing of a Cock This is the Tradition but it shall break No Squares whether it be so or not For the Philosophy holds good in Other Instances No less Wonderfull whether it be True or False in This. How many Insuperable Disagreements do we Meet with in the Bus'ness of Meats Drinks and Medicines in Plants Minerals and Living Creatures Now These Impulses are no more to be Controll'd then the Primary and the Unchangeable Powers and Laws of Nature And These Instincts after All are no more to be Reason'd upon then they are to be Resisted and therefore it is that we call them Occult Qualities which is All One with Saying that we do not Understand how they Work or What they Are. Now 't is One Thing to Submit to an Absolute Force Another thing to Fly and Yield to a Natural Infirmity So that 't is No Departure from the Dignity of a Lyon to Fly when Nature Drives him Neither is it at all to the Asses Reputation to Pursue when Vanity Folly and Rashness Transport him The Asse we see lyes under Many Mistakes here and the More and the Grosser they are the more Suitable still to his Character How many such Asses are there in the World that Huffe Look Big Stare Dress Cock Swagger at the same Noise-Blustring Rate and Nothing more Familiar then for a Whiffling Fop that has not so much as One Grain of the Sense or Soul of a man of Honour in him to play the part of a Heroe Nay there are Fanfarons in the Tryals of Witt too as well as in Feates of Arms and none so forward to Engage in Argument or Discourse as Those that are least able to go thorough with it In One Word for All the whole Race of Bawling Fluttering Noddyes by what Name or Title soever Dignify'd or Distinguish'd are a kin to the Ass in This Fable FAB CLI A Gardiner and his Dog A Gardner's Dog dropt into a Well and his Master let himself down to Help him Out again He reach'd forth his Hand to take hold of the Dog and the Curr Snapt him by the Fingers For he thought 't was only to Duck him Deeper The Master went his Way upon 't and e'en Left him as he Found him Nay says he I 'm well enough Serv'd to take so much pains for the Saving of One that is Resolv'd to make away Himself The MORAL Obligations and Benefits are Cast away upon Two sorts of People Those that do not Understand them and Those that are not sensible of them REFLEXION THERE' 's No Fastening an Obligation upon Those that have neither Justice Gratitude nor Good Faith and it is the same Case in Effect with Those that do not Understand when they are Well-Us'd From whence we may Inferr This Doctrine that Fools and Knaves are Not Company for Honest Men. The Course and Violent Part of the Common People have much in them of This Currs Humour They Plunge themselves into Difficulties by Mistaking their Way and then fly in the face of Those that would Set them Right again In This Opposition to Duty and Discretion they Pursue their Errors 'till in the End they are left to the Fate of their Own Madness and Folly and
at that are Pevish and Angry First for Nothing and 2ly to no manner of Purpose This Envious Injustice is Frequent in the World for why should People think to Engrose and Appropriate the Common Benefits of Fire Air and Water to Themselves Not but that there are Swarms and Swarms of This sort of State-Spiders in the World that Reckon Every Fly that 's taken out of the Common-Stock as a Penny out of their Own Pockets The Bounties of God and of Princes ought to be Free both Alike without making Every Morsel of Bread that an Honest Man puts in his Mouth to be the Robbing of a Minion Wherefore let Every Man Compute first what he ought to do 2ly What he is Able to do Provided 3ly That he Govern himself by the Rules of Vertue and Discretion This Consideration before hand would have sav'd the Foolish Spider the Trouble of Setting Nets for Swallows FAB CCLIX A Country-man and a River A Country-man that was to Pass a River Sounded it up and down to try where it was most Fordable and upon Tryal he made This Observation on 't Where the Water ran Smooth he found it Deepest and on the contrary Shallowest where it made most Noise The MORAL There 's More Danger in a Reserv'd and Silent then in a Noisy Babbling Enemy REFLEXION GREAT Talkers are not always the Greatest Doers and the Danger is Greatest where there 's least Blustering and Clamour Much Tongue and much Judgment seldom go together for Talking and Thinking are Two Quite Differing Faculties and there 's commonly more Depth where there 's Less Noise We find it to be Thus betwixt your superficial Men and Men that are well Founded in Any Art Science or Profession As in Philosophy Divinity Arms History Manners The very Practice of Babbling is a Great Weakness and not only the Humour but the Matter shews it so tho' upon the Main it is not Capable either of Much Good or of Much Evil for as there 's No Trusting in the Case so there 's No Great Danger from them in the Manage of any Design for Many and Rash Words Betray the Speaker of them As to the Man of Silence and Reserve that keeps himself Close and his Thoughts Private He Weighs and Compares Things and Proceeds upon Deliberation It is good to see and sound however before a Man Plunges for a Body may as well be Over-born by the Violence of a Shallow Rapid Stream as Swallow'd up in the Gulph of a smooth Water 'T is in This Case with Men as 't is with Rivers FAB CCLX A Pigeon and a Pye A Pye was Wond'ring once to a Pigeon why she would Breed still in the same Hole when her Young Ones were constantly taken away from her before they were able to fly Why That 's my Simplicity says the Pigeon I mean no Harm and I suspect None The MORAL Do as You would be done by is a Better Rule in the Doctrine then in the Practice For Trust as you would be Trusted will not hold betwixt a Knave and an Honest Man There 's no Dealing with a Sharper but at his Own Play REFLEXION THE Truer Hearted any Man is the more Lyable is he to be Impos'd upon And then the World calls it Out-witting of a Man when in truth he 's only Out-knav'd And oblig'd even in Charity and Good Nature to Believe till he be Couzen'd And we find the Country-man's Observation Confirm'd by Daily Experience This does not yet Hinder a sincere Singleness of Heart from being a Vertue so necessary for the Comfort and Security of Mankind that Humane Society cannot subsist without it And therefore 't is a Thousand Pities it should be so Discountenanc'd and Abus'd as in the Common Practice of the World we find it is But it stands Firm however to the same Tenor of Life As the Pigeon kept still to the same Hole to lay her Eggs in what'ere she Lost by 't FAB CCLXI A Cuckow and a Hawk BY the Beak and the Claws of a Cuckow one would take her for a kind of Hawk only the One Lives upon Worms and the Other upon Flesh Insomuch that a Hawk Twitted a Cuckow One day with her Course Way of Feeding If you 'l Look like a Hawk Why don't you Live like a Hawk The Cuckow took This a little in Dudgeon but passing by a Pigeon-House some short time after what should she see but the Skin of This very Hawk upon a Pole on the Top of the Dove House Well! says the Cuckow in Conceit to the Hawk and had not you as good have been Eating Worms now as Pigeons The MORAL Pride is an Abomination in the Sight of God and the Iudgment is Iust upon us when the Subject of our Vanity becomes the Occasion of our Ruine REFLEXION A Safe Mediocrity is much better then an Envy'd and a Dangerous Excellency They that in their Prosperity Despise Others shall be sure in their Adversity to be Despis'd Themselves It is much the same Case with Men of Prey that it is with Birds of Prey They take it for a Disparagement to Sort themselves with any Other then the Enemies of the Publique Peace But Men that Live upon Rapine are set up for a Marque as the Common Enemy and all Heads and Hands are at Work to Destroy them FAB CCLXII A Country-man and an Ass. AS a Country-man was Grazing his Ass in a Meadow comes a Hot Alarum that the Enemy was just falling into their Quarters The Poor Man calls presently to his Ass in a Terrible Fright to Scoure away as fast as he could Scamper for says he we shall be Taken else Well quoth the Ass and what if we should be Taken I have One Pack-Saddle upon my Back already will they Clap Another a top of that d' ye Think I can but be a Slave wherever I am So that Taken or not Taken 't is all a Case to Me. The MORAL It 's some Comfort for a Body to be so Low that he cannot fall And in such a Condition already that cannot well be Worse If a Man be Born to be a Slave no matter to what Master REFLEXION HERE 's a Fiction of an Alarum and we 'll suppose it to be a False One too for the Inventer has not Determin'd the Point Now the Fancy will have more Force and Quickness in 't that Way then T'other and the Asses Reasoning upon the Case will hold good both Ways alike Only the Asses in the Moral are more Frightful then the Asses in the Fable We shall be Taken else is the Song of All Popular Male-Contents when they design a Change of Government And so they Hurry the Mobile Headlong upon the very Dread of Imaginary Chains and Shackles into the Slavery they Fear'd But some Asses are Wiser then Others for the Multitude would Answer their Masters else in the One Instance as the Animal here in the Emblem Answer'd His in the Other Here was no Scampering away at a Venture without Fear
Mounting to Honours Charges and Preferments as the Fellow did here in Climbing an Apple-Tree Their Rise is commonly Gentle and Step by Step but when they are once up they are in danger of falling down again by their own Weight Wherefore Slow and Sure in these Cases is good Counsel 'T is a Roguy kind of a Saying that He that will be Rich before Night may be Hang'd before Noon High Places are Slippery and it turns the very Brain of a Man to look down from ' em He that first call'd Experience the Mistress of Fools might at the same time have told us upon the Opposition that Nature is the Mistress of Wise Men Only the one looks forward from the Causes into the Effects and the other traces the Truth and the Reason of Things backward from the Effects up to their Causes That is to say the one Teaches us Wit by shewing us where we play'd the Fool and the other Teaches us Wit by keeping us before-hand from Playing the Fool at all To apply this Moral to the Fable now the stress of it rests upon the matter of Foresight and After-Wit and the Doctrin tells us that he that wants the one must make his Best of the other This was the very Case of the Man in the Orchard here before and after his Fall Now Nature does nothing by Starts and Leaps or in a Hurry as we say but all her Motions are Gradual Regular and without Noise which may serve us for a Lesson and a President not to do any thing Rashly FAB CCCLXX One that had Lost his Mony and Cloaths at Play A Fellow that had lost his Mony and Cloaths at Play stood sniv'ling at a Tavern Door to think what would become of him One of his Acquaintance came to him and asked him what he Cry'd for For Nothing says he How come you to Cry then says 'tother if you have nothing to Trouble you Why for that very Reason says he because I have Nothing Now the one took it that he had no Reason to Cry and the other meant that he Cry'd because he had nothing left him The MORAL Cautions are as Instructive as Precepts the one shews us what we are not to do and the other what we are REFLEXION THIS Quirk is little better than the Childrens Play of Riddle me Riddle me though the Conceit I know is Celebrated among the Apothegms of the Ancients The Mony and the Cloaths were Lost on purpose to make way for the Jest as the Gentleman dropt his Book into the River off of Maudlin Bridge in Cambridge What 's that says one of his Acquaintance that was passing by Alas says t'other 't is Iust In now the Book was Iustin. We may observe from hence what Pains some Men take to make themselves Ridiculous and that Study may improve a Coxcomb as well as a Philosopher We may learn further that Men do not know when they are well or when they have enough but shift and squander till they would half Hang themselves at last to be where they were again It may be another Note too the Unreasonableness of Jesting in Cases of Distress So that the Figure at last is Fool all over Upon the whole the Fellow Plays and loses his very Back-side and then Cries And what is all this more now then the laying of a Train for bringing in by Head and Shoulders the miserable Conceit of Nothing upon Nothing FAB CCCLXXI A Blinkard Buying of Wheat UPon a time when there was an Extreme Scarcity of Corn in Florence a Poor Wretch with One Eye was sent to the Market with a Great Sack to Buy such a Provision of Wheat He goes to his Corn-Merchant and asks him the Price of so many Measures Why says he one of these Measures is as much as one of your Eyes is worth meaning that Wheat was very Dear Why then cries an Unlucky Wag that stood by there A less Bag methinks might have serv'd your Turn for One of those Measures is as much as you are able to Pay for The MORAL A Ieering Buffoon is the common Enemy of Mankind REFLEXION IT is a high Point of Ill Nature and Ill Manners to make Sport with any Mans Imperfections that he cannot help and it holds as well too in the case of our Misfortunes if we have not brought them upon our selves by our own Fault 'T is enough where any thing of this falls out one way or t'other that Providence and Nature will have it so But Intemperate Wits will spare neither Friend nor Foe and make themselves the common Enemies of Mankind Men that are given to this Licentious Humour of Scoffing at Personal Blemishes and Defects should do well methinks to look into themselves a little and begin their Animadversions at Home for which is the Greater Scandal the want of Charity Modesty Humanity or the want of an Eye 'T is the Reasonable Soul that makes the Man not the Body and a Deformity in the Nobler Part is Ten Thousand Times more liable to Reproach than an Imperfection in the other We are not answerable for our Persons but for our Manners we are The Scorner should do well also to consider upon the Sight of a Cripple or a Monster that it was only the Distinguishing Mercy of Heaven that kept him from being one too and not render himself by his Ingratitude the more Abominable Monster of the Two The Boy in fine did very Ill and if he had but been soundly Whipt for 't it would have Perfected the Morality of the Fable FAB CCCLXXII A Country-man with his Asses A Countrey-man that had been at Market with his Corn and was Driving his Asses Home again Mounted one of the Best of them to Ease himself When he was up he fell to Counting and so kept Telling them over and over all the way he went but still wanted one of his Number Upon this away he goes to the Market Town whence he came a matter of Seven Miles off back again Enquiring of all he met if any Body had seen his Ass. He could learn no Tydings of him and so Home he went Late at Night as arrant a Fool as he set out The Loss went to the Heart of him but upon Alighting and his Wives giving him the Hint he found his Beast again and that the Ass he rode upon was forgot in the Reckoning The MORAL The Butcher look'd for his Knife when he had it in his Mouth REFLEXION 'T IS many a Man's Case to fancy that he wants what in Truth he has and then to Tire himself out with Hunting after it Abroad when he carries it about him all this while and may have it better Cheap at Home The Bare Supposal of one Petty Loss makes us unthankful for all that 's left We are naturally apt to think our Selves Miserable and the very thinking so makes us so This Conceit puts us upon the Ramble up and down for Relief and all in vain too 'till very Weariness brings