Case here in the Fable The Neighbourhood were All at their Wits end to consider what would be the Issue of That Labour and instead of the Dreadful Monster that they Expected Out comes at last a Ridiculous Mouse The MORAL Much ado about Nothing REFLEXION WHAT are All the Extravagant Attempts and Enterprizes of Vain Men in the World but Morals more or less of This Fable What are Mighty Pretences without Consideration or Effect but the Vapours of a Distemper that like Sickly Dreams have neither Issue nor Connexion And the Disappointment is not All neither for men make themselves Ridiculous instead of Terrible when this Tympany shall come to End in a Blast and a Mountain to bring forth a Mouse FAB XXIV An Asse and an Ungrateful Master A Poor Asse that what with Age Labour and Hard Burdens was now worn out to the Stumps in the Service of an Unmerciful Master had the Ill Hap one day to make a False Step and to fall down under his Load His Driver runs up to him Immediately and Beats him almost to Death for 't This says the Asse to himself is according to the Course of the Ungrateful World One Casual Slip is enough to Weigh down the Faithful and Affectionate Services of Long Life FAB XXV An Old Dog and his Master AN Old Dog that in his Youth had led his Master many a Merry Chase and done him all the Offices of a Trusty Servant came at last upon falling from his Speed and Vigour to be Loaden at Every turn with Blows and Reproaches for it Why Sir says the Dog My Will is as Good as ever it was but my Strength and my Teeth are gone and you might with as good a Grace and Every jot as much Justice Hang me up because I 'm Old as Beat me because I 'm Impotent The MORAL of the two FABLES above The Reward of Affection and Fidelity must be the Work of another World Not but that the Conscience of Well-Doing is a Comfort that may pass for a Recompence even in This in Despite of Ingratitude and Injustice REFLEXION THESE Fables are a Reproof to the Ungrateful Cruelty of those that will neither Forgive One Slip nor Reward a Thousand Services but take more Notice of a Particular Unlucky Accident than of a General Laudable Practice But One Stumble is enough to Deface the Character of an Honourable Life It is a Barbarous Inhumanity in Great Men to Old Servants to make the Failings of Age to be a Crime without allowing the Past Services of Their Strength and Youth to have been a Virtue And This is found in Governments as well as in Courts and Private Families with Masters and Mistresses as well as in States 'T is a miserable Thing when Faithful Servants fall into the hands of Insensible and Unthankful Masters Such as Value Services only by the Profit they bring them without any regard to the Zeal Faith and Affections of the Heart and pay them with Blows and Reproaches in their Age for the Use Strength and Industry of their Youth Nay Humane Frailty it self is Imputed to them for a Crime and they are Treated Worse than Beasts for not being More than Men. Here 's an Old Drudging Curr turn'd off to Shift for Himself for want of the very Teeth and Heels that he had lost in his Masters Service Nay if he can but come off for Starving it passes for an Act of Mercy Under These Circumstances the Bare Sense of a Calamity is call'd Grumbling and if a man does but make a Face upon the Boot he 's presently a Male-Content It may be a Question now whether the Wickedness or the Imprudence of this Iniquity be the more Pernicious for over and above the Inhumanity 't is a Doctrine of Ill Consequence to the Master Himself to shew the World how Impossible a Thing it is for a Servant to Oblige and Please him Nay it is some sort of Temptation also to Impiety and Injustice when Virtue and Duty come to be made Dangerous And yet it is not One Master perhaps of Twenty all this while that either directs or takes Notice of These Indignities It goes a Great Way 't is true Barely to Permit them One while perchance the Master is not Aware of what is done and then in Other Cases it may fall out Effectually to be his Own Act even against his Own Will That is to say when the Passions of Imperious and Ill Natur'd Servants are Cover'd with the Name and Authority of their Patrons in the Abuse of a Trust that was Plac'd in 'em for Honester and for Nobler Ends. It is Congruous enough yet to Apply the Moral of This Fiction rather to the Driver of the Asse and to the Huntsman that Manag'd the Chase than to the Master Himself But the Asse and Dog were Beaten however for being Old and spent in Despite of All the Bonds and Instincts of Honour Piety and Good Nature FAB XXVI An Asse an Ape and a Mole AN Asse and an Ape were Conferring Grievances The Asse complain'd mightily for want of Horns and the Ape was as much troubled for want of a Tail Hold your Tongues Both of ye says the Mole and be Thankful for what you have for the Poor Moles are Stark Blind and in a Worse Condition than either of ye FAB XXVII The Hares and the Frogs ONce upon a time the Hares found themselves mightily Unsatisfy'd with the Miserable Condition they Liv'd in and call'd a Council to Advise upon 't Here we live says one of 'em at the Mercy of Men Dogs Eagles and I know not how many Other Creatures and Vermine that Prey upon us at Pleasure Perpetually in Frights Perpetually in Danger And therefore I am absolutely of Opinion that we had Better Die once for All than live at This rate in a Continual Dread that 's Worse than Death it self The Motion was Seconded and Debated and a Resolution Immediately taken One and All to Drown Themselves The Vote was no sooner pass'd but away they Scudded with That Determination to the Next Lake Upon this Hurry there leapt a Whole Shoal of Frogs from the Bank into the Water for fear of the Hares Nay then my Masters says one of the Gravest of the Company pray let 's have a little Patience Our Condition I find is not altogether so bad as we fancy'd it for there are Those you see that are as much affraid of Us as we are of Others The MORAL of the TWO Fables above There 's No Contending with the Orders and Decrees of Providence He that Made us knows what 's Fittest for us and Every man 's Own Lot well Understood and Manag'd is Undoubtedly the Best REFLEXION 'T is the Intent of These Two Fables to shew that no People are so Miserable but that at some Time or Other in some Thing or Other they have Reason to Account themselves Happy And if they would but duly consider how it is with many of their Neighbours they would
runs better in the Humour then it does in the Moral It lays before us the Unprofitable Vanity of a False Worship and gives us to Understand that the more zealous we are in a Wrong Way the Worse An Idol is an Abomination in the sight both of God and of Good Men and yet we are so to Govern our Selves even in the Transports of That Abhorrence as still to Preserve a Reverence for Religion it self in the very Indignation we Express for the Corruptions of it So that the License of this Buffoon went a little too far perhaps for there must be No Playing with Things Sacred nor Jesting as we say with Edge Tools We have the Moral of this Abandon'd Libertine up and down the World in a Thousand Several Shapes All People that Worship for Fear Profit or some other By End fall More or Less within the Intendment of this Emblem It is a kind of a Conditional Devotion for Men to be Religious no longer then they can Save or Get by 't Put forth thy Hand now says the Devil to the Almighty in the Case of Iob and Touch All that he hath and he will Curse thee to thy Face This Good Man Lost All and for an Example of Patience and Resignation to Future Ages The Lord gave says he and the Lord hath Taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Here was No Dashing of the Two Tables one against the Other for an Office or an Egg at Easter as the Fellow serv'd his Idol here The Whole Summe of the Moral is in short Comprized in the Old Saying He that serves God for Mony will serve the Devil for Better Wages FAB CVI. A Dog Invited to Supper A Gentleman Invited a Friend to Supper with him and the Gentleman's Dog was so well Bred as to Invite the Friends Dog to come for Company The Dog came at his Hour and into the Kitchin he went to see what Good Cheer was toward But as he was there Wagging his Tayle and Licking his Lips at the thought of what a Meale he was like to make on 't the Roguy Cook got Slyly behind him and Spoil'd the Jest. He took him up by the Tayle at Unawares and after a Turn or Two in the Air flung him out of the Window So soon as ever the Poor Devil had Recover'd the Squelch away he Scampers Bawling like Mad with I know not how many Prick-Ear'd Currs at the Heels of him to know how he lik'd his Wellcome Why truly says he they have given me as much Drink as my Skin will hold and it has made me so Light-Headed I could not find the Right Way out of the House again The MORAL Love Me Love my Dog says the old Proverb and there 's somewhat of Good Manners as well as of Good Nature in 't for there are certain Decencies of Respect due to the Servant for the Master's sake REFLEXION IT looks well among Friends when Masters and Servants are all of a piece The Dog invites his Guest and the Cook throws him out of the Window and in so doing the Man shew'd himself the Arranter Curr of the Two for it was against Hospitality and Good Manners so to do There is a Duty of Tenderness and Good Nature even toward Those Animals But when it came to the Worst at last the Dog had the Wit we see to make the Best of a Bad Game Though 't was an unmannerly and an Ill-Natur'd Frolick of the Cook all this while for the Ill Usage of a Servant is some sort of Affront to his Master FAB CVII An Eagle and a Man A Man took an Eagle Pelted her Wings and put her among his Hens Somebody came and bought This Eagle and presently New Feather'd her She made a Flight at a Hare Truss'd it and brought it to her Benefactor A Fox perceiving This came and gave the Man a piece of Good Councell Have a care says Reynard of putting too much Confidence in This Eagle for she 'll go neare one time or other else to take You for a Hare Upon This Advice the Man Plum'd the Eagle once again The MORAL Persons and Humours may be Iumbled and Disguis'd but Nature is like Quicksilver that will never be Kill'd REFLEXION BIRDS of Prey will be Birds of Prey still at what rate soever you Treate ' em So that there 's no Trusting of them For when they have no longer a Power to do Mischief the Will yet Remains Here 's a Forc'd Moral for a Forc'd Fable For the Fancy of it is against Nature and the Fiction does not consist with it self Now to My Thinking This Application of it lyes the Fairer of the Two i e. That the Gratitude of the Eagle in bringing the Hare to her Master may serve to shew us that the Wildest and Fiercest of Creatures may be Sweetn'd and Reclaim'd by Benefits FAB CVIII A Father and Sons A Countryman that liv'd Handsomly in the World Himself upon his Honest Labour and Industry was desirous his Sons should do so After Tim and being now upon his Death-Bed My Dear Children says he I reckon my self bound to tell you before I depart that there is a Considerable Treasure Hid in my Vineyard Wherefore pray be sure to Dig and search Narrowly for 't when I am gone The Father Dyes and the Sons fall immediately to Work upon the Vineyard They Turn'd it up over and over and not one Penny of Mony to be found there but the Profit of the Next Vintage Expounded the Riddle The MORAL Good Councell is the Best Legacy a Father can leave to a Child and it is still the Better when it is so wrapt up as to Beget a Curiosity as well as an Inclination to follow it REFLEXION THERE' 's No Wealth like That which comes by the Blessing of God upon Honest Labour and Warrantable Industry Here 's an Incitement to an Industrious Course of Life by a Consideration of the Profit the Innocence and the Virtue of such an Application There is one Great Comfort in Hand beside the Hope and Assurance of more to come The very Exercise procures us Health and Consequently All the Pleasures and Satisfactions that Attend it We have the Delight of Seeing and Reaping the Fruit of our own Labour and the Inward Joy of Contemplating the Benedictions of Another World that shall be superadded to the Advantages of This. Aesop very well understood that Naked Lessons and Precepts have Nothing the Force that Images and Parables have upon our Minds and Affections Beside that the very Study to Unriddle a Mystery furnishes the Memory with more Tokens to Remember it by A Tale in Emblem sinks Deeper where the Life and Spirit of it is Insinuated by a kind of Biass and Surprize It was a Touch of Art in the Father to Cover his Meaning in such a manner as to Create a Curiosity and an Earnest Desire in his Sons to find it out And it was also a Treble Advantage to them besides for there
under the Straw and so made Prize of 〈◊〉 The MORAL to the Two Fables above He that would be sure to have his Bus'ness Well Done must either Do it Himself or see the Doing of it Beside that many a Good Servant is Spoil'd by a Careless Master REFLEXION INTEREST Does more in the World then Faith and Honesty for Men are more sensible in their own Case then in Anothers which is all but according to the Old Saying Command your Man and Do 't Your Self Neither in Truth is it Reasonable that Another should be more Careful of Me than I am of my â—…elf Every Man's Bus'ness is Best Done when he looks after it with his Own Eyes And in short when Every Man looks to One the Care is taken for All. We are likewise given to understand in the Misfortune and Mistake of the Stag how Rare a Felicity it is for a Man in Distress to find out such a Patron as has the Will and the Resolution the Skill and the Power to Relieve him and that it is not Every Man's Talent neither to make the Best of a Bad Game The Morality of this Caution is as good a Lesson to Governments as to Private Families For a Prince's Leaving his Bus'ness Wholly to his Ministers without a Strict Eye over them in their Respective Offices and Functions is as Dangerous an Errour in Politiques as a Masters Committing All to his Servant is in Oeconomicks It is Effectually a Translation of the Authority when a Superior trusts himself Implicitly to the Faith Care Honesty and Discretion of an Inferior To say nothing of the Temptation to Bribery and False Dâ—…aling when so much may be Gotten by 't with so Little Hazzard either of Discovery or Punishment Beside the Desperate Inconvenience of Setting up a Wrong Interest by drawing Applications out of the Proper Channel and Committing the Authority and Duty of the Master to the Honesty and Discretion of the Servant Men will be True to Themselves how Faithless soever to One Another FAB LIV. A Fox and a Sick Lyon A Certain Lyon that had got a Politique Fit of Sickness made it his Observation that of All the Beasts in the Forrest the Fox never came at him And so he wrote him Word how Ill he was and how Mighty Glad he should be of his Company upon the Score of Ancient Friendship and Acquaintance The Fox return'd the Complement with a Thousand Prayers for his Recovery but as for Waiting upon him he desir'd to be Excus'd For says he I find the Traces of abundance of Feet Going In to Your Majesties Palace and not One that comes Back again The MORAL The Kindnesses of Ill Natur'd and Designing People should be thoroughly Consider'd and Examin'd before we give Credit to them REFLEXION There 's but a Hair's Breadth here betwixt an Office of Great Piety Humanity and Virtue and an Action of Extreme Folly Improvidence and Hazzard But the Fox saw thorough the Complement and that it was in Truth but an Invitation of him to his Own Funeral We meet with many of These Dangerous Civilities in the World wherein 't is a Hard Matter for a Man to Save both his Skin and his Credit 'T is a Difficult Point to Hit the True Medium betwixt Trusting too Much and too Little for fear of Incurring a Danger on the One Hand or giving a Scandal on the Other Complements are only Words of Course and though One External Civility may be Current Payment for Another yet a Man would be loth to Venture his All upon a Figure of Speech where the Meaning is so Nicely Divided betwixt Jest and Earnest 'T is a Base Thing to suspect a Friend or an Honest Man Nay 't is a Base Thing to suspect any Man that but Looks like One so as to Wound him That is either in a Word or in a Thought But then 't is Death perhaps to be Impos'd upon by an Hypocrite under That Masque So that the Character of a Wise Man lyes at Stake upon Matter of Judgment One Way and of a Good Natur'd Man the Other Way The Middle Course is to Hide our Distrust where we are Doubtful and to be Free and Open where we may be Secure There 's No Living without Trusting some body or Other in some Cases or at some Time or Other But then if People be not Cautious Whom When and Wherein the Mistake may be Mortal for there must be somewhat of a Trust to make way for a Treachery since No man can be Betray'd that does not either Believe or seem to Believe So that the Fox did well to Weigh All Circumstances before he came to a Resolution The Lion's Design was well enough Cover'd under the Disguise of a Counterfeit Sickness and a Dissembled Tenderness and Respect for the Drawing of the Fox into the Toyle For there was the Civility of an Invitation on the One hand and some Colour of a Right to a Visit though but out of Compassion and Good Manners on the Other But the Foxes Sagacity and the Prints of the Feet Spoil'd All. This Fable in One Word more bids us be Careful how we Trust in Any Case without looking Well about us for 't is Half the Bus'ness of One part of the World to put Tricks upon T'other The Heart of Man is like a Bog it looks Fair to the Eye but when we come to lay any Weight upon 't the Ground is False under us Nothing could be more Obliging and Respectful then the Lyon's Letter was in Terms and Appearance but there was Death yet in the True Intent and Meaning on 't FAB LV. A Fox and a Weazel A Slam Thin-Gutted Fox made a Hard Shift to Wriggle his Body into a Hen-Roost and when he had stuff'd his Guts well he squeez'd hard to get out again but the Hole was too Little for him There was a Weazle a pretty way off that stood Learing at him all This While Brother Reynard says he Your Belly was Empty when you went In and you must e'en stay till Your Belly be Empty again before you come Out The MORAL Temperance keeps the Whole Man in Order and in a Good Disposition either for Thought or Action but the Indulging of the Appetite brings a Clog both upon the Body and Mind REFLEXION IN a Middle State both of Body and of Fortune a man is better Dispos'd for the Offices of Humane Society and the Functions of Reasonable Nature and the Heart is also Freer from Cares and Troubles There are Unwieldy Minds as well as Unwieldy Bodies and the Fumes of the One Obstruct the Operations of the Other The Head of a Philosopher will never do well upon the Shoulders of an Epicure The Body and the Soul are Inseparable Companions and it is against the Nature of This Reasonable Union for the One to be a Clog to the Other The Foxe's here is the Case of Many a Publick Minister that comes Empty In but when he has Cram'd his Gutts well
Insensibly into a Thousand Inconveniencies and when it comes to That once that we find our selves Uneasie at Home and no Resting-Place in our Own Thoughts where Rest is Only to be had we are e'en glad to run away from our Selves and Hunt abroad for 't where 't is never to be found This is the Common Root of all our Wandrings and Errors We Spend our Time and our Peace in Pursuit of Things wholly Forreign to our Business and which will Certainly Deceive us at last Thus it Is and Thus it must be so long as we take Every thing by a Wrong Handle and only Calculate upon our Own Misfortunes without any Allowance for the Comforts that we Enjoy And so we reckon upon our Neighbours Enjoyments on the Other hand without any Consideration for the hardships that They Endure Oh that I had but such a Palace Says One Such an Estate Such a Retinue This Glorious Train That Lovely Woman c. Nay the Envious Freak Descends to the very Point and Petticoat Now These Idle Curiosities may be Specious Enough in the Contemplation but what if This House at the Foot of the Account should Prove to be Haunted That Gay Furniture Borrow'd T'other Fine Woman Clapt The Curse of Sacrilege cleaving to such an Inheritance and all the rest of the Gawdy Fooleries perhaps Unpay'd for as these Incumbrances are No New Things in Nature Who would not rather take up with the Wolfe in the Woods again then make such a Clutter in the World upon These Scandalous Conditions For the Obviating of All Cases of this Quality Children should be Early Instructed according to their Age and Capacity in the True Estimate of Things by Opposing the Good to the Evil and the Evil to the Good and Compensating or Qualifying One Thing with Another What 's Plenty without Health What 's Ease without Plenty And what 's Title and Greatness with Carking Thoughts and a Troubled Mind to Attend it What does That Man Want that has Enough Or What 's He the better for a Great deal that can never be Satisfy'd By This Method of Setting what we Have against What we have Not the Equity of Providence will be made Manifest and to All manner of purposes Justify'd When it shall appear upon the Ballance that Every man has his Share in the Bounties of Heaven to Mankind As to the Freedom here that Aesop is so Tender of it is to be Understood of the Freedom of the Mind A Freedom to Attend the Motions of Right Reason and a Freedom in fine not to be Parted with for All the Sensual Satisfactions under the Sun It is I say a Freedom under These Limits for there 's No such Thing as Absolute Liberty Neither is it possible that there should be any without a Violence to the Order of the Universe and to the Dictates of Reasonable Nature For All men Living are in Some sort or Other and upon some Penalty or Other Subjected to a Superior Power That is to say the Laws of Morality are Above them But the Case wherein All men are upon the Behaviour is not here the Question To Wind up the Moral in short Liberty is a Jewel and a Blessing The Wolfe was well enough pleas'd here with the State of the Dogs Body but he had no fancy to his Collar FAB LXIX A Farmer and his Dogs A Certain Farmer was put to such a Pinch in a Hard Winter for Provisions that he was forc'd to Feed Himself and his Family upon the Main Stock The Sheep went First to Pot the Goats Next and after Them the Oxen and All Little enough to keep Life and Soul together The Dogs call'd a Councel upon 't and Resolv'd to shew their Master a Fair pair of Heeles for 't before it came to be Their Turn for said they after he has Cut the Throats of our Fellow Servants that are so Necessary for his Bus'ness it cannot be Expected that he will ever Spare us The MORAL There 's No Contending with Necessity and we should be very Tender how we Censure Those that Submit to 't 'T is One thing to be at Liberty to do what we Would do and Another Thing to be Ty'd up to do what we Must. REFLEXION 'T IS a Common Thing for a Master to Sacrifice a Servant to his Own Ease and Interest but there 's No Meddling with Men of That Inhospitable Humour where the Domestiques how Faithful soever can never be Secure This is according to the Old Moral but not without some Force in My Opinion at least to the Natural Biass of the Fable The Farmer has no Liberty of Choice before him but either to do what he does or to Perish And in so Doing with all respect to the Rules of Honesty he does but his Duty without any way Incurring the Character of an Ill Natur'd Man or a Cruel Master But there may be also Another Doctrine Rais'd from it which is That in Cases of Extreme Difficulty the Laws of Conveniency and Ordinary Practice must give place to the Laws of Necessity This was the Naked Truth of the Farmers Case FAB LXX A Camel at First Sight UPon the First Sight of a Camel All people ran away from 't in Amazement at so Monstrous a Bulk Upon the Second Sight finding that it did them No Hurt they took Heart upon 't went up to 't and View'd it But when they came upon Further Experience to take notice how Stupid a Beast it was they Ty'd it up Bridled it Loaded it with Packs and Burdens Set Boys upon the Back on 't and Treated it with the Last Degree of Contempt FAB LXXI A Fox and a Lyon A Fox had the hap to fall into the Walk of a Lyon the First of the Kind that ever he saw and he was ready to Drop down at the very sight of him He came a While after to see Another and was Frighted still but Nothing to What he was Before It was his Chance after This to Meet a Third Lyon and he had the Courage Then to Accost him and to make a kind of an Acquaintance with him The MORAL of the TWO FABLES above Novelty Surprizes us and we have Naturally a Horror for Uncouth Mis-shapen Monsters but 't is Our Ignorance that Staggers us for upon Custom and Experience All These Buggs grow Familiar and Easy to us REFLEXION THINGS that at first seem Terrible become Easy to us when we are Wonted to them says the Old Moral which holds I confess in the Case of the Camel but not in That of the Lyon With leave of the Moralist the Illustration does not come up to the Force and Intent of the Two Last Fables Neither in truth is the very Design of them according to the True Reason of the Matter in Question Things that seem Terrible and are Not so become not only Familiar but Ridiculous to us when we find that our Fears were Vain and Idle as in the case of the Camel But things on the
Time withall Now there was One of these Apes it seems aboard a Vessel that was cast away in a very great Storm As the Men were Paddling for their Lives and the Ape for Company a Certain Dolphin that took him for a Man got him upon his Back and was making towards Land with him He had him into a Safe Road call'd the Pyraeus and took occasion to Ask the Ape whether he was an Athenian or not He told him Yes and of a very Ancient Family there Why then says the Dolphin You know Pyraeus Oh! exceedingly well says T'other taking it for the Name of a Man Why Pyraeus is my very Particular Good Friend The Dolphin upon This had such an Indignation for the Impudence of the Buffoon-Ape that he gave him the Slip from between his Legs and there was an End of my very Good Friend the Athenian The MORAL Bragging Lying and Pretending has Cost manâ—… a Man his Life and Estate REFLEXION THIS is the Humour of a great many Travelling Men as well as Travelling Apes Men that will be Talking of Places that they never Saw and of Persons that they never Heard of Their Whole Conversation is made up of Councels and Intrigues Reasons of State Embassies and Negotiations that they never were skill'd in at all Neither Men Books nor Sciences come Amiss to 'em And after All This Extravagant Bussle a Gay Coat and a Grimace is the Upshot of what they can Pretend to These Phantomes however are Sometimes taken for Men and born up by the Well-meaning Ignorant Common People as the Ape was here by the Dolphin till in the Conclusion their Sillyness lays them Open Their Supporters give them the Slip and down they Drop and Vanish How many of These Empty Chattering Fops have we daily put upon us for Men of Sense and Bus'ness that with Balzack's Prime Minister shall Spend ye Eight and Forty Hours together Poring over a Map to look for Aristocracy and Democracy instead of Croatia and Dalmatia and take the Name of a Country for a Form of Government Without any more ado we have Apes in History as well as in Fiction and not a Rush matter whether they go on Four Legs or on Two FAB CLXX Mercury and a Statuary MErcury had a Great Mind once to Learn what Credit he had in the World and he knew no Better VVay then to Put on the Shape of a Man and take Occasion to Discourse the Matter as by the By with a Statuary So away he went to the House of a Great Master where among Other Curious Figures he saw several Excellent Pieces of the Gods The first he Cheapen'd was a Iupiter which would have come at a very Easy Rate Well says Mercury and what 's the Price of that Iuno There The Carver set That a Little Higher The next Figure was a Mercury with his Rod and his Wings and All the Ensigns of his Commission Why This is as it should be says he to Himself For here am I in the Quality of Iupiter's Messenger and the Patron of Artizans with all my Trade about me And now will This Fellow ask me Fifteen Times as much for This as he did for T'other And so he put it to him what he Valu'd that Piece at VVhy truly says the Statuary you seem to be a Civil Gentleman give me but my Price for the Other Two and you shall e'en have That into the Bargain The MORAL This is to put the Vanity of Those Men out of Countenance that by Setting too High a Value upon Themselves appear by so much the more Despicable to Others REFLEXION 'T IS an Old Saying That Listners never hear Well of Themselves and Mercury's Curiosity Sped accordingly in This Fable All Vain Men that Affect Popularity are apt to Fancy that Other People have the same Opinion of Them that they have of Themselves but Nothing goes Nearer the Heart of 'em then to Meet with Contempt instead of Applause Esteem and Reputation They Muster up All their Commissions and Charters as Mercury Values himself here upon the Relation he had to Iupiter Whose Pimp he is and What 's his Bus'ness He gives to Understand also what a Friend the Artizans had at Court and All too Little to Gain him the Respect but so much as of a Common Messenger FAB CLXXI. Mercury and Tiresias MErcury had a Great Mind to try if Tiresias was so Famous a Diviner as the World took him for or not So he went and Stole Tiresias's Oxen and Order'd the Matter to be in the Company with Tiresias as upon Bus'ness by the By when the News should be brought him of the Loss of his Oxen. Mercury went to Tiresias in the Shape of a Man and the Tidings came as Mercury had Contriv'd it Upon This he took Mercury up to a High Tower Hard by and bad him look Well about him and tell him what Birds he saw Why says Mercury I see an Eagle upon Wing there that takes her Course from the Right-hand to the Left That Eagle says Tiresias is nothing to Our Purpose wherefore Pray look again once Mercury stood Gazing a while and then told Tiresias of a Crow he had Discover'd upon a Tree that was One while looking up into the Air and Another while Down towards the Ground That 's enough says Tiresias for This Motion of the Crow is as much as to say I do Appeal to Heaven and to Earth that the Man that is Now with Tiresias can help him to his Oxen again if He Pleases The MORAL This Fable is of a General Application to All Bold and Crafty Thieves and Impostors It serves also to set forth the Vanity of Wizzards Fortune-Tellers and the like REFLEXION KNAVES Set up these Jugglers and Fools Maintain them There must be Forms however Characters and Hard Words Crabbed Looks and Canting Calculations for the Colour of the Pretence but People should have a Care yet not to take a Confederacy for a Science FAB CLXXII A Hound and a Mastiffe THere was a Man had Two Dogs One for the Chace T'other to look to the House and whatever the Hound took Abroad the House-Dog had his Part on 't at Home T'other Grumbled at it that when He took All the Pains the Mastiffe should Reap the Fruit of his Labours Well says the House-Dog That 's None of my Fault but my Masters that has not Train'd me up to Work for my self but to Eat what others have Provided for me The MORAL Fathers and Masters have a Great deal to Answer for if their Children and Servants do not Do as they Should do REFLEXION MORE People are lost for want of a Good Education and Institution then for want of Honest and Honourable Inclinations and These are Miscariages that Parents and Tutors are in a Great Measure to Answer for We are here given to Understand that there are Offices of Trust also as well as Offices of Labour and the One as Necessary to the Common Good as the
than the Others that stand the Shock FAB CCLXXXV A Snake to Iupiter A Snake that found himself Persecuted by Men appeal'd to Iupiter for Relief who told him that it was his Own Fault for says he if you had but Bit the First Man that Affronted ye the second would have taken Warning by 't The Moral of the Two Fables above The putting up of One Affront draws on Another REFLEXION THIS is No Ill Emblem of the Common People that are Insolent so long as they are Fear'd and Shrink where they find Danger for their Courage is Calculated to the Opinion they have of the Enemy It is the Nature of All sorts of Mungril Curs to Bawl Snarle and Snap where the Foe flies before them and to Clap their Tails between their Legs when an Adversary makes Head against them There 's Nothing in short but Resolution to carry a Man through All Difficulties And since it is so Absolutely Necessary the sooner it is Taken up the Better it succeeds 'T is a Matter of very Evil Consequence to let the Rabble offer Publique Affronts Gratis A seditious Word leads to a Broyl and a Ryot Unpunish'd is but next door to a Tumult So that the Bearing of One Indignity draws on Another Bite the First Man that Affronts ye and y' are safe for ever after FAB CCLXXXVI The Frogs and Tortoises AS a Company of Frogs were Trifling and Playing up and down in a Meadow some Tortoises that look'd on were Mightily Troubled that they could not do so too but taking Notice a while after how These Frogs were Pick'd up and Destroy'd by Birds and Fishes Well says One of 'em 't is better to Live Dull and Heavy then to Dye Light and Nimble The MORAL Every Part and Creature of the Universe has it's proper Place Station and Faculties Assign'd and to Wish it Otherwise were to find fault with Providence REFLEXION THAT which Nature has Allotted us is best for us and it is Great Folly and Wickedness for People not to be Content and Thankful for the Great Creator of All Things No Man knows Himself or Understands his Own Condition but by Comparison and upon Experience Our Wishes many times are Mortal to us and the very Granting of our Prayers would but serve to make us still more and more Miserable The Tortoises Shell was a Clog and a Burden till they found it Necessary for the Defence of their Lives and they Envy'd the Easiness and the Lightness of the Frogs till they saw them Joll'd to pieces and Devour'd for want of a Buckler to Cover and Protect them But they came then to be of the Beggar 's Mind that stood Gaping at my Lady Devonshires Funeral Here 's a Brave Sight says she and yet I Gad Bess for all That I had rather be a Live-Begger then a Dead Countess The Moral Concludes in this that there can be No Thought of Security or Quiet in This World but in a Resignation to the Allotments of God and Nature If the Tortoises had had their Wish they had been Pick'd up among the Frogs FAB CCLXXXVII The Mice and the Oxe THE Mice found it so Troublesome to be still Climbing the Oak for Every Bit they put in their Bellies that they were once about to set their Teeth to 't and bring the Acorns down to them But some Wiser then some and a Grave Experienc'd Mouse bad them have a care what they did for if we Destroy our Nurse at present Who shall Feed us hereafter The MORAL Resolution without Foresight is but a Temerarious Folly And the Consequences of Things are the First Point to be taken into Consideration REFLEXION 'T IS Ill done for any Man to Consult his Present Ease and Profit without Computing upon the Trouble and Loss that may Ensue 'T is not safe to make any Present Resolutions without a Considerate Prospect into the Future This is abundantly Moraliz'd in several Other Places But the Mouses Question of Who shall Feed us hereafter goes a great way in the Resolution of All These Cases FAB CCLXXXVIII A Run-away Dog and his Master THere was a Bob-Tayl'd Cur cry'd in a Gazette and One that found him out by his Marks brought him home to his Master who fell presently to Reasoning the Matter with him how Insensible and Thankless a Wretch he was to run away from One that was so Extream Kind to him Did I ever give you a Blow in my Life says he or so much as One Angry Word in all the time that ever you serv'd me No says the Dog not with Your Own Hands nor with Your Own Lips but you have given me a Thousand and a Thousand by your Deputy and when I 'm Beaten by my Master's Order 't is my Master Himself I reckon that Beats me The MORAL In Benefits as well as Injuries 't is the Principal that we are to Consider not the Instrument That which a Man does by Another is in Truth and Equity his own Act. REFLEXION THE Master here deals with the Dog as Great Officers deal many times with Honest Well-Meaning Men at Court They speak 'em Fair Themselves and Murder 'em by their Deputies But still That which is done by the Principals Order or with his Privity or Approbation is the Principals Act. The Servant is but the Master's Instrument in the Case as the Cudgel is the Servants and they are Both under the same Command When a Man happens to be Kill'd we do not Impute the Murder to the Weapon that did the Execution but to Him that Manag'd it This is much after the way of Treating Elephants When an Elephant is taken in a Pit-fall He that is design'd for the Master and Keeper of him sets Other People to Prick and Teize him and Then In comes He Himself and under Pretence of taking his Part falls foul upon his Enemies and Rescues him The Elephant takes This Man now for his Friend Whereas upon the Whole Matter it was by His Order that he was both Taken and Beaten There 's Nothing more Frequent then This Shamming Way of Confederacy betwixt Two Men in Power when an Honest Patriot for the Purpose or a Loyal Subject is to be made an Owl of by Consent of them Both. The One Affronts him while the Other Cajoles and Pities him Takes up his Quarrel shakes his Head at it Claps his Hand upon his Breast and then Protests and Protests he Wonders at his Heart that any Lord should have so Little Honour as to Treat an Honest Gentleman at This rate A Friend of mine has been at This sport many and many a time And now upon the Whole Matter This is no more at last then a Concerted Intrigue betwixt a Brace of Sharpers that Laugh all the while at the Whole Roguery in their Sleeves The Masters Good Words are a Greater Mortification to the Dog then the Servants Blows FAB CCLXXXIX The Birds and Beetles THE Birds were in a Terrible Fright once for fear of Gun-shot from the
Propriety and in Legal Claims before a Bench of Justice but it works in a Thousand Instances of Vain Disputations Competitions and other Tryals of Mastery and Skill where there 's little more then Pride Stomach Will and Vanity to uphold the Contest Nay and he that has the better on 't at last is only the more Fortunate Fool of the Two Let but any Man set before him the Vexatious Delays Quirks and Expences of most of our Barretry Suits at Law and 't is odds he finds at the Foot of the Account the Play not worth the Candle FAB CCCCXII A Raging Lion THere was a Lion ran Stark Mad and the very Fright on 't put all the Beasts of the Forrest out of their Wits for Company Why what a Condition are we in they cry'd to fall under the Power of a Mad Lion when a Lion at the very Soberest is little better then Frantick The MORAL Rage upon Rage is a Double Madness REFLEXION Governors had need be very well Principled and good Natur'd to keep their Passions in Order and Obedience But when an Absolute Power shall come to be put upon the Stretch by an Outragious Humour there 's no Living under it By a Raging Lion is meant an Unruly and a Cruel Governor which is a sad Calamity but not without somewhat of Dignity yet in the Misfortune for 't is a Lion still how Mad soever Now if it had been a Raging Ape the Fancy had been Ridiculous and Scandalous to the Last Degree and therefore the Moral is Restrain'd to the True and Genuine Character of Sovereignty without Descending to the Counterfeit The Moralists that make this Raging of a Lion to be a Surcharge of One Madness upon another must not be Understood Simply as if they took Government for a Burden and an Oppression but it refers to the Infelicity of that State where an Impotent Will puts an Unbounded Power upon the Tenter. But let the Oppression be never so Sanguinary there 's no Appeal left from the Tyranny for if a General Insurrection had been thought Lawful the Fable would not have made the Case so Desperate So that this is only to Insinuate the Sacredness of Power let the Administration of it be what it will And the Reason of it is so plain that it is impossible for Human Frailty to be better Secur'd then it is by the Determinations of Providence in this Particular An Unlimited Power 't is true is a strong Temptation and where 't is Screw'd up to the Highest Pitch 't is a great Unhappiness but it is not for Men that have their Fortunes and their Stations in this World Assign'd them to take upon themselves to be their own Carvers and to Grumble at the Orders and Resolutions of their Masters and Rulers 'T is a Great Unhappiness to lye at the Mercy of a Raging Lion but it is a Christian Duty nevertheless to suffer Patiently under the Justice of such a Judgment FAB CCCCXIII The Kingdom of Apes TWo Men took a Voyage together into the Kingdom of Apes the one a Trimmer the other a Plain Dealer They were taken into Custody and carried to the Prince of the Country as he sat in State and a Mighty Court about him Well says the King to the Trimmer Look me in the Face now and say what do you take me to be A Great Emperor Undoubtedly says the Trimmer Well says his Majesty once again and what d' ye take all these People about me for Why Sir says he I take them for your Majesties Nobility and Great Officers The Prince was wonderfully pleas'd with the Civility and Respect of the Man and Order'd him a Bushel of Pippins as a singular Mark of his Royal Favour His Majesty after this put the same Questions to the Plain Dealer who fell to computing with Himself that if his Companion had gotten a Reward for a Damn'd Lye certainly he should have twice as much for a Plain Honest Truth and so he told the King Bluntly that he took him for a very Extraordinary Ape and all those People about him for his Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellors and Cozens But the Poor Man Paid dearly for his Simplicity for upon a Signal from the Emperor the whole Band of Apes fell Tooth and Nail upon him and tore him one Limb from another The MORAL Where the Rules and Measures of Policy are Perverted there must needs Ensue a Failure of Iustice and a Corruption of Manners And in a Kingdom of Apes Buffoons may well put in for Commission-Officers REFLEXION THIS says Camerarius is to reprove the Practices of perverse Courts and Extravagant Princes It is the proper Bus'ness of Mythology to Point out and Represent the Images of Good and Evil and under those Shadows to Teach us what we ought to do and what not either Severally and Apart or as Members of a Society that is to say Simply as Men in a State of Right Nature or as Parents or Children Masters or Servants Husbands or Wives Rulers or Subjects Friends Countrymen Relations and the like Now as there are Good and Bad of all sorts so their Virtues and their Vices their good Behaviour and their Misdemeanors are to be set forth Circumstanc'd and Distinguish'd in such sort as by Rewards or Punishments to Encourage the One and to Discountenance the Other in proportion to the Dignity of the Action or the Degree of the Offence by Conferring Marks and Characters of Honour Offices of Trust or Beneficial Commissions on the one hand and by inflicting Sentences of Shame Infamy Pains Corporal or Pecuniary on the other Without this Distribution one main end of Emblem is lost neither is it the true Figure of Life For Wicked Men False Brethren Unnatural Parents Disobedient Children Barbarous Husbands Undutiful Wives Tyrannical Weak or Fantastical Governors Rebellious Subjects Cruel Masters Faithless Servants Perfidious Kindred and Acquaintance All these Lewd Characters are as Absolutely necessary to the Perfecting of the Design as the most Laudable Excellencies in Nature In this Fable of the Kingdom of Apes the Author according to Camerarius intended the Picture of an Extravagant Government where he gives Flattery and Corruption the Advantages that in Policy and Justice belong to Services of Honour and of Truth And at the same time Delivers up a Man of Honesty Justice and Plain Dealing to be torn to Pieces This Kingdom of Apes has been Moralliz'd a Thousand and a Thousand times over in the Practice of the World and such as the Fountain is such will be the Stream Let Government it self be never so Sacred Governors are still but Men and how necessary and Beneficial soever the Order is at all Hands Confess'd to be the Officers yet and the Administrators are but Flesh and Blood and liable to the Passions and Frailties of other Mortals There are in fine many Distempers Errors and Extravagances that shew themselves in the Exercise of Political Powers as an inexorable Rigour for the Purpose or as
to do This gave them to Understand that the Man knew well Enough what he say'd and what he Laugh'd at Well! says Xanthus but if I should give Money for you Now would you be Good and Honest I 'le be That says Aesop whether you Buy me or No. Ay but tell me again says the Philosopher Wo'nt you run away Pray says Aesop did you ever hear of a Bird in a Cage that told his Master he Intended to make his Escape Xanthus was well enough pleased with the Turn and Quickness of his Wit but says he That Unlucky Shape of yours will set People a Hooting and Gaping at you whereever you go A Philosopher says Aesop should Value a man for his Mind Not for his Body This presence of Thought gave Xanthus a High Opinion of the Wisdom of the Man and so he bad the Merchant set him his Lowest Price of That Miserable Creature Why says he you had as good Cheapen a Dunghill but if you 'l bid me like a Chapman for either of the Other Two you shall have this Phantome into the Bargaine Very good says the Philosopher and without any more ado what 's your selling Price The Merchant speaks the Word The Philosopher pays the Money and takes Aesop away with him CAP. IV. Xanthus Presents Aesop to his Wife XANTHUS had no sooner made his Purchase and carry'd his Jewel home with him but having a kind of a Nice Froward Piece to his Wife the Great Difficulty was how to put her in humour for the Entertainment of this Monster without throwing the House out at the Window My Dear says he You have been often complaining of Careless Servants And I have bought you one Now that I am Confident will fit your Turn He shall Go and Come and Waite and do Every thing as you would have him Oh your Servant Sweet heart says she but what did he Cost you Why Truly very Reasonable but at present He 's a Little Tann'd and out of case you must know with his Journy says the Husband and so he Order'd him to be Call'd in The Cunning Gipsy smoak'd the Matter presently Some Monster says she I 'le be Hanged else Wife Wife says Xanthus If you are a good Woman That that Pleases Me Must Please You too While These Words were between his Lips up comes Aesop towards them she gave him a Fierce Look and Immediately discharg'd her Choler upon her Husband Is this a Man or a Beast says she and what Clearer Proofe in the World Could You have given me Now of an Insufferable Hatred and Contempt Aesop said not one Word all This While 'till Xanthus Rowzd him with a Reproof Oh Villain says he to have a Tongue and Wit at Will upon All other Occasions and not one Diverting Syllable Now at a Pinch to Pacify your Mistress Aesop after a short Pause upon 't Bolted out an old Greek Saying which is in English to this Effect From Lying at the Mercy of Fire Water and a Wicked Woman Good Lord Deliver us If the Wife was heartily angry before This Scomm made her Stark Mad and the Reproche was so Cutting too that Xanthus himself did not well know how to take it But Aesop brought himself off again from the Malice of any ill Intention by a Passage out of Euripides to this Purpose The Raging of a Tempestuous Sea The Fury of a Devouring Fire and the Pinching Want of Necessaries for Life are Three Dreadful Things and a Body might reckon up a Thousand more but all this is Nothing to the Terrible Violences of an Impetuous Woman and therefore says he Make your selfe as Glorious on the other side in the Rank of Good Women Vavasor the Jesuite in his De Ludicrâ Dictione takes Notice of a Blunder here in the Chronology of the Story For Aesop was Murder'd at least Fourscore Yeares before Euripides was Born But to follow the Thrid of the Relation Upon this Oblique Admonition the Woman came to her self again And took Aesop into her good Graces who render'd his Master and Mistress All the Offices of a Faithful Servant CAP. V. Aesop's Answer to a Gard'ner SOME Two or Three Dayes after the Encounter above mentioned Xanthus took Aesop a long with him to a Garden to buy some Herbs and the Gard'ner seeing him in the Habit of a Philosopher told him the Admiration he was in to find how much faster Those Plants shot up that Grow of their own Accord then Those that he set Himself though he took never so much Care about them Now you that are a Philosopher Pray will you tell me the meaning of This Xanthus had no better answer at hand then to tell him That Providence would have it so Whereupon Aesop brake out into a Loud Laughter Why how now Ye slave You says Xanthus what do you Laugh at Aesop took him aside and told him S r I Laugh at your Master that Taught You no better for what signifies a Gen'ral Answer to a Particular Question And 't is no News Neither that Providence orders All Things But if you 'l turn him over to me You shall see I 'le give him another sort of Resolve Xanthus told the Gard'ner that it was below a Philosopher to Busy his head about such Trifles but says he If you have a Curiosity to be better Inform'd you should do well to ask my Slave here and see what he le say to you Upon This the Gard'ner put the Question to Aesop Who gave him this Answer The Earth is in the Nature of a Mother to what She brings forth of her Self out of her own Bowels Whereas She is only a kind of a Step Dame in The Production of Plants that are Cultivated and Assisted by The Help and Industry of Another so that it 's Natural for her to Withdraw her Nourishment from the One towards The Reliefe of the Other The Gard'ner upon this was so well satisfied That he would take no Mony for his Herbs and desired Aesop to make Use of his Garden for the future as if it were his own There are several Stories in Planudes that I shall pass over in this Place says Camerarius as not worth the while Particularly The Fables of the Lentills the Bath the Sows Feet and several Little Tales and Jests that I take to be neither well Layd nor well put together Neither is it any matter in Relations of this Nature Whether they be True or False but if they be Proper and Ingenious and so contriv'd that the Reader or the Hearer may be the better for them That 's as much as is required Wherefore I shall now Commit to Writing Two Fables or Stories One about the bringing his Mistress home again when she had left her Husband Which is drawn from the Modell of a Greek History set out by Pausanias in his Description of Beotia The Other upon the Subject of a Treat of Neates Tongues which was taken from Bias as we have it from Plutarch in his Convivium
Septem Sapientum CAP. VI. Aesop's Invention to bring his Mistress back again to her Husband after she had Left him THE Wife of Xanthus was well-born and wealthy but so Proud and Domineering withall as if her Fortune and her Extraction had Entituled her to the Breeches She was Horribly Bold Medling and Expensive as that sort of Women commonly are Easily put off the Hooks and Monstrous hard to be pleased again Perpetually chattering at her Husband and upon All occasions of controversy Threatning him to be gone It came to this at Last That Xanthus's stock of Patience being quite spent he took up a Resolution of going another way to Work with her and of trying a Course of Severity since there was nothing to be done with her by Kindness But this Experiment instead of mending The matter made it worse for upon harder Usage The Woman grew Desperate and went away from him in Earnest She was as Bad 't is true as Bad might well be and yet Xanthus had a kind of Hankering for her still Beside that there was matter of Interest in the Case and a Pestilent Tongue she had that the Poor Husband Dreaded above all things Under the Sun but the man was willing however to make the Best of a Bad Game and so his Wits and his Friends were set at Work in the fairest Manner that Might be to get her home again But there was No good to be done in 't it seems and Xanthus was so visibly out of Humour upon 't that Aesop in Pure Pity bethought himself Immediately how to Comfort him Come Master says he Pluck up a good heart for I have a Project in my Noddle that shall bring my Mistress to you back again with as good a Will as ever she went from you What does me Aesop but away Immediately to the Market among the Butchers Poulterers Fishmongers Confectioners c. for the Best of Every thing that was in Season Nay he takes private People in his way too and Chopps into the very house of his Mistresses Relations as by Mistake This Way of Proceeding set the whole Towne a Gog to know the Meaning of all this Bustle and Aesop innocently told every body That his Masters Wife was run away from him and he had Marry'd another His Friends up and down were all Invited to come and make Merry with him and This was to be the Wedding Feast The News flew like Lightning and happy were they could carry the First Tydings of it to the Run-away-Lady for every body knew Aesop to be a Servant in That Family It Gathered in the Rolling as all Other Stories do in the Telling Especially where Womens Tongues and Passions have the Spreading of them The Wife that was in her Nature Violent and Unsteady order'd her Chariot to be made readie Immediately and away she Posts back to her Husband falls upon him with Outrages of Looks and Language and after the Easing of her mind a Little No Xanthus says she Do not you Flatter your selfe with the hopes of Enjoying another Woman while I am Alive Xanthus look'd upon this as one of Aesop's Master pieces and for that Bout All was well again betwixt Master and Mistress CAP. VII An Entertainment of Neates Tongues SOME few dayes after the Ratification of This Peace Xanthus Invited several Philosophers of his Acquaintance to Supper with him and Charges Aesop to make the Best Provision he could think of for their Entertainment Aesop had a Wit waggish Enough and This General Commission furnished him with Matter to work upon So soon as ever the Guests were set down at the Table Xanthus calls for Supper and Expected no less then a very Splendid Treat The First Service was Neates Tongues sliced which the Philosophers took Occasion to Discourse and Quibble upon in a Grave Formall way as The Tongue for the purpose is the Oracle of Wisdom and the like Xanthus upon This calls for a Second Course and after That for a Third and so for a Fourth which were All Tongues over and over again still only severall wayes Dressed Some Boyl'd Others Fry'd and some again serv'd up in Soupe which put Xanthus into a Furious Passion Thou Villain says he Is this according to my order to have Nothing but Tongues upon Tongues S r says Aesop without any hesitation Since it is my Ill fortune to fall under this Accusation I do Appeale to All These Learned Persons whether I have done Well or Ill and pay'd that Respect to your Order which I ought to do Your order was That I should make the Best Provision that I could think of for the Entertainment of These Excellent Persons and if the Tongue be the Key that Leads Us into All Knowledge what could be more proper and suitable then a Feast of Tongues for a Philosophicall Banquet When Xanthus found the Sence of the Table to be on Aesop's side Well my Friends says he Pray will You Eate with me to Morrow And I 'le try If I can mend your Chear and M r Major Domo says he to Aesop let it be the Care of your Gravity and Wisdome to Provide us a Supper to Morrow of the very worst Things You can Think of CAP. VIII A Second Treat of Tongues XANTHUS's Guests met again The Next day according to The Appointment and Aesop had provided them the very same Services of Tongues and Tongues over and over As they had the night before Sirrah says Xanthus to his Servant what 's the Meaning of This That Tongues should be the Best of Meats One Day and the Worst the Other Why S r says he There is not any Wickedness under the Sun That the Tongue has not a part in As Murders Treasons Violence Injustice Frauds and All Manner of Lewdness for Councells must be first Agitated The Matter in Question Debated Resolv'd upon and Communicated by Words before the Malice comes to be executed in Fact Tongue Whether wilt Thou says the Old Proverb I go to Build says the Tongue and I goe to pull downe This Petulant Liberty of Aesop Gall'd his Master to the very Soul of him and one of the Guests to Help forward his Evil Humour Cry'd out This Fellow is enough to make a Body Mad. S r says Aesop you have very Little Business to doe of your own I perceive by the Leizure you have to Intermeddle in Other Peoples Matters You would find some other Employment else then to Irritate a Master against his Servant CAP. IX Aesop brings his Master a Guest That had no sort of Curiosity in him XANTHUS laid hold of the Present Occasion and was willing enough to be furnished with a Staffe to beat a Dog Well Sirrah says he since this Learned Gentleman is too Curious go you your way's and find me out a Man that has no Curiosity at All Or I 'le Lace your Coate for ye Aesop the next day Walked the whole Towne over on This Errand and at Last found out a Slovenly Lazy
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English Give Dionysius the Gold you have found Xanthus began to be affraid when he heard it was The Kings Mony and Charged Aesop to make no Words on 't and he should have the One Halfe. 'T is well says Aesop but This is not so much your own Bounty yet as The Intention of Him that Bury'd it for the very same Letters direct the Dividing of it As for Example once again Now. α stands for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 β for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 δ for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ω for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ε for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 θ for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 χ for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English Divide the Gold that you have found Why then says Xanthus let us go home and share it No sooner were they got Home but Aesop was presently lay'd by the Heels for fear of Blabbing crying out as Loud as he could This comes of trusting to the Faith of a Philosopher The Reproch Nettled his Master But however he caused his Shackles to be taken off upon 't and Admonished Aesop to keep his Licentious Tongue in a Little better Order for the future if ever he hoped to have his Liberty For That says Aesop Prophetically I shall not Need to Beg it of you as a favour for in a very few dayes I shall have my Freedom whether you will or no. CAP. XIV Aesop Expounds upon an Augury and is made Free AESOP had thus far born All the Indignities of a Tedious Slavery with the Constancy of a Wise Man and without either Vanity or Abjection of Mind He was not Ignorant however of his own Value Neither did he Neglect any honest Way or Occasion of Advancing his Name and his Credit in the World as in One Particular Instance among the Samians on a Strange Thing that happened There upon a Very Solemn Day The Ring it seems that had the Towne-Seale upon 't was lay'd somewhere in Sight Where an Eagle could come at it She took it up in the Aire and dropt it into the Bosome of a Slave The Samians took this for a Fore-boding that Threat'ned some dismal Calamity to the State and in a general Consternation They presently called a Councell of their Wise Men and Xanthus in the first Place to give their Opinions upon This Mysterious Accident They were All at a Loss what to Think on 't only Xanthus desired some few Days time for further Consideration Upon This he betook himselfe to his Study and the More he Beat his Brains about it the further he found himselfe from any hope of Expounding The Secret This put him into a deep Melancholly which made Aesop very Importune and Impatient to know the Cause of it with Assurances That he would serve his Master in The Affair Whatever it was to the Uttermost of his Power Xanthus hereupon laid the Whole Matter before him and told him in Conclusion that he was not only lost in his Reputation but in Danger to be Torn to Pieces by the Rabble When Aesop found how the Case stood Never Trouble your Head any further says he Do but follow my Advice and I 'le bring you off as well now as ever I did before When you Appear to Morrow to give in your Answer I would have you Speak to the People after this Manner I need not tell your Wisdoms That so Many Heads so Many Minds and so many severall Men so many severall Conceptions of Things Nay and further That every severall Art or Profession requires a Distinct Faculty or Disposition that is more or less Peculiar to it self It is the Custom of the World for People in All Cases where They are either Ignorant or Doubtfull to Repair to Men that have the Reputation of Philosophers for Councell and Satisfaction But this under favour is a Great Mistake for it is with Philosophers as it is I say with other Arts and Professions that have their Functions a part the One from the Other Wisdom 't is true may be called properly enough the Knowledge of Things Divine and Humane but will you therefore expect that a Philosopher should do the Office of a Shoomaker or a Barber because the Trades are conversant about Humane Things No No Gentlemen a Man may be a Great Philosopher without any Skill at All in the Handling of the Awl or the Razor But if the Question were Concerning the Government of Life and Manners the Nature of Things Celestial or Terrestrial The Duties that we owe to God or Man you could not do better then repair to Philosophers for satisfaction But for reading upon Prodigies or Commenting upon the Flights of Birds or the Entrails of Beasts These are Things quite Beside the Philosophers Business If there be any thing you doubt of that falls under the Cognizance of Philosophy I am ready to serve you inâ—…t But your present Point being Augury I shall take leave to Acquaint you that a Servant I have at home is as likely to make a Right Iudgment that way as any Man I know I should not Presume to name a Servant Neither Perchance would you think fit to make use of one If the Necessity of your present Distress were not a very Competent and Reasonable Excuse Here 's your Speech says Aesop and your Credit sav'd whether They 'l hear me or Not. If they send for me The Honour will be yours in Case I Deliver my self to their Liking and the Disgrace will be Mine then if I Miscarry His Master was pleased beyond Measure with the Advice but he did not as yet Understand Whether it Tended Xanthus Presented himselfe Early the next Morning before the Councell Where he Dilated Upon The Matter according to his Instructions and so referr'd Them to his Servant for the Clearing of the Difficulty The People with one Voyce cry'd out Where is he Why does he not Appear Why has not his Master Brought him along with him In short Aesop was Immediately fetch'd into the Court and at the very First Sight of him They All burst out a Laughing by Consent This Fellow says one may have Skill perhaps in Divining but he has Nothing that 's Humane about him Another asked Where he was Born and whether or no Blocks had the Faculty of Speech in his Country Aesop upon This Address'd himselfe to the Councell You have here before ye says Aesop an Ungracious Figure of a Man which in truth is not a Subject for your Contempt Nor is it a Reasonable Ground for your Despaire upon the Matter in Question One Wise Man values Another for his Understanding not for his Beauty Beside that the Deformity of my Person is no Incapacity at All as to your Business Did you never tast Delicious drink out of an Ill Look'd Vessell or did you never drink Wine that was Vapid or Eager out of a Vessell of Gold 'T is Sagacity and Strength of Reason that you have Occasion for not the force of Robust Limbs nor
and Reason of the Thing and in Policy and Religion which is That Kings are from God and that it is a Sin a Folly and a Madness to struggle with his Appointments FAB XX. The Kite Hawk and Pigeons THE Pigeons finding themselves Persecuted by the Kite made Choice of the Hawk for their Guardian The Hawk sets up for their Protector but under Countenance of That Authority makes more Havock in the Dove-House in Two Days than the Kite could have done in Twice as many Months The MORAL 'T is a Dangerous Thing for People to call in a Powerful and an Ambitious man for their Protector and upon the Clamour of here and there a Private person to hazard the Whole Community REFLEXION IT is Highly Dangerous and Imprudent for a People in War to call in an Enemy-Prince to their Defence There 's no Trusting a Perfidious Man nor any Enmity like the Pretended Protection of a Treacherous Friend There is no Living in this World without Inconveniences and therefore People should have the Wit or the Honesty to take up with the Least and to bear the Lot which is not to be Avoided with Honour and Patience How many Experiments have been made in the Memory of Man both in Religion and in State to mend Matters upon pretence that they were Uneasie by making them Intolerable And whence is This but from a Mistaken Opinion of the Present and as False a Judgment of the Future And all for want of Rightly Understanding the Nature and the Condition of Things and for want of Foresight into Events But we are Mad upon Variety and so Sick of the Present how much soever Without or Against Reason that we Abandon the Wisdom and the Providence of Heaven and Fly from the Grievances of God's Appointment to Blind Chance for a Remedy This Fable in One Word was never more Exactly Moralized than in our Broils of Famous Memory The Kite was the Evil Counsellour The Free-Born People that Complain'd of them were the Pigeons The Hawk was the Power or Authority that they Appeal'd to for Protection And what did all this come to at Last The very Guardians that took upon them to Rescue the Pigeons from the Kite destroy'd the Whole Dove-House devour'd the Birds and shar'd the Spoil among Themselves FAB XXI A Dog and a Thief AS a Gang of Thieves were at work to Rob a House a Mastiff took the Alarum and fell a Baying One of the Company spoke him Fair and would have Stopt his Mouth with a Crust No says the Dog This will not do for Several Reasons First I 'll take no Bribes to Betray my Master Secondly I am not such a Fool neither as to sell the Ease and Liberty of my Whole Life to come for a piece of Bread in Hand For when you have Rifled my Master pray who shall Maintain Me The MORAL Fair Words Presents and Flatteries are the Methods of Treachery in Courts as well as in Cottages only the Dogs are Truer to their Masters than the Men. REFLEXION WHEN Ill Men take up a Fit of Kindness all on a sudden and appear to be Better Natur'd than Usual 't is Good Discretion to suspect Fraud and to lay their Words and their Practices together The Greater the Trust the Greater is the Treachery and the Baser is the Villany too This Moral reaches to All sorts of Trustees whatsoever It were well if All Two-Footed Servants were but as Faithful to their Masters as This Four-Legg'd Animal A Loaf of Bread was as much to Him as a Bag of Guineas to a Great-Officer And why should not the One make as much Conscience of Betraying his Patron for Gold as the Other of doing it for a Crust Beside the Right Reasoning of the Dog uppon the Consequence of Things If I take Your Bread says he You 'll Rob My Master But in the Other case it is not so much a Deliberation of what will follow upon 't as a kind of Tacit Composition that does as good as say For so much Mony I 'll shut my Eyes and let You Rob my Master Here 's an Emblem now of the Foresight Fidelity and Duty of a Trusty Servant on the One hand and of the Flattery Arts and Practices that are Employ'd by Evil Men to Corrupt him on the Other Under the figure of This Faithful Trusty Servant is Couch'd a Lecture to All men of Business let them be Councellors Confidents Favourites Officers Soldiers Traders or what you will For there are Good and Bad of All Kinds and Professions So that Aesop's Dog is a Reproach to False Men. Publick Persons have their ways of Temptation and Address as well as Private And He that suffers a Government to be Abus'd by Carelesness or Neglect does the Same thing with Him that Maliciously and Corruptly sets himself to Cozen it This holds as well too in the Private Case of being either Principal or Accessory to the Robbing of a House Only the Former is a Treachery of a Deeper Dye There are Loaves at the Gates of Courts and Palaces as well as at the Door of a Cottage and to Encourage the Abuse there are a Thousand Quirks to avoid the Stroke of the Law though None to Avoid the Guilt of the Sin There needs no Contract Express No Explicit Confederacy for the Consent and the Assistance is Imply'd in receiving the Present Or according to the Word in Fashion the Acknowledgment which is only a Softer Name for a Bribe Now this Acknowledgment is of the Nature of a Direct Bargain where the Sum or the Reward is agreed upon before the Thing be done though there 's room yet for a Distinction even in These Cases betwixt what 's done Openly and Barefac'd and a Thing that 's done in Hugger mugger under a Seal of Secrecy and Concealment But the Conscience at last is the Best Judg of the Fraud And without any more Words the Dog in the Fable perform'd All the Parts of a Trusty Servant FAB XXII A Wolf and a Sow A Wolf came to a Sow that was just lying down and very kindly offer'd to take care of her Litter The Sow as Civily thank'd her for her Love and desir'd she would be pleas'd to stand off a little and do her the Good Office at a Distance The MORAL There are no Snares so Dangerous as those that are laid for us under the Name of Good Offices REFLEXION ALL Men are not to be Believ'd or Trusted in All Cases for People Generally Speaking are kind to their Neighbours for their Own Sakes Timeo Danaos Dona ferentes A Wise Man will keep himself upon his Guard against the whole World and more Especially against a Known Enemy but most of All against that Enemy in the Shape of a Friend As the Sâ—…w had more Wit than to Entertain a Wolf for her Nurse FAB XXIII A Mountain in Labour VVHen Mountains cry out people may well be Excus'd the Apprehension of some Prodigious Birth This was the
Illusions of That Passion We are further given to Understand that No Counterfeit is so Steady and so Equally Drawn but Nature by Starts will shew her self thorough it for Puss even when she 's a Madam will be a Mouser still 'T is the Same Thing with a Hypocrite which is only a Devil dress'd up with a Ray about him and Transform'd into an Angel of Light Take him in the very Raptures of his Devotion and do but throw a parcel of Church-Lands in his way he shall Leap at the Sacrilege from the very Throne of his Glory as Puss did at the Mouse and Pick your Pocket as a French Poet says of a Iesuit in the Middle of his Paternoster FAB LXII A Father and his Sons IT was the Hap of a very Honest Man to be the Father of a Contentious Brood of Children He call'd for a Rod and bad 'em Take it and Try One after Another with All their Force if they could Break it They Try'd and could not Well says he Unbind it now and take Every Twig of it apart and see what you can do That Way They Did so and with Great Ease by One and One they snapt it all to pieces This says he is the True Emblem of Your Condition Keep Together and Y' are Safe Divide and Y' are Undone The MORAL The Breach of Unity puts the World and All that 's in 't into a State of War and turns Every Man's Hand against his Brother but so long as the Band holds 't is the Strength of All the Several Parts of it Gather'd into One. REFLEXION THIS is to Intimate the Force of Union and the Danger of Division What has it been but Division that has Expos'd Christendom to the Enemies of the Christian Faith And it is as Ruinous in Private as 't is in Publique A Divided Family can no more Stand than a Divided Common Wealth for every Individual Suffers in the Neglect of a Common Safety 'T is a Strange Thing that Men should not do That under the Government of a Rational Spirit and a Natural Prudence which Wolves and Boares do by the Impulse of an Animal Instinct For they we see will make Head One and All against a Common Enemy whereas the Generality of Mankind lye Pecking at One Another till One by One they are all Torn to Pieces Never considering with the Father here the Necessity and Strength of Union FAB LXIII A Laden Asse and a Horse AS a Horse and an Asse were upon the Way together the Asse cryed out to his Companion to Ease him of his Burden though never so little he should fall down Dead else The Horse would not and so his Fellow-Servant sunk under his Load The Master upon This had the Asse Flay'd and laid his Whole Pack Skin and All upon the Horse Well says he This Judgment is befall'n me for my Ill Nature in refusing to help my Brother in the Depth of his Distress The MORAL It is a Christian a Natural a Reasonable and a Political Duty for All Members of the Same Body to Assist One Another REFLEXION THE Bus'ness of the World is more or less the Bus'ness of Every Man that lives in 't And if the Great and the Small do not Joyn in One Common Assistance where the Matter requires it they are in Danger to be Both Undone So that it is for the Good of the Whole that the Several Parts take care One for Another We have here set before us the Mischieves of Ill Nature and Imprudence both in One and the Folly of not Heeding the Duty as well as the Common Necessity of Helping One Another This is None of My Bus'ness we Cry never considering that in Things Requisite to be done what One Cannot Another Must Beside that in the Case of a Fellow-Servant or an Honest Neighbour I am as much bound to save him from Sinking under a Heavy Burden as I am to give him a Cup of Drink or a Morsel of Bread to keep him from Choaking or Starving It makes a Breach in a Community when Particular Men shall take upon them to Divide from the Common Service of the Body And He that sets up a Private Interest Separate from the Publique Discontinues the Connexion of the Government by Cutting off That Link of the Chain But the Miseries and Calamities that follow upon departing from the Known Rules and Measures of Political Order are sufficient to Enlighten us in the Reason of Political Methods and to Excite us to an Agreement in all Reciprocal Services One with Another There 's the Duty of Charity in 't and the Foundations of Governing Prudence Beside that we are likewise Mov'd to 't by a Sense of Tenderness Honor and Justice The Churlish Humour of this Horse is too much the Humour of Mankind even in the Case of Subjects to the same Master but such is the Vanity that many People draw from their Titles and their Trappings that they look down upon their Fellows as if they were not All made of the same Clay To speak the Plain Truth of the Matter 'T is the Little People that support the Great and when the Foundation fails the whole Fabrick must either drop into Rubbish or otherwise Rest upon the Shoulders of their Superiors FAB LXIV A Collyer and a Fuller A Fuller had a very kind Invitation from a Collyer to come and Live in the House with him He gave him a Thousand Thanks for his Civility but told him that it would not Stand with his Convenience for says he as fast as I make any thing Clean You 'll be Smutting it again FAB LXV A Thrush and a Swallow AH my Dear Mother says the Thrush Never had any Creature such a Friend as I have of this same Swallow No says she nor ever any Mother such a Fool to her Son as I have of this same Thrush To talk of a Friendship betwixt People that cannot so much as live together in the same Climate and Season One is for the Summer T'other for Winter And that which keeps You Alive Kills your Companion The MORAL of the TWO FABLES above 'T is a Necessary Rule in Allyances Matches Societies Fraternities Friendships Partnerships Commerce and All Manner of Civil Dealings and Contracts to have a Strict Regard to the Humour the Nature and the Disposition of Those we have to do withall REFLEXION THIS is to bid us have a care what Friendships we Contract and what Company we keep for Contrary Humours and Manners will never agree together There can be no Thought of Uniting Those that Nature it self has Divided And this Caution holds good in all the Bus'ness of a Sober Man's Life as Marriage Studies Pleasures Society Commerce and the like 'T is in some sort with Friends Pardon the Courseness of the Illustration as it is with Dogs in Couples They should be of the same Size and Humour and That which Pleases the One should Please the Other But if they Draw Several Ways and if One
Chain of his Reason Discompos'd by the Importunity of a Tedious and an Impertinent Visit. Especially if it be from a Fool of Quality where the very Figure of the Man Entitles him to All Returns of Good Manners and Respect And the Affliction is yet more Grievous where That Prerogative of Quality is further Back'd and Corroborated with a Real Kindness and Good Will For a Man must be Inhumane and Ungrateful as well as Rude if he does but so much as Offer at the Easing or the Relieving of Himself The Drist of This Fable at last is to tell us that Good Books and Good Thoughts are the Best Company and that they are Mistaken that think a Wise Man can ever be Alone It prepares us also to Expect Interruptions and Disappointments and to Provide for 'em but withal to take the Best Care we can to Prevent the Plague of Ill Company by avoiding the Occasions of it The Linking of a Man of Brains and Honesty into a Lewd Insipid Conversation is Effectually but the Moral of That Tyrant that bound the Living and the Dead together and yet This is it which the Impertinent takes for the Relief of Solitude and the Blessing of That which he calls Company FAB CCCXXVIII A Wolfe in a Sheeps-skin THere goes a Story of a Wolfe that Wrapt himself up in a Sheep-skin and Worry'd Lambs for a Good while under That Disguise but the Shepherd Met with him at last and Trust him up Sheeps-skin and all upon an Eminent Gibbet for a Spectacle and an Example The Neighbours made a Wonderment of it and Ask'd him what he meant to Hang up his Sheep Oh says he That 's only the Skin of a Sheep that was made use of to Cover the Heart Malice and Body of a Wolfe that Shrouded himself Under it The Moral of the Two Fables above Hypocrisie is only the Devils Stalking Horse under an Affectation of Simplicity and Religion People are not to be Iudg'd by their Looks Habits and Appearances but by the Character of their Lives and Conversations and by their Works REFLEXION THIS Fable is Moraliz'd in the Holy Gospel it self 'T is with all Men that are Notoriously Wicked of what Degree or State or in what point of Iniquity soever much after the Rate of the Wolfe in This Fiction Tyranny Marches under the Masque of Care Piety and Protection Injustice sets up the Rigorous Letter of the Law to Weigh against the Improbity of the Witness The Pawn-Broker pretends Charity and the Oppressor Flays the Widow and the Orphan And at the same Time Preaches Mercy and Compassion with the very same Breath Treachery Covers it self under a Cloak of Kindness and Friendship and Nothing more Frequent then Wolves in Lambs-Skins even in the most Solemn Offices of Church and State This Fable Extends to All the Lewd Practices of Hypocrites and Impostors under the Colour of Pious and Charitable Works and Duties Now if All our Moral Wolves in Sheeps-Cloathing were but Serv'd as This Hypocritical Wolfe was in the Fiction and Hung-up Indeed with their Crimes in Capital Letters on their Foreheads Common Truth and Honesty among Men would be more Sacred FAB CCCXXIX An Incouragable Son IT was the Hard Lot of a very Good Man to have a Vicious Young Fellow to his Son and he did what he could to Reclaim him But Sir says he for Brevities sake 't is only so much Time and Councel thrown away for all the Parsons aâ—… the Town have been Baiting me I know not how long now upon the same Subject and I 'm not One Jot the Better for 't The MORAL Some Men Live as if they had made a Covenant with Hell Let Divines Fathers Friends say what they will they Stop their Ears against them And Good Counsel is wholly Cast away upon them REFLEXION THIS Fable would go a Great way if it were wrought up to the Heighth As for the Purpose to all Manner of Graceless and Hopeless Characters Some People are lost for want of Good Advice Others for want of giving Good Heed to 't And some again take up Resolutions before-hand never to Mend. Nay there are Those that Value themselves upon the very Contempt of All that is Sacred and Honest and make it a Point of Bravery to bid Defiance to the Oracles of Divine Revelation the Motions of Reasonable Nature and the Laws of Government This Contradiction to the Duty of a Sober Man is yet farther Heighten'd by the Disobedience of a Son to a Parent and farther yet by a Spiteful Opposition to All the Precepts of Morality and Religion There 's somewhat of a Droll-Mixture in This Bantering way of Liberty to make a body Laugh where he should Cry But 't is past a Sporting Matter when the most Necessary Duties of Christianity come to be the Question There 's No Room for Trifling in Those Cases FAB CCCXXX A Sheep-Biter Hang'd A Certain Shepherd had One Favourite-Dog that he had a Particular Confidence in above all the rest He fed him with his Own hand and took more Care of him in short then of any of his Fellows This Kindness went on a Long Time 'till in Conclusion upon the Missing of some Sheep he fancy'd This Cur to be False to him After This Jealousy he kept a Strict Eye upon him and in fine found it out that This Trusty Servant of his was the Felon Upon the Discovery he had him presently taken up and bad him prepare for Execution Alas Master says the Dog I am One of your Family and 't would be hard to put a Domestique to Extremities Turn your Displeasure upon the Wolves rather that make a Daily Practice on 't to Worry your Sheep No no says the Shepherd I 'd sooner Spare Forty Wolves that make it their Profession to Kill Sheep then One Sheep-biting Cur that 's Trusted with the Care of them There 's somewhat of Franckness and Generosity in the One but the Other is the Basest of Treacheries The MORAL No Perfidy like Breach of Faith and Trust under the Seal of Friendship For an Adversary under That Masque is much more Unpardonable then a Barefac'd Enemy REFLEXION THERE are Political Sheep-biters as well as Pastoral Betrayers of Publique Trusts as well as of Private And Humane Curs that are as Wolvish as the Other This Maxim however holds in All Cases that Breach of Faith and Trust is the most Odious Inhospitable and Inhumane of Civil as well as of Moral Offences A special Confidence in One more then in Another though from a King to a Subject or from a Master to a Servant has some Analogy in 't of Friendship but the Matter should be thoroughly Weigh'd and Examin'd before we put it to the Utmost Tryal and Test. A Man may be too Hard or too Easy too Advent'rous or too Wary in passing a Judgment upon the Character of the Person But above all things it will concern us perfectly to Understand the Honour the Practice and the Conversation of
bringing of a Scandal upon Common Justice by a most Permcious Example that ends in the very starving as well as the 〈◊〉 of their Benefactors for 't is impossible but they must Pine and Wither that entertain such Hangers-on This Gourd in fine is the true Emblem of a Court-Leech he Fastens and Sucks without either Mercy or Measure and when he has drawn his Master Dry he very fairly drops off Changes his Party and so leaves him FAB CCCLXXXI A Raven and Wolves A Raven that had waited upon a Herd of Wolves a whole Days Ramble came to 'em at Night for a share of the Prey they had got The Wolves answer'd him that if he had gone along with 'em for Pure Love and not for his Gut he should have had his Part But said they a Dead Wolf if it had so fall'n out would have serv'd a Ravens turn as well as a Dead Sheep The MORAL Most People Worship for the Loaves from the very Plough-Tayl to the Crosier and Scepter and the World bows to that that 's uppermost REFLEXION 'T IS the Intention that qualifies the Action neither is it for any Man to pretend Merit or to challenge a Reward for attending his own Business The Raven Dogg'd the Wolves for his Supper Now if these Wolves themselves had been Hounded by a Herd of Tygers that should have Worry'd Them one sort of Carrion would have been as good to the Raven as another This is the Case as well betwixt Man and Man as of Wolves and Ravens that suck the Blood of those they Follow and Depend upon under a Pretext of Service and Kindness How many Examples have we seen of this among those that follow Courts and the Leaders of those Followers If the Master gets the Better on 't they come in for their Snack and if he happens to fall in the Chace his Temporising Friends are the Foremost to break in upon the Quarry Whether the Wolves Took or were Taken was all a case to the Raven FAB CCCLXXXII Arion and a Dolphin THis Famous Arion was a Great Favourite of Periander the King of Corinth he Travelled from thence into Sicily and Italy where he gather'd a great Mass of Treasure and gain'd over and above the Good-Will and Esteem of all People wherever he came From thence he put himself Abord a Corinthian Vessel to go back again where he got an inkling among the Ships Crew of a Conspiracy to take away his Life He Discours'd the Mariners about it and came in the end to this composition that if he would cast himself presently into the Sea and let the Conspirators have his Mony there should be no further Violence offer'd to his Person Upon this Agreement he obtained Liberty to give them only one Song before he Leap'd Overbord which he did and then Plung'd into the Sea The Seamen had no thought of his ever coming up again but by a Wonderful Providence a Dolphin took him upon his Back and carried him off safe to an Island from whence he went immediately to Corinth and presented himself before Periander just in the condition the Dolphin left him and so told the Story The King order'd him to be taken into Custody as an Impostor but at the same time caused Enquiry to be made after the Ship and the Seamen that he spake of and to know if they had heard any thing of one Arion where they had been They said Yes and that he was a Man of Great Reputation in Italy and of a Vast Estate Upon these Words Arion was Produced before them with the very Harp and Cloaths he had when he Leapt into the Sea The Men were so confounded at the Spectacle that they had not the Face to deny the Truth of the Story The MORAL Mony is the Universal Idol Profit Governs the World and Quid Dabitis Tradam may be the Motto But Providence yet in the Conclusion makes all things work for the Best REFLEXION SOME Men are worse than some Brutes and little other than Beasts in the shape of Reasonable Creatures This Fable shews us that Men of Blood will stick at no Profitable Villany but they are Blind Deaf and Inexorable where Mony 's in the case The Charms of Reason Art and Innocence are Lost upon 'em and the Sea it self we see had more Pity for Arion then the Men. The Dolphin represents the Instrument of an Overruling Providence that interposes Miraculously to our Deliverance when ordinary Means fail us The Wonderful Discovery in the Conclusion serves to shew us that Murder will out FAB CCCLXXXIII A Spider and the Gout A Spider that had been at Work a Spinning went Abroad once for a little Country Air to Refresh her self and fell into Company with the Gout that by the way had much ado to keep Pace with her When they came at Night to take up their Lodging very Inquisitive they were into the Character and Condition of their Host But the Spider without any more Ceremony went into the House of a Rich Burgher and fell presently to her Net-work of Drawing Cobwebs up and down from one side of the Room to the other but there were so many Brooms and Devillish House-wenches still at hand that whatever she set up this Moment was swept away the next So that this miserable Insect was the only Creature within those Walls that felt either Want or Trouble But the Gout all this while was fain to Kennel in the very Rendezvous of common Beggers where she was as uneasy as Hard Lodging Course Bread and Puddle-Water could make her After a tedious and a restless Night on 't they met again next Morning by Sun-Rise and gave one another the History of their Adventure The Spider tells tells first how Barbarously she had been us'd how cursedly Nice and Cleanly the Master of the House was how impertinently Diligent his Servants were c. And then the Gout Requited the Spider with the Story of her Mortifications too They were in short so unsatisfied with their Treatment that they resolved to take quite contrary Measures the next Night The Spider to get into a Cottage and the Gout to look out for a Palace They did what they Propos'd and never were Creatures better pleas'd with their Entertainment The Gout had her Rich Furniture Down-Beds Beccafica's Pheasants Partridges Generous Wines the best in fine of every thing that was to be had for Mony and all with Pure Heart and Good will as we say The Spider was as much at Ease on the other hand for she was got into a House where she might draw her Lines Work Spin Mend what was Amiss Perfect what she had Begun and no Brooms Snares or Plots to Interrupt or disturb her The Two Travellers after this met once again and upon conferring Notes they were both so well satisfied that the Gout took up a Resolution for ever after to keep Company with the Rich the Noble and the Voluptuous and the Spider with the Poor and
Lasche a Demission of Sovereign Authority There are Cases of Sensuality Pleasure and Appetite where Governours have only the Name of Rulers while some over-grown Subject perhaps Usurps upon the Prerogative in effect and does the worst things imaginable in the Name of the Publick But this rarely happens save where the Master wants Resolution to check the License and Presumption of a Daring Servant There is also a certain Manage that leaves all at Six and Seven and thinks to support Greatness without either Rule Weight or Measure and that 's a dangerous Point when Prudence and Fidelity shall turn to Loss and Wickedness be supported by the Reputation of Favour and Applause The Misery of these false Measures is excellently well Pointed out to us in this Fable and consequently the Blessings of a steddy Administration where the Ends of Government are Conscientiously observ'd and the Divine Priviledges of Power maintain'd and where Truth and Justice are impartially Asserted and Administer'd and as resolutely Defended FAB CCCCXIV An Al 's made a Iudge of Musick THere was a Question started betwixt a Cuckow and a Nightingale which of the Two had the Better Voice and the better way of Singing It came at last to a Tryal of Skill and an Ass was to be the Judge who upon Hearing both Sides gave it clearly for the Cuckow The MORAL 'T is a Hard Case for Philosophers to be Try'd by Fools and the Multitude to sit Iudges upon the Niceties of Honour and Government REFLEXION THE Old Adage of Asinus ad Lyram answers this Figure to the very Letter The Fable extends to all Incompetent Judges Umpires or Arbitrators in what Case or Matter or under what Incapacity or Disability soever It Points at the Folly and Scandal of the Choice too as well as the Iniquity of the Sentence for the Honour of the Governor and the Well being of the Government depend in a great Measure upon the Fitness of the Officer let his Commission be Ecclesiastical Civil Military or what else it will Here 's an Ass made a Judge of Musick a Faculty that he neither Loves nor Understands for there 's no Song to One Ass like the Braying of Another Let any Man fancy to Himself how it would look to put a Law-Case to a Iack-Pudding a Question of State to a Corn-Cutter a Point of Conscience to a Knight of the Post. In short let every Man be Consulted and Credited in his own Way and Trade Neither can it be Expected that a Fool should judge according to Wisdom Truth Reason and Justice There may be very proper Exceptions too upon the Matter as well of Morals as of Abilities One would not Trust a Covetous Man in Mony Matters where there 's any thing to be Gotten either by Fraud or Corruption nor a Vain Man where there 's a Temptation to Popularity False Men are not to be taken into Confidence nor Fearful Men into a Post that requires Resolution nor Cruel Insolent Men into a Station where Power may be Abus'd to Oppression All these Absurdities fall within the Dint of this Fable for want of Honesty makes a Judge as Incompetent as want of Understanding FAB CCCCXV. An Ape Iudge betwixt a Fox and a Wolf A Wolf charges a Fox with a piece of Pilfery The Fox Denies it The Ape tryes the Cause and upon a fair Hearing Pronounces them both to be Guilty You says the Judge to the Wolf have the Face to Challenge that which you never Lost and you says he to the Fox have the Confidence to Deny that which you have certainly Stoll'n The MORAL When both Plaintiff and Defendant happen to be a Couple of Crafty Knaves there 's Equity against them Both. REFLEXION ' THIS Fable tells us what Credit is to be given to Witnesses of a False and Lewd Conversation and that a known Liar is of no Authority in a Judgment of Law even when he speaks Truth Where a Brace of Sharpers will be going to Law none so fit as an Ape to try the Cause and it was a Sentence worthy of such a Judge to pronounce them both Guilty which in Equity they were with a respect to their Character and Reputation though in Law they could not be so upon the Fact in Question If the Ape in this Fable had too little regard to the Letter of the Law we have seen some Cases where more stress has been laid upon the rigour and strictness of it then Conscientiously did belong to 't For when one Man of an Exemplary Improbity Charges another of the same Stamp in a Court of a Justice he lies under the Disadvantage of a strong Suspicion even before he is Heard and People are Prepar'd to Believe the Worst of him by Anticipation and before his Case is Known So that the Bare Prejudice is sufficient to turn the Scale where it was Gold-weight before unless we Ballance the Improbity of the one with the Improbity of the other as the Ape did here in the Fable We are to understand upon the whole matter that it is more Advisable to give too Little Credit in a Court of Judicature to Men of Profligate Lives then too Much For 't is a Scandal to Publick Justice to make use of such Instruments for the Supporters of a State FAB CCCCXVI An Ape and a Lion in his Kingdom WE are told of a Lion that after the Laudable Example of other Princes pass'd an Act of Grace upon his Accession to the Crown wherein he was pleas'd to Declare himself wonderfully in favour of the Liberties and Properties of his Subjects He did not hold in this Mind long and yet he could not think it convenient neither to make any Attempts upon the Beasts by open Force so that he chose rather to take them One by One in Private to him and to sift them all upon this General Question Put your Nose just to my Mouth says he when I Gape and then tell me truly is my Breath Sweet or no Some told him that it was not Sweet others that it was and so he pick'd a Quarrel with them Both The one Sort went to Pot for their Hypocrisie and the other for their Insolence It came to the Ape at last to deliver his Opinion upon the Matter the Ape Smelt and Snuffled and consider'd on 't Why certainly Sir says he You have some Rich Perfume in Your Mouth for I never smelt any thing so fragrant since I was Born The Roguy Ape in fine Wheedled him so Artificially that the Lion had not the Face to Chop him up immediately upon the Spot and yet he was Resolv'd he should not Scape neither So the Lion Counterfeited Sick and there was notable Puzzling among the Doctors I warrant ye about his Pulse and his Water But they told him however upon due consideration that they found no Mortal Symptoms about him only a kind of Heavy Indisposition that might be easily Rectified by a Careful Diet and so they Desir'd him by all means
told ye And in the mean time I 'll e'en lye down in Peace and keep my Self just as I am and where I am and if ever you live to come back again do but look for me where you left me and there if I 'm Alive you shall be sure to Find me Upon these Terms they parted and away Posts the Cavalier in Quest of his new Mistress His First Jaunt is to Court where he Enquires for Madam Fortunes Lodgings But she shifted so often they told him that there was no certainty of Finding her He never fail'd to make One at the Princes Levee and Couche where he heard over and over how she had been at this Place and at that Place but never could get sight of her They told him indeed that at such or such a Time he might be sure of her at this Minions or at that Buffoons Apartment but she was still so Busy and so Private that there was no coming to the Speech of her In fine when he had Hunted and waited like a Dog Early and Late I know not how long one told him for a certain that she had newly taken Wing and was gone a Progress to a Temple she had in Terra Australis Incognita Upon this he takes his leave of the Court and away immediately to Sea where he meets with Pyrates Rocks and Shelves and in short so many Dreadful Encounters as made him cast many a heavy Look and Thought upon the Quiet Cottage and Companion that he had left behind him But he goes pressing forward still for all this 'till in the conclusion he was Fobb'd again with another Story That Fortune 't is true had been there but she was call'd away by an Express not above Two Minutes before to the Nor'ward These Phantastical Amusements and Miscarriages brought him by little and little to his Wits again and to a contempt of all the vain Promises and Pretences of Avarice and Ambition With these Thoughts about him he makes all the hast he can back again to his poor Blessed Home where he finds his old Friend and Acquaintance without any Cares in his Head Fast Asleep and that very Fortune that had led him this Wild-Goose Chase over the whole World waiting like a Spaniel at the Door and Begging to be let in The MORAL It is with Fortune as it is with other Fantastical Mistresses she makes sport with those that are ready to Dye for her and throws her self at the Feet of others that Despise her REFLEXION 'T IS Great Vertue and Happiness for a Man to set his Heart wholly upon that Lot and Station which Providence has Assigned him and to Content himself with what he has without Wand'ring after Imaginary Satisfactions in what he has not Fancy and Curiosity have no Bounds Their Motto may be SOMEWHAT ELSE And how should it be otherwise with People that are never Pleas'd with the Present They want they know not what and they look for 't they know not where We have had so many Occasions already to handle this Moral that it would be Time lost to say any more upon 't in this Place FAB CCCCLIV A Boy that would not Learn his Book THere was a Stomachful Boy put to School and the whole World could not bring him to Pronounce the First Letter of his Alphabet Open your Mouth says the Master and cry A. The Boy Gapes without so much as offering at the Vowel When the Master could do no good upon him his School-Fellows took him to Task among Themselves Why 't is not so hard a Thing methinks says one of 'em to cry A No says the Boy 't is not so hard neither but if I should cry A once they 'd make me cry B too and I 'll never do that I 'm Resolv'd The MORAL There 's no Contending with Obstinacy and Ill Nature especially were there 's a Perverseness of Affection that goes along with it REFLEXION THE Spaniards will have it that Apes can speak if they would but they are afraid they shall be put to Work then The Boys Reason here and the Apes are much at one and 't is the case of Counterfeit Cripples too that pretend they cannot do this or that when in truth they are Lazy and have no mind to be put to 't The same Humour Governs in a World of Cases where a Pretext of Disability is made use of either out of Crossness or Sloth This Restiff Stubbornness is never to be Excus'd under any Pretence whatsoever but where the thing to be done is that which we are bound in Honour and in Duty to do there 's no Enduring of it As in Cases of Law Conscience Church-Ceremonies Civil or Natural Obedience to Princes Parents Husbands Masters c. If I should do This you 'd make me do That they cry which is only a short Resolution that puts all the Functions and Offices of Order and Authority to a stand He that says I cannot do this or that where the Thing is Lawfully Impos'd and Requir'd and not Simply Evil might e'n as well have said I will not do 't for the Exception is not to the Thing Commanded but to the Commanding Power If I yield in one Point says the Boy they 'l expect I should yield in more Grant One Prerogative and grant All says the Republican But then says the Sovereign on the Other Hand Part with the Prerogative and part with All So that the Contest is not matter of Scruple but who shall be Uppermost In One Word Stubborn Boys and Stubborn Subjects where they will not Comply upon Fair Means must be whip'd into their Duties FAB CCCCLV Hercules and Pluto WHen Hercules was taken up to Heaven for his Glorious Actions he made his Reverence in Course to all the Gods 'till he came to Pluto upon whom he turn'd his Back with Indignation and Contempt Iupiter ask'd him what he meant by that Dis-respect Why says Hercules that Son of Fortune Corrupts the whole World with Mony Encourages all manner of Wickedness and is a common Enemy to all Good Men. The MORAL This is only to shew the Opposition betwixt a Narrow Sordid Avaritious Humour and the Publick Spirited Generosity of a Man of Honour Industry and Virtue REFLEXION MONY has its Use 't is true but generally speaking the Benefit does not Countervail the Cares that go along with it and the Hazzards of the Temptation to Abuse it It is the Patron and the Price of all Wickedness It Blinds all Eyes and stops all Ears from the Prince to the very Begger It Corrupts Faith and Justice and in one Word 't is the very Pick-Lock that opens the way into all Cabinets and Councils It Debauches Children against their Parents it makes Subjects Rebel against their Governors it turns Lawyers and Divines into Advocates for Sacrilege and Sedition and it Transports the very Professors of the Gospel into a Spirit of Contradiction and Defiance to the Practices and Precepts of our Lord and Master It
Possession gives a Title and where the Justice of the Cause is Determin'd by the Success When the Hare comes once to be in the gripe 't is too late to talk of Reason and Equity when contrary to all the Rules of Moral Iustice the Conqueror is both Iudge and Party FAB CCCCLXXXIV A Dog and his Master THere was an Excellent House-Dog that spent his whole Night still in Bawling and Snarling at all People Indifferently that pass'd within Hearing of him His Master took him to Task once for Barking and Yelling so at every Body that came near him without Distinction VVhy what have you a Nose for says he but to smell out a Thief from an Honest Man I will not have ye so much as Open your Mouth I tell ye at a Venture thus Sir says the Mastiff 't is out of the Zeal I have for your Service and yet when all is done too I would I had no more to Answer for then giving False Alarums and Barking out of Season You may fancy perhaps that there are No other Thieves then those that the Law Exposes to the Pillory or a Whipping Post or to a Turn perchance at Tyburn the next Sessions You 'll find your self Mistaken Sir if you 'll take upon ye to Judge of these Blades by their Garbs Looks and outward Appearance But if I get them in the VVind once I 'll tell ye which is which to the very Hearts and Souls of 'em without the Ceremony of either Bench Witnesses or Jury Nay says the Master if you should happen to Spy a Knight of the Post a Catch-pole a Iayler a Pawn-Broker a High-way-man a Crop-Ear'd Scriv'ner a Griping Usurer a Corrupt Iudge or any of these Vermin pray'e Cry out Thief and spare not And I beseech ye Sir says the Dog what if it should be a Pettifogging Splitter of Causes a Turncoat Ecclesiastical Military or Civil a Trading Iustice a Mortal Enemy under the Mask of a Friend A Glozing Hypocrite Or in One word let it be in any other Case or Encounter whatsoever You will find it Twenty Thousand to One upon the whole Matter that I Bark Right The MORAL The History of Cheats and Sharpers truly Written would be no other then the History of Human Nature REFLEXION 'T IS an Unhappy thing both for Master and Servant when the Love Loyalty and Zeal of the One shall be Ill Taken at the Hands of the Other for he that will not Believe and Depend upon the Faith of a Try'd Friend and Servant falls under the Judgment commonly of giving too much heed to a Secret Enemy Beside that it goes to the Heart of a Man of Honour and Address when he has done his Uttermost for his Masters Service to fall under the Scandalous Character of Officious and Impertinent for his Pains The Master here was in another Mistake too in supposing that all House-Breakers and Sharpers had Thief written in their Foreheads whereas the most Dangerous sort of Cheats are but Masqueraders under the Vizor of Friends and Honest Men. The Cardinal's Rule to one of his Laquayes that had lost his Coat comes very well to our present Purpose The Boy said that his Eminence told him they were all so Holy at Rome that he thought there had been no Thieves there Well says the Cardinal but hereafter when ever you come into a strange Place you may take every Man you see for a Thief provided that you Call no Body so The Dog went this way to work and he did Wisely in 't for he that keeps himself upon this Guard shall never be Couzen'd The best will help it self and therefore 't is good to be wary for fear of the Worst FAB CCCCLXXXV Two Doctors and a Sheep AS a Sheep was Grazing One Evening in a Pleasant Meadow it had the hap to Overhear Two Doctors of the Schools as they were taking a Walk there Philosophizing upon the Advantages of Mankind above all other Creatures and particularly upon the Natural Disposition that Man has to live in Union and Society The Sheep gave One of them a Gentle Touch by the Cloak and told him that under favour he could not be of their Opinion 'T is true says he you have your Cities Towns Incorporate and Large Communities but then you have your Magistrates too your Laws Oaths and a Thousand Shackles upon ye and all little enough to keep the Peace among ye You Dispute Wrangle Fight make a perpetual Bussle in the World Break Friendships Dissolve the very Tyes of Marriage and Tear one Another to Pieces with all manner of Extravagant Contests Now this 〈◊〉 never be sure if there were in ye that same Implanted Inclination to Unity and Agreement that you speak of If you would come to a clear Resolution of this Question you must first set your Selves at liberty from the Over-ruling Awe of Disgrace Shame and Punishment and by the Removal of that Force leave your Selves to the full Scope of your Avarice and Ambition You will then find by the Event whether Man be Naturally a Protector and Preserver of Society or a Destroyer of it No no my Learned Sirs 't is We that are the Sociable Creatures We Troop together Feed together Live together follow the same Leader too without any Constraint upon us either of Vows or Penalties and the very Flies and Pismires upon this Topick will Rise up in Judgment against Mankind The MORAL The Philosophers will have Man in a Degree of Excellency to be a Sociable Creature but these Philosophers are Men themselves then and Iudges in their Own Case Now if we may Credit Matter of Fact and Experience Men are the most Disunited Creatures under the Heavens 'T is their Delight Study Practice and Profession to lye Cutting One Anothers Throats and Destroying their own Kind Insomuch that Birds Beasts and Insects to the very Flies and Pismires will rise up in Iudgment against Mankind in this Point REFLEXION THE Sheep in this Fable was clearly too hard for the Two Doctors and we find all those Reasonings to be true in the World which the Mutton Alleges in the Fiction For Man is certainly one of the most Perverse Pieces of the Creation and not only Cross to his Rational Brethren but betwixt his Will and his Understanding he lives in a Perpetual Contradiction to Himself His Practice is directly contrary to his Knowledge and he shuts his very Eyes against the Light of his Nature Now other Creatures that are only Guided by a Providential Impulse have the Grace to follow the Voice of their Director and to keep themselves within the Compass of their proper Bus'ness and Duty Whereas Man that over and above the same common Instinct is endu'd with the Talent of Counsel and Knowledge Improves those Advantages only to his Greater Condemnation by Abandoning the Offices and Functions of his Reasonable Being The Sum of the Moral in fine may be this that it is not so much the Excellency of our Human Nature that
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
Consequently Perish without Any Hope or Means of Pity or Redress The Gard'ner would have sav'd his Dog from Drowning and the Curr bit his Master by the fingers for his pains FAB CLII. A Sow and a Dog THere pass'd some Hard Words betwixt a Sow and a Dog and the Sow swore by Venus that she 'd Tear his Guts out if he did not Mend his Manners Ay says the Dog You do well to call upon her for Your Patroness that will not so much as Endure any Creature about her that Eates Swines Flesh. Well says the Sow and That 's a Token of her Love to Hate Any thing that hurts me but for Dogs Flesh 't is good neither Dead nor Living The MORAL Where the Matter in Controversy will not bear an Argument 't is a Turn of Art to bring it off with a Paradox REFLEXION 'T IS an Ordinary Thing for People to Boast of an Interest where they have None and then when they are Detected 't is a Stroake of Art to Divert the Reproach by Emproving a Spitefull Word or Thing to a bodies Own Advantage This way of Dialogue is a kind of Tick-Tack Where the One's Bus'ness is to keep from making a Blot and the Other 's is to Hit it when 't is made It is a Happy Presence of Mind to Anticipate Another man's Thought by Considering Well beforehand what Construction or Allusion his Own Words will bear for Otherwise the Casting out an Inconsiderate Hint is but the Setting of a Trap to Catch Himself As the Sow's Appealing to Venus here was as Good as an Answer thrown into the very Mouth of the Dog which she might Easily have foreseen would be turn'd back upon her in the Bitterness of a Reproach For the Reply lay so Open the Other could not Well Miss it But when All is done Both Parts are to keep themselves upon their Guard Or if either of 'em has Overshot himselfe it is some sort of Reputation still to make the Best of a Bad Game As the Sow turn'd off the Scandal here with a Jest. FAB CLIII A Sow and a Bitch A Sow and a Bitch had a Dispute once which was the Fruitfuller of the Two The Sow Yielded it at last to the Bitch but you are to take Notice at the Same time says she that your Puppies are All Blind The MORAL The Question among all sorts of Competitors is not Who does Most but who does Best REFLEXION WE are not to put an Estimate upon Things by the Quantity or the Number of them but by their Quality and Virtue Taking for Granted that Aesops Bitch was Fruitfuller then our Sows See the Moral of A Lyoness and a Fox Fab. 283. FAB CLIV. A Snake and a Crab. THere was a Familiarity Contracted betwixt a Snake and a Crab. The Crab was a Plain Dealing Creature that Advis'd his Companion to give over Shuffling and Doubling and to Practice Good Faith The Snake went on in his Old Way So that the Crab finding that he would not Mend his Manners set upon him in his Sleep and Strangled him and then looking upon him as he lay Dead at his Length This had never befall'n ye says he if You had but Liv'd as Straight as You Dy'd The MORAL ' There 's Nothing more Agreeable in Conversation then a Franke Open way of Dealing and a Simplicity of Manners REFLEXION GOOD Councell is lost upon an Habitual Hardness of Ill Nature And in That Case it must be a Diamond that Cutts a Diamond for One Fraud is best Undermin'd and Disappointed by Another This Fable is a Figure upon a Figure in Opposing the Straitness of the Body of the Snake after he was Dead to the Crookedness of his Manners when he was Living But the License of Mythology will bear out the Hardness of the Allusion FAB CLV A Shepherd and a Wolves Whelp A Shepherd took a Sucking Whelp of a Wolfe and Train'd it up with his Dogs This Whelp Fed with 'em Grew up with 'em and whensoever they went out upon the Chace of a Wolfe the Whelp would be sure to make One It fell out sometimes that the Wolfe scap'd and the Dogs were forc'd to go Home again But This Domestique Wolfe would be still Hunting on 'till he came up to his Brethren where he took part of the Prey with them and so back again to his Master It happen'd now and then that the Wolves abroad were pretty Quiet for a Fit So that This Whelp of a Wolfe was fain to make Bold ever and anon with a Sheep in Private by the By but in the Conclusion the Shepherd came to find out the Roguery and Hang'd him up for his Pains The MORAL False Men are no more to be Reclaim'd then Wolves and the Leven of the Predecessors Sowres the Bloud in the very Veins of the Whole Family REFLEXION ILL Dispositions may be Suppress'd or Dissembled for a while but Nature is very hardly to be Alter'd either by Councell or by Education It may do well enough for Curiosity and Experiment to Try how far Ill Natur'd Men and Other Creatures may be Wrought upon by Fair Usage and Good Breeding But the Inclination and Cruelty of the Damm will never out of the Whelp It may Suspend peradventure or Intermit for want of Occasion to shew it selfe but Nature is like Mercury there 's No Killing it Quite The Wolfe in the House has a Kindness still for the Wolves in the Woods and continues in the Interest of the same Common Enemy Cat will to Kind as they say and Wicked Men will be True to their Principles how False soever to their Masters We may read in the Moral of This Fable the common Practice of the World and a Doctrine that we find Every day Verify'd as well in Men as in Beasts for there are Wolf-Whelps in Palaces and Governments as well as in Cottages and Forrests Do we not find in History and Experience Instances in abundance even of Publique Ministers Themselves that though taken up out of the very Herds of the Common Enemy Admitted into Special Trusts Fed by the Hand and Treated with the Grace and Character of Particular Favourites have their Hearts in the Woods yet all this while among their Fellows So that there 's No Reclayming of them They go out however as there is Occasion and Hunt and Growle for Company but at the same time they give the Sign out of their Masters hand hold Intelligence with the Enemy and Make use of their Power and Credit to Worry Honester Men then Themselves It wants Nothing after This but that they may live to have their Due and with the Dog here in the Fable go to Heaven in a String according to the True Intent of the Allegory FAB CLVI A Lyon Fox and a Wolfe THe King of Beasts was now grown Old and Sickly and All his Subjects of the Forrest saving only the Fox were to pay their Duties to him The Wolfe and the Fox like a Couple of Sly Knaves