A SUPPLEMENT OF FABLES, OUT OF Phædrus, Avienus, Camerarius, Neveletus, Apththonius, Gabrias, Babrias, Abstemius, Alciatus, Boccalini, Baudoin, De la Fontaine, Æsope en Belle Humeur, Meslier, &c. (continued 3)

Fab. CCCCLVIII. A Miser and Rotten Apples.

There was a Stingy Narrow-hearted Fellow, that had a great deal of Choice Fruit in his Ground, but had not the Heart to touch any of it till it began to be Rotten. This Man’s Son would every foot and anon be taking some of his Companions into the Orchard with him. Look ye says he, That’s an Excellent Apple, and here’s a Delicate sort of Plum. Gather and Eat what you will of these, provided you don’t Meddle with any of the Rotten Ones: For my Father (you must know) keeps them for his own Eating.

The Moral.

This is to set forth the Wicked and the Scandalous Wretchedness of Avarice, that rather then make use of the Bounties of Providence in their Season, suffers them to lye by and Perish.

REFLEXION.

How Miserable are those Cormudgeons that spend their Lives in Carking and Pinching themselves for things they have not the Heart to make use of! And in this Humour of Griping (which they call Saving) fall foul upon the very Extreme of Profusion another way. They either Lose or Spoil every thing by Keeping it, till ’tis fit only to be thrown away; and that’s their way of Spending it. Their Money lies as close in their Coffers, as ever it did in the Mine whence it was drawn. They’ll rather venture the whole Stock, then be at one Penny Charge for the Saving of the Rest. They pervert the very Intent, as well as they destroy the Bounties of Providence: Nay, they Envy the common Enjoyment of those Blessings that were intended for the Relief, Comfort, and Satisfaction of Mankind.

Fab. CCCCLIX. The Devil Refus’d to Marry.

A Certain Devil had the hap to live for some time in a State of Wedlock, with a Spiteful, Vexatious Gipsy, that in Truth was too hard for him. She Dy’d at last of the Pip, and the Breath was no sooner out of her Body, but he fell to Blessing the Stars for his Deliverance; and so bound himself by a Desperate Vow, that he would never Marry again. It fell out some time after, that a Poor Man was Possess’d with this very Devil, and that when an Exorcist had try’d all the ways of Charm, Prayer and Menace, to Remove him, and found him Proof against all manner of Exorcisms, he Bawl’d it out, once for all, Either come forth, or Marry. The Devil immediately cry’d out for Mercy, I go Father, says he; Any Hell but that of a Second Wife.

The Moral.

Take this Droll by the Right Handle, and it gives to understand, that some Women may as well fright the Devil out of a Man, as others Conjure him up into one.

REFLEXION.

This Fable is only a High-Flown Hyperbole upon the Miseries of Marriage under the Judgment of a Wayward, a Jealous and a Brawling Wife: And the Moral of it is Directed to all the Poor Husbands, that are Condemn’d to that Purgatory.

Fab. CCCCLX. A Country-man and Jupiter.

A Poor Plain Fellow was so Dazled and Transported with the Pomp, the Splendor, the Plenty, State and Luxury that Great Men live in, that it was the First Petition of his Daily Litany to Jupiter, to make him a Lord. Jupiter found he could not be Quiet for him, and bad Mercury carry him Two Curious Baskets with Honour and Money in them. They were both cover’d, the one with Purple, the other with Gold, and Mercury was Order’d to let the Man Open and Examin them as strictly as he pleas’d, but to bid him have a care not to meddle with them Rashly, for fear of the worst. The Countryman was so Charm’d with the Present at First Sight, that he took it away with him by Content, without asking any Questions. But when he came afterward to consider at leisure the Cares, Anxieties, Fears, Doubts, and all manner of Troubles and Diseases that were inseparably to go along with his Bags and Dignities; he found himself much more Uneasie now then he was before; and that he had Sacrificed the Peace of his very Soul, to the Vanity of his Eye and Appetite.

The Moral.

’Tis not for a Wise Man to set his Heart upon Gay and Glittering Appearances. The Devil himself Baits all his Hooks with Pomp, Lusts and Pleasures: and the very Glory of the Outside, makes the Contents the more suspicious for’t.

REFLEXION.

A Man may bear the want of Honours and Riches, before he has ’em, much better then the Loss of them when he has obtain’d them. And they are in short the Plagues of an Inconsiderate Life. He that wishes them for the Common Good, and applies them when he has them, to that Generous End, makes a Right Use of the Divine Providence and Bounty: But he that seeks them for his own sake, and Converts them wholly to his own Profit, Defrauds the Publick. As if a Man should apply an Estate that was made over to him in Trust, to the wrong Uses.

Fab. CCCCLXI. A Bee that went over to the Drones.

To what End (says a Bee) should I Toil and Moil my self out of my Life for a Poor Subsistence, when the Drones that do nothing at all, Live in as much Plenty every jot as I do? Upon this Thought, the Bee Resolv’d after their Example to work no longer. The Master it seems call’d her to Account for’t; the Bee took Pet upon’t, and without any more to do, went over to the Drones Party, where she pass’d the Summer easily enough, and to her Satisfaction. But upon the Winter’s coming on, when the Drones were all Dispers’d into their several Holes, the Bee would fain have gone Home again; but the Cells of the Combs were all Clos’d, so that there was no Entrance, and the Poor Bee Starv’d to Death betwixt Cold and Hunger.

The Moral.

It is all the Reason in the World, that every Man in what Station soever, should Work in some sort or other for his Living. Nature her self is always at Work; and a Prince has no more Prerogative to be Idle, then a Beggar.

REFLEXION.

Action is a Reasonable Duty, how variously soever it may be Exercised, whether in the Functions of Power, or in the Offices of Subjection. A Reasonable Soul can no more stand still, then the Sun can stop its course. This Fable branches out into several Morals: First, it serves for a Reproof of Sloth. Secondly, In the Bees being Corrupted by the Practice of the Drones, it shews us the Danger and the Force of Ill Example; especially where there’s Ease and Sensuality to strengthen the Temptation, which must needs be wonderfully Powerful, where the Emblem of Industry on the one hand, comes to be wrought upon by the very Emblem of Laziness on the other. Thirdly, it leads us to a Consideration of the End of an Unactive and an Unprofitable Life. The Bees Summer-Friends Forsake her; those of her own Family shut the Doors against her; and so she’s Abandon’d to the wide World, as an Object of Detestation and Scorn.

Fab. CCCCLXII. A Crow and a Raven.

The Ancients tell us that the Crow was once Minerva’s Favourite, and the Raven Apollo’s; but the One of them was found to be so full of Tongue, so Over-Officious and Inquisitive; and the Other so Desperately given to Croking and Fore-boding upon Evil Things to come, that they fell both into Disgrace for’t.

The Moral.

Great Talkers, Medlers, and Busie-Bodies, are the very Pest of Human Society.

REFLEXION.

There is no Peace to be expected, either in a Government, or in a Family where Tale-bearers, and the Spreaders of Ill and of False News, are Encourag’d. Now the Curiosity of Heark’ning after Privacies that do not concern us, and of Prying into forbidden Secrets, does not arise so much from a Desire of knowing the Truth of Things simply for our own Satisfaction, as from an Itch of Screwing our Selves into other Peoples Matters, that we may be Prating of them again. And then the Tale is very seldom or never without Calumny and Detraction at the End on’t.

Fab. CCCCLXIII. The Bitches Bed-maker.

You must needs make this Bitches Bed immediately, says the Master of the House to his Maid, for she’s just ready to lie down. It was not done it seems, and the Man was very Angry with the Wench for not doing as she was bid. Alas, says the Poor Girl, I’de have made her Bed with all my Heart, if I could but have told which way she’d lie with her Head, and which with her Backside.

The Moral.

There’s no Pleasing those that cannot Please themselves.

REFLEXION.

A Steady Mind will admit Steady Methods and Counsels; but there’s no Measure to be taken of a Changeable Humour. Tell me where I may find ye, and I shall know where to fit ye: But otherwise, ’tis with us in the Levity of our Manners, and of our Humours, as it was with Clark, the Famous Posture-Master, and his Taylor. When the Workman took Measure of him, he was Crump-Shoulder’d, and the Right Side Higher then the Left; when he brought home his Suit, the Left was Higher then the Right; The Fellow was Mad at himself, and made him another Suit; and that would not do neither, for his Body was then as Straight as an Arrow.

Fab. CCCCLXIV. A Trusty Dog and his Master.

The Master of a Family that had, as he thought, a very good Condition’d Dog, coming home from his Bus’ness once, found a Cradle Over-turn’d; the Dog’s Mouth all Bloody, and his only Child Missing. He draws his Sword immediately and Kills the Dog, upon a Presumption that he had Worryed the Child, without any regard to his Try’d Fidelity, and without Allowing himself One Moment of Time for a Second Thought. Upon a further Enquiry, he found the Truth of the Matter to be this: The Child being left alone in the Cradle, there was a Serpent Winding it self up the side on’t, to Destroy the Child. The Dog leaps upon the Serpent, and Tears it to Pieces; but in the Scuffle, the Cradle happen’d to be Over-turn’d: Upon the Taking up of the Cradle, the Master found the Child Alive under it, and the Serpent Dead, which, upon Reflexion, Convinc’d him of the Miserable Temerity of his Mistake.

The Moral.

The Repentance of a whole Life, is not sufficient to Atone for the Miscarriage of One Rash Action.

REFLEXION.

Anger without Consideration, is little better then a downright Madness; it makes us take Benefits for Injuries, it Confounds Truth and Falshood; and we have but too many Instances of Outrages committed on the Persons of the best of our Friends, upon a False Persuasion of their being our Mortal Enemies. Charity bids us Hope and Believe the Best of Things: Prudence bids us examine the Truth of Things: Religion and Common Equity Preach to us upon the Text of Do as you would be done by. So that it is Uncharitable, Unreasonable, Unchristian, and Inhuman, to pass a Peremptory Sentence of Condemnation upon a Try’d Friend, where there’s any Room left for a more Favourable Judgment.

Fab. CCCCLXV. A Fool and a Sieve.

An Innocent found a Sieve, and presently fell to Stopping the Holes, which he call’d Mending it. When he had been Puzzling a good while about it, he threw’t away in a Rage: I shall never make any thing on’t, says he, for I don’t know which I am to Stop, and which to leave Open.

The Moral.

It fares with the Pragmatical sort of State-Menders, much as it did with this Sieve-Mender: They do not like things as they are, neither do they understand how they should be. But they are for Change however at a Venture; and when they have once put Matters out of Order, there’s no setting them to Rights again.

REFLEXION.

There are none so Forward as Fools to Mend Things that are Well already; though they find upon Experiment that they Make and they Leave every Thing worse then they found it. They are at first for Stopping of Holes, and when that won’t do, they are for Making of ’em again. We have abundance of Fools in the Moral to answer this Fool in the Fable; that is to say, People that take upon them to Correct what they do not Understand; and that when they have Embroil’d the Publick, leave the Main Chance to Fortune, to Shuffle the Cards anew, and Play the Game over again. This is the Fate on’t, when Pedants will be medling with Politicks, and Botchers setting up for the Reformers of Providence.

Fab. CCCCLXVI. A Fig-Tree and a Thorn.

A Fig-Tree and a Thorn were valuing themselves once upon the Advantage that the One had over the Other. Well, says the Thorn, What would you give for such Flowers as these? Very Good, says the Fig-Tree, and what would you give for such Fruit as This? Why, says the other, ’twould be against Nature for a Thorn to bring forth Figs. Well (says t’other again,) and ’twould be against Nature too, for a Fig-Tree to bring forth Flowers: Beside that, I have Fruit you see, that is much Better.

The Moral.

Every Creature has a Share in the Common Blessings of Providence; and it is a Virtue as well as a Duty for every Creature to rest well satisfied with its Proportion in those Comforts; but when we come once to Boast of our selves, and to Derogate from others, ’tis no longer a Virtue but a Vanity; and especially when we Mistake the Value of things, and prefer the Advantages of Beauty, before those of Use and Service.

REFLEXION.

’Tis not Every Man that can distinguish betwixt the Excellencies of Beauty and of Virtue: And how in Truth should they Distinguish, when Every Man that has Eyes in his head, sees the One, and not One Man of Forty Understands the Other? Nay, the very Ostentation of the Thorn, is a Weakness, and I might have said a Vice too; for the Vanity Unhallows the very Virtue, especially where it is Accompany’d with Detraction.

Fab. CCCCLXVII. A Wolf and a Fox.

A Wolf had the Fortune to pass by, as the Thief-Leaders were Dragging a Proper Goodly Fox to the Place of Execution. The Wolf took such a kindness for him, that he Resolved to Employ his Interest with the Lion to save his Life; but by the way, says he, what’s the Malefactor’s Crime? So the Officers told him, that he had not only Robb’d several Hen-Roosts, but had the Impudence to Steal a Fat Goose, that was Reserv’d for his Majesties own Table. Say ye so? says the Wolf, why then the Case is Alter’d, quoth Plouden; and so he left him to take his Fortune.

The Moral.

Interest is the very Test and Standard of Good and Evil. If I may gain by doing a Thing, ’tis Honest; if it be against my Profit, ’tis consequently against my Conscience. This is the Pro & Con of Common Practice; and ’tis but Casting some Grains of Allowance into the Scale, to Palliate the Foulest Iniquity.

REFLEXION.

This Fable hits the Humour of the World to a Hair, and it holds from him that sits upon the Throne, to the poor Devil that has scarce a Tatter to his Breech. Men are easie to Pardon Offences committed against other People; but when they come to be Touch’d Once in their Own Copy-Hold, the Lion’s Fat-Goose weighs down all the Cocks and Hens in the Country: And in that Case the Wolf leaves his Brother Fox at the Gallows. The Rogue has Stoll’n a Prerogative-Goose, says he, and the King will never Pardon him. This is according to Practice, how contrary soever to the true Measures of Generosity, Honour and Justice. That’s the veriest Villain in Nature, cries one, for I’ll tell ye how he Us’d Me. As Worthy a Man, says another, as ever trod upon a Shoe of Leather; for really I have been much Beholden to him. In short, there is such an Affinity betwixt our Prudentials and our Appetites, that they are like two Unison Strings, if you Touch the One, the Other Moves by Consent. There was a certain Filacer (an Officer of the Common Pleas,) that in Oliver’s Days was mightily concern’d upon the Subject of the Government, and Dilating in a kind of Rhetorical Climax upon the Iniquity of the Times: Well (says he,) here’s the Best Church upon the Face of the Earth Destroy’d; the Nobility and Gentry trampled under Foot, and begger’d; the Commonalty Enslaved; the Laws Overturn’d; the Constitution of Parliaments Dissolv’d; a most Pious, Gracious King Murder’d; And now to Consumate the Villany, they say they are putting down the Filacers. When it comes once to the Filacers, it Touches to the Quick.

Fab. CCCCLXVIII. A Rich Man and a Poor.

As a Poor Fellow was Beating the Hoof upon the High-way, and Trudging on Merrily in a Bitter Cold Morning, with never a Rag to his Tayl: A Spark that was Warm Clad, and Well Mounted, (but his Teeth Chattering in his Head yet,) call’d to this Tatter-de-Mallion, and ask’d him how he was able to endure this Terrible Weather? Why, says t’other, how does your Face endure it? My Face is us’d to’t, says the Cavalier. And so is my Body, says the other; so that I am all Face. And then (says the Poor Cur) there’s another thing yet besides; I have all the Cloaths I have in the World upon my Back, and that’s enough to keep me Warm: Do but you put on all yours too, and you shall be Warm as well as I.

The Moral.

By Custom, Practice and Patience, all Difficulties and Hardships, whether of Body or of Fortune, are made Easie to us. Mankind is all of a Make, and if we shrink in the Wetting, as we say, or in any Trial of Distress or Persecution, ’tis our own Fault; for we are Consulting our Skins, and our Affections, when we should rather be attending to the Motions of our Reason, which would give us better Counsel.

REFLEXION.

If Men would but Inure themselves to do those things by Choice, which ’tis Forty to One they shall be some time or other forc’d to do by Necessity, it would exceedingly Advance the Peace and Comfort of Human Life; for all those Miseries are only Visionary and Fantastical, so far as we Govern our selves by Opinion rather then by Reason. Our Bodies are not Naturally more Tender then our Faces; but by being less Expos’d to the Air, they become less able to endure it. Exercise makes things Easie to us, that would be otherwise very Hard; as in Labour, Watchings, Heats and Colds: And then there is something Analogous in the Exercise of the Mind, to that of the Body. ’Tis Folly and Infirmity that makes us Delicate and Froward. We are taught likewise in the Differing Tempers and Conditions of the Rich Man and the Poor here, that a Man may be Happy with a Little, and Miserable in Abundance.

Fab. CCCCLXIX. A Wolf and a Hog.

A Wolf that had liv’d many Years upon the Spoil, came at last to be Troubled in Conscience for the Spilling of so much Innocent Blood, and so took up a Christian Resolution to keep a long Lent for’t; and not to Eat One Bit of Flesh for a Whole Twelve-Month: But Fasting it seems did not agree with his Constitution, for upon the sight of a Hog Wallowing in a Muddy Puddle, he ran presently to him, and ask’d him what he was? Why, says the Hog, I belong to a Neighbour here in the Village, and the Ancient Romans call me Porcus. In Good Time, says the Wolf; for I have read in Littleton’s Dictionary, that Porcus is a Fish, that being Taken, Grunteth like a Hog; and so he made a Supper of the Hog, without breaking his Fast, and without any Offence to his Vow of Mortification.

The Moral.

In a long Practice of Wickedness, now and then a Faint Vow or Promise of Amendment, goes for Nothing: And if a Body should have a Mind to break a Commandment under such an Obligation, it will be hard if he cannot bring himself off with some Salvo, and be his own Confessor.

REFLEXION.

Men that are Habitually Wicked, may now and then by Fits and Starts feel certain Motions of Reflexion that look toward Repentance; but those Dispositions are commonly short Liv’d, and the same Meat shall be Fish or Flesh as it may best serve their Turn. We find this Fable Moraliz’d in our Daily Practice, not only among our False Converts, upon the Matter of Truth, Steadiness and Justice, but among Politicians, Lawyers, and Divines, that shall make the most Establish’d Principles of Law, Prudence and Religion, Felons of themselves, and by the help of a little Sham and Paradox, Blow Hot and Cold, with the Man and the Satyr, out of the same Mouth. This Wolf now was somewhat of the Mans Humour that was Charg’d by his Confessarius, for Eating Flesh in Lent: Father, says he, I have as Catholick a Faith as any Man in Christendom; but a most Confounded Heretical Stomach. So the Wolves Heart was Right all this while, and by turning Hog into Porcus, he kept his Fast in Latin still, though he broke it in English.

Fab. CCCCLXX. A Farmer and his Servant.

A Country Farmer miss’d an Ox out of his Grounds, and sent his Man abroad one Day to look after him. The Simpleton went Hunting up and down, till at last he found him in a Wood; but upon Three Birds coming cross him, away goes he Scampering after them. He stay’d so long upon the Errand, that his Master Wonder’d what was become of him; and so Abroad he goes to look for his Man; and there was he in a Field hard by, running as hard as he could drive, and Staring up into the Air. Well, says the Master, what News? Why Master, says the Tony, I have found them. Ay, but says the Farmer again, Where are they? And what have ye found? Why look ye there they are, says the Fellow; I have found Three Birds here, and I’m trying if I can Catch ’em.

The Moral.

We have this Fool Moraliz’d abundantly to us in Common Practice. We leave the main End and Business of Life Unregarded, to run after Butterflies.

REFLEXION.

A Man cannot look into himself without an Application of this Fable to his own Soul and Conscience. He was much in the Right, that call’d Old Men only Great Blockheaded Boys with Beards, that Entertain themselves with Bigger Play-things. There’s an Ox lost, and this Coxcomb runs a Gadding after Wild-Fowl. Is it not our very Case now, that when our Souls, Good Names, Bodies, and Fortunes are at Stake, we must be running out at Check, after every Crow, Buzzard, or Jack-daw that comes in the way, and leave the main Chance at last at Six and Seven? Nay, and here’s this more in’t too, that the Quarry would not be worth the taking up neither, if we could Catch it? beside, that it flies away still before us, and is never to be Overtaken.

Fab. CCCCLXXI. A Satyr and Fire.

The Poets tell us, that Prometheus stole some of Jupiter’s Fire, and brought it down to us from Heaven, and that was our Original of it. A Satyr was so Transported with the Glory and the Splendor of this Spirit, that down on his knees he falls, and would needs Kiss and Embrace it. Have a care of your Beard, says Prometheus; nay, and of your Chin too; for ’twill both Singe and Burn ye. And why, says the Satyr, would you bring down so Glorious a Temptation then to Plague the World withal? Why, says Prometheus, there were no Living without it; only the Mischief lies in the Abuse. It Burns, ’tis true, but then consider the Heat and the Light that comes along with it, and you shall find it serves us to all manner of Profitable, Delightful and Necessary Purposes, provided only that we make a Right Use on’t.

The Moral.

There’s not One Grain in the whole Composition of the Universe, either too Much, or too Little; Nothing to be Added, Nothing to be Spar’d; nor so much as any One Particle of it that Mankind may not be either the Better or the Worse for, according as ’tis Apply’d. The most Sovereign Antidotes have Poison in them; the most necessary Means of Life may be Corrupted or Perverted, and render’d the most Destructive to us; As an Infected Air, for the Purpose, a Raging Sea, or a Consuming Fire: But let this Air continue as God made it; the Waters be kept within their Bounds, and the Fire from breaking out into Conflagrations, and there’s no Living without them under this Regulation.

REFLEXION.

The Best things in the World may be Misapplied; and the greatest Blessings Abus’d, may become the Occasion to us of the most Judicial Maledictions. What’s more necessary for the common Comfort and Benefit of Mankind, then Understanding and Power; and nothing certainly is more Pernicious then those Illustrious Qualifications Perverted. We are not to Quarrel with the Heavens for Pestilential Influences, or Unkindly Seasons; nor with the Earth for Poysonous Minerals and Exhalations; nor with the Water for Inundations, and Shipwrecks; nor with the Fire for Conflagrations. We must not take upon us to Dispute or to Correct the Wisdom of Providence, but sit down Contented and Thankful, and with this Reflexion upon the whole, that we are Indebted to the Divine Bounty for all the Good we Enjoy; and that for the Evil we Suffer, we may thank our Selves.

Fab. CCCCLXXII. A Generous Lion.

As a Lion was Bestriding an Ox that he had newly Pluck’d down, a Robber passing by, Cry’d out to him, Half-Shares. You should go your Snip, says the Lion, if you were not so forward to be your own Carver. The Thief had but just turn’d his Back, when up comes an Innocent Traveller, that so soon as ever he saw the Lion, was going off again. The Lion bad him fear Nothing, but take part of the Prey with him in Reward of his Modesty: Whereupon the Lion went immediately into the Woods to make Way for the Traveller.

The Moral.

If Great Men in the World would but follow the Example of the Lion in this Fable, Sharpers should not Ride in Triumph any longer, while Honest Men go out at the Elbows.

REFLEXION.

This is an Instance of a Great and a Laudable Example; but People are forwarder to Commend such Precedents, then to Imitate them: for the Bold and Rich Thrive in the World, when the Poor and the Bashful go a Begging: But Virtue is never the less Venerable for being out of Fashion.

Fab. CCCCLXXIII. A Brother and a Sister.

There was a Brother and a Sister that happen’d to look in a Glass both together: The Brother a very Lovely Youth, and the Sister as hard-favour’d as a Girl could well be. Look ye, (says the Boy) and have not I a very Good Face now? This the Lass took for a Reproche, as if hers were not so too. What does this Envious Tit, but away to her Father with a Tale of her Brother, how Effeminately he Behav’d himself, and that a Petticoat would become him better then a Sword. The Good Man Kiss’d them both, and Reconciled the Controversie. My Dear Children, says he, I lay my Command upon ye Both to look often in a Glass; You Son, to keep a Guard upon your Self, not to Dishonour the Advantages that Nature has given ye, with Ill Manners: And you Daughter, (says he) to Mind you of Supplying the Defects of an External and a Transitory Beauty, with the more substantial Ornaments of Piety and Virtue.

The Moral.

There is not any Accident or Adventure in Nature, that does not yield Matter and Occasion for Good Counsell: And the Excellency of that necessary Office lies in the Address of Managing it Pertinently, and without Reproche.

REFLEXION.

The Vanity of the Youth here in the Fable, is doubly to Blame; First, he Values himself upon a Trivial and an Uncertain Advantage. Secondly, ’Tis below the Dignity of the Sex, for a Man to Glory in, and to Usurp upon the proper Ornaments and Privileges of a Woman. The Sister’s Envy may be better Reprov’d then Reform’d; for to say that a Woman is not Handsome, is a Sin never to be Forgiven. The Father does excellently well Discharge the Part of a Wise Man, and of a Tender Parent both in One. And the Moral of his Part Resolves finally into this, That Virtue attones for Bodily Defects, and that Beauty is nothing worth, without a Mind Answerable to the Person.

Fab. CCCCLXXIV. The Bees and the Drones.

There was a Controversie betwixt the Bees and the Drones about some Hony-Combs that were found in a Hollow Oak. They both laid Claim to ’em, and a Wasp was to be Judge, as one that well understood the Matter. Upon the Tryal of the Cause, they seem’d both to stand fair for’t, as being of the same Size, Make and Colour. Now, says the Wasp, I am upon my Oath, and therefore let me see them work their Combs, and fill ’em here before me in the Court, and I shall be then the Better able to Understand the Merits of the Cause. The Drones would not Agree to’t, and so the Verdict went for the Bees.

The Moral.

Pretences go a great way in the World with Men that will take Fair words and Magisterial Looks for Current Payment: But the short and the certain way of bringing the Cause to a Fair Issue, is to put the Pretenders to the Test of Doing what they say.

REFLEXION.

All People that set up for a Reputation in the world upon the Credit of other Mens Labours, fall under the Reproof of this Fable; and the Judges in those Cases are not always so Tender, Circumspect and Conscientious as the Wasp was in this; for they let False and Frivolous Pretenders run away many times, not only with the Character, but with the Reward, both of Honester and Soberer Mens Virtues. There’s no Proof like Matter of Fact, and putting the Drones to the Test of making Wax and Hony.

Fab. CCCCLXXV. A Fox and a Dragon.

As a Fox was Earthing Himself, he Digg’d so Deep, ’till at last he came to a Dragon’s Den, where he found a Prodigious Mass of Hidden Treasure. He made his Excuse for his Intrusion, and begg’d the Dragon’s leave but to Ask him One Question. Pray (says he) where’s the Pleasure or the Profit of Spending all your Days in a Hole thus, without either Light or Sleep? Why, ’tis my Fate, says the Dragon, and there’s no more to be said. Here’s a Monstrous Hord, says the Fox, and I cannot find that you either Give or Use One Penny out of all this Store. ’Tis a Misery, says the other, that I am Doom’d to, and there’s no Avoiding it. Why then, says the Fox, He that’s Born under Your Stars is certainly the most Wretched of Creatures.

The Moral.

We are apt to do Amiss, and to Persevere in so Doing, and then to lay the Blame upon our Stars, or our Fortune as we call it, which in truth, is neither Better nor worse then making Heaven the Author of Evil. The very sooth of it is, that an Ill Habit has the Force of that which we call an Ill Fate; and we Tye up our Selves, where Providence has left us at Liberty.

REFLEXION.

Your Covetous Churl is Undoubtedly the most Miserable of Beggars; the more he Has, the more he Wants; Beside that, he wants what he Has too; for ’tis lost to all Intents and Purposes, when neither he Himself, nor any Body else is the Better for’t. He Pines and Watches himself to Death, for fear of losing that which he only Fancies that he has; or which is the same thing, that which he has not the Heart to Use. All this, says the Dragon, I suffer, because I’m Doom’d to’t, which tells us most Emphatically, that an Anxiety of Mind is a Just Judgment upon a Man for Delivering himself up to so Sordid an Appetite. We must not understand the Dragon here to be Condemn’d to this Misery by the Fatality of any Inevitable Decree; but in these Cases, Custom and Corruption, superinduce upon us a kind of Necessity of going on as we begun.

Fab. CCCCLXXVI. The Shipwrack of Simonides.

Simonides was a Learned Man, and an Excellent Poet, especially in the way of Panegyrick, or Encomium, to the Honour of the Great Men of his Age; insomuch that he made his Fortune by’t. After some time spent abroad, and a great deal of Mony got by his Encomia upon the Hero’s of those Times, he put Himself and his Treasure Aboard for his own Countrey again, in an Old Rotten Vessel. They fell into Foul Weather, and the Ship Miscary’d. In the Hurry of the Shipwrack, while the Passengers were at their Wits end how to Save that which they took to be of the most Value, Simonides was the only Man that appeared Unconcern’d, notwithstanding that his whole Fortune was at Stake in the Cargo. One Ask’d him why he did not look after his Goods. Why, so I do, says he, for all the Goods that I pretend to, I have now about me. In this Extremity, some made a shift to Swim A-shore; the greater Part sunk under the weight of what they thought to Preserve; and in the mean time came in a Crew of Free-Booters, that Rifled and Stript those that Scap’d. The Men that were Paddling for their Lives, made a Port, where by great Providence there liv’d a Famous Philosopher that was a Passionate Admirer, and a Diligent Reader of Simonides, and his Writings. This Philosopher, upon the First Encounter, found out Simonides by his very Discourse; took him into his House Cloath’d him, Furnish’d him with Mony, Provided him Servants, and put him into a Condition in fine, to Live in Honour and Plenty. As Simonides was walking the Streets a while after, he saw several of his Shipwrack’d Companions begging their Bread from Door to Door, with a Certificate of their Misfortune. Well, says Simonides, and d’ye not find it True now as I told ye, that a Man of Letters and of Integrity, carries all his Goods about him?

The Moral.

The Moral is no more then this, that Virtue shall never Fail of a Reward in the Conclusion.

REFLEXION.

A Wise and a Good Man carries his Happiness in his own Breast; and that’s a Happiness too, that the Uttermost Malice of Wicked Men, and of Cross Fortune can never take away. Let all Men of Honour apply the Moral of this History to their own Comfort and Support, and Assure themselves, that Providence either in the Blessing of a good Conscience, or in that of a Happy Deliverance, will never Forsake them.

Fab. CCCCLXXVII. Two Men and a Halter.

A Poor Rogue that had got the Devil into his Pocket, and not One Cross in the World to drive him out again, found upon Mature Consideration, that he had no Choice before him, but either to Hang or Starve; for, says he, I have neither Cash, Credit, nor Friends, to keep Life and Soul together. He bethought himself a while upon the Matter, and so Resolv’d rather of the Two to go to Heaven in a String. Upon this, he immediately provides himself a Halter; fits the Noose, and pitches upon the Place of Execution; but as he was driving a Hook into an Old Wall to Fasten the Cord to, Down comes a Great Stone that was Loose, and a Pot of Mony along with it. The Fellow presently throws away the Halter, Takes the Gold by Content, without either Weighing or Counting it, and so away he Scours with the Purchase. He was no sooner gone, but in comes the Man that had hid the Mony, to give his Pot a Visit: He finds the Birds flown it seems, and Marrying and Hanging, they say, go by Destiny. The last Comer, in fine, succeeds to the Rope of his Predecessor, and very fairly Hangs himself, with this Comfort in the Conclusion, That Providence had sav’d him the Charge of a Halter.

The Moral.

Where there’s Mony in the Case, ’tis Forty to One but some Body or other goes to the Devil for’t.

REFLEXION.

Poverty and Avarice are near A-kin, and the Rich Insatiable Miser that is still Carking after More and More, is every jot as Miserable as he that has just Nothing at all. What’s the Difference betwixt Gold in one Part of the Earth, and Gold in Another? Betwixt the Minted Gold that the Sordid Churl Buries in a Pot, and the Ore that Nature has Prepar’d and Tinctur’d in the Mine? They are Both equally lost to the common Use of Mankind; Only the One lies a little deeper then the Other. We may finish this Moral with a Consideration of the Folly of those People that Starve themselves to Enrich others, and make their Own Lives Wretched for the Advantage perhaps of Thieves or Strangers. The Halter, in fine, serv’d both their turns; as well His that had no Mony at first, as t’others that Lost it.

Fab. CCCCLXXVIII. A Mountebank and a Bear.

As a Quack was Exposing his Bills and Med’cines upon a Stage, in the Quality both of a Doctor and a Jack-Pudding, Thousands and Thousands of People Gaping and Staring at him with as much Reverence and Attention, as if every Word that came out of his Mouth had dropt from the Lips of an Oracle: It happen’d just in the Nick of this Interim, that an Officer of Paris-Garden was Leading one of his Majesties Bears, that way, with a Ring through the Nose of him. The Rabble immediately upon the Novelty of this Adventure, quitted the Mountebank, and Gather’d in Multitudes about the Bear, Shouting and Huzzaing along with him, as if it had been a Procession to a Pope-Burning, or peradventure some more Pompous Spectacle. The Bear upon this Noise and Bussle, (though none of the Quickest-Witted Animals,) made a Speech to the Crowd after the best manner. Heark ye my Friends, says he, I’m Glad to see you so Merry at my being led like a Sot by the Nose thus; but pray let’s Laugh at one another by Turns, for you are every Jot as Ridiculous to Me, as I am to You, the Mobile are led by the Ears just as the Bears are led by the Noses; and that’s all the Difference in the Case betwixt us.

The Moral.

The Mobile are altogether for Noise and Novelty, and One New Thing drives out another: Nay, we take Pleasure in the very Spectacle that Effectually Abuses us; as a Bear with a Ring in his Nose, is no more then an Emblem of Every Man of us, for we are led as much as He, some by the Ear or Eye; others by our Lusts and Affections: But in fine, every Soul of us some way or other.

REFLEXION.

No Man should make Sport with, or Condemn any thing in another, without first Considering whether he be not Guilty of the very same thing Himself. The Bear is led after One Manner; the Multitude are led after Another Manner; and in some sort or other we are all led; only the Bearward in this Fable leads but One Brute, and the Mountebank leads a Thousand: And what’s the whole Bus’ness at last, but Noise, Novelty, and Example? And One Fool Staring and Hooting for Company after Another; We take more Care to do as Others do, then to do as we ought to do, or in truth to Understand the Sum and Substance of our Duties. The Peoples leaving the Mountebank for the Bear, Imports as great Readiness, even to leave Him too for what comes next, and shews us that there’s no Trusting to the Mobile. It may serve also to Mind us, that the very Course of our Lives is little better then a Series of Mistakes, and a Transition from One Weakness to Another. He that finds himself Uneasie in One Unreasonable Choice, has Recourse naturally to Another, perchance as Unreasonable: And let him be never so Sick of the Error, there’s yet some Pleasure in the Variety; though it be but in the Hope of Mending the Matter.

Fab. CCCCLXXIX. A Skittish Horse.

There goes a Story of a Restiff, Skittish Jade, that had gotten such a Trick of Rising, Starting, and Flying out at his own Shadow, that he was not to be Endur’d; for the Discipline of the Spur and the Bit was wholly Lost upon him. When his Rider found that there was no Reclaiming of him by the Ordinary Methods of Horsemanship, he took him to task upon the Philosophy and Logick of the Bus’ness. ’Tis only a Shadow, says he, that you Boggle at: And what is that Shadow, but so much Air that the Light cannot come at? It has neither Teeth nor Claws, you see, nor any thing else to Hurt ye: ’Twill neither Break your Shins, nor Block up your Passage; and what are you afraid of then? Well says the Horse, (who it seems had more Wit then his Master,) ’tis no new Thing in the World, even for the greatest Heroes to shrink under the Impression of Panick Terrors. What are all the Sprights, Ghosts and Goblins that you your selves Tremble at, but Phantomes and Chimera’s, that are bred and shap’d in your own Brain?

The Moral.

Nature and Reason have Fortify’d us, if we will but make use of our Strength, against all Difficulties that can Befall us in this World. But if we will stand Boggling at Imaginary Evils, let us never Blame a Horse, for starting at a Shadow.

REFLEXION.

’Tis a Common Thing for People to Blame what they Practise, and to be spending their Censures upon others, when they should be Examining Themselves: Whereas in Justice, Charity and Prudence, we should make no other Use of our Neighbours Faults, then we do of a Looking Glass to Mend our own Manners by, and to set Matters right at Home. When we see a Horse start at a Shadow, what have we more to do then to Contemplate the Folly and Vanity of our own Surprizes and Mistakes in a Thousand Instances of the same Quality! For what are all the Vexatious Transports of our Hopes and Fears, Extravagant Wishes, and Vain Desires, but the Images of Things every jot as Whimsical, as the Vision of the Shadow here in the Fable? And we can never hope for Better, so long as we Govern our selves by Fancy, without Reason. To say all in a Word, the whole Bus’ness comes to no more then this; First, we form some Nonsensical Idea to our selves, and then fall down to an Idol of our Own Making.

Fab. CCCCLXXX. No Laws against Flattery.

Flattery is undoubtedly one of the most Unmanly, and Pernicious Vices under the Sun, either Publick or Private; and in One Word, the very Pest of all Commonwealths and Families, wherever it is Entertained; and yet, to the Scandal of Human Policy, even in the Best of Governments, the World was I know not how many Thousand Years Old, before ever any Provision was thought of for the Preventing or the Suppressing of this Epidemical Corruption. Apollo was the First that (out of his Own Wisdom and Goodness) Erected a Court of Justice for the Tryal of Parasites; appointing the Sharpest Satyrists of the Age for their Judges; and Arming the Commissioners with full Power and Authority to Hear and Determine all Causes of that Quality: The Offender to stand Convict upon the Testimony of one single Witness; and Immediately upon Conviction, to be carried away into the Market-Place, and there Chained to a Stake, and Flay’d Alive. It was Observ’d, that notwithstanding the Severity of this Inexorable Law, Flattery was still as Bold, Busie, and Barefac’d as Ever, from the very Palace to the Cottage; and yet in a matter of Six Months time, not One Complaint brought into the Court against it. Upon this Neglect, there were Spies and Informers set at work in all Coffee-Houses, and other Publick Places, to Watch the Company, and give intelligence to the Tribunal of what was said or done there, that might be laid hold of. The very next day there was a Courtier taken up, and an Accusation Exhibited against him, for having given a Person of Eminent Quality, the Character of a Man of Honour, Brains, Good Government, and Virtue, when the whole World knew him to be no better then an Ignorant Mercenary Sot, that without any regard to Honesty, Prudence, or Good Manners, Abandon’d himself Entirely to his Lusts and Pleasures. The Prisoner both Confess’d and Justifi’d the Fact at the same time, appealing to the Person most concern’d, whether he had wrong’d him or not; who not only Acquitted the Man, but Reflected most Desperately upon the Scandalous Practice of the Court it self, in making that to be Flattery, which upon the whole Matter, was no other then Truth and Justice. The Commission was hereupon Discharg’d, for they found it utterly Impracticable to punish a Fault that no Body would either Acknowledge or Complain of.

The Moral.

’Tis nothing but Self-Love at Home, that Provokes and Invites Flattery from Abroad: And the Disposition of One Man to Receive it, Encourages Another to give it.

REFLEXION.

This Fiction may serve to shew us, that what Influence soever Political Laws and Provisions may have upon the External Regulation of our Practices and Manners; it is a thing yet utterly Impossible for Human Wisdom to form such an Act of State, as shall reach the Wickedness of the Heart: So that in despite of all the Rules and Cautions of Government, the most Dangerous and Mortal of Vices will still come off, without so much as a Publick Censure. As who shall pretend to inflict any Punishment upon Flattery, Hypocrisie, and other Sins of the Heart, when there lies no proof against them? One may be a very Honest Man in the Eye of the Law, and yet a most Abominable Wretch in the Sight of God, and of his Own Conscience. But still it is worth the while however, to consider how we may discountenance and prevent those Evils which the Law can take no Cognizance of. And to gain this Point, the Effect must be Obviated in the Cause. Flattery can never take Place upon any Man (so as to Corrupt him) that did not Flatter Himself First; for it is a vain Opinion of our Selves, that lays us Open to be Impos’d upon by Others.

Fab. CCCCLXXXI. Three Dreaming Travellers.

Three Men were Travelling through a Wilderness; the Journey it seems was longer then they thought for, and their Provisions fell short; but there was enough left for any One of ’em yet, though too little for all; and how to Dispose of the Remainder, was the Question. Come (says One of the Three,) Let’s e’en lye down and Sleep, and he that has the Strangest Dream, shall have That that’s Left. The Motion was Agreed to, and so they dispos’d themselves to their Rest. About Midnight, Two of them Wak’d, and told one another their Dreams. Lord, says one of ’em, What a Fancy have I had! I was taken up methought into the Heavens, I know not how, and there set down just before Jupiter’s Throne. And I, says T’other, was Hurry’d away by a Whirlwind, methought to the very Pit of Hell. The Third all this while Slept Dog-Sleep, and heard every Word they said. They fell then too Lugging and Pinching their Companion, to tell him the Story. Nay, pray be Quiet, says he, What are ye? Why we are your Fellow Travellers, they Cry’d. Are ye come back again then? says he. They told him they had never stirr’d from the Place where they were. Nay then, says t’other, ’twas but a Dream, for I Fancy’d that one of ye was Carry’d away with a Whirlwind to Jupiter, and t’other to Pluto: And then thought I to my self, I shall never see these Poor People again: so I e’en fell on, and Eat up all the Victuals.

The Moral.

There is a Fooling sort of Wit that has nothing more in’t then the Tricking up of some Insipid Conceit to no manner of Purpose, but to Mortifie Good Company, and Tire out an Ingenious Conversation. The Jests of these People are only to be Order’d as we do Cucumbers: Wash them, and Beat them, and then throw them out at the Window. That is to say, they are Flat and Insipid, without either Meaning or Morality to help them out.

REFLEXION.

Where Men will be Fooling and Bantering, a Trick for a Trick is but Common Reason and Justice; and it comes closer yet too, when the Trick is Encounter’d with Another of the same kind; for it does not only spoil the Jest, but makes the Agressor Himself Ridiculous; especially when the Design is Forelay’d and Concerted in Form, as here in the Fable. The Frolick of a Cleanly Banter, may do well enough off-hand, and without Affectation; but a Deliberated Foolery is most Abominably Fulsome.

Fab. CCCCLXXXII. Reason of State.

Upon the coming out of a Book Entituled Reason of State, there happen’d a warm Dispute in the Cabinet of a Great Prince, upon that Subject. Some would have it to be, The Skill of Erecting, Defending and Enlarging a Common-Wealth. Others were for changing the Title from Reason of State to Reason of Policy. And a Third Party was for Correcting the former Definition, and rather running it thus, [Reason of State is a Rule Useful for Common-Wealths, how contrary soever to the Laws both of God and Man.] There was great Exception taken to the Plain Dealing of this Latter Definition; but upon Consulting Presidents, it was found very Agreeable to the Practical Truth of the matter.

The Moral.

Honesty may do well enough betwixt Man and Man, but the Measures of Government and Righteousness are quite Different Things. The Question in Reason of State is not Virtue, but Prudence.

REFLEXION.

Reason of State, in the Simplicity of the Notion, is only the Force of Political Wisdom, Abstracted from the Ordinary Rules and Methods of Conscience and Religion. It Consults only Civil Utility, and never Matters it, provided the Publick may be the better for’t, though the Instruments and Managers go to the Devil. ’Tis somewhat with Statesmen and their Disciples, as it was with the Patient and his Physician, that Advis’d him for his Health’s sake to have the Use of a Woman. The Good Man Scrupled the Remedy. Well says the Doctor, I Prescribe to your Body, not to your Soul, which are Two Distinct Provinces; and when I have done my Duty to the One, Let your Confessor look to the Other. It is most certain, that Reason of State is a very Devillish Thing, under a Specious Name, and a Cover for all Wickedness. What are Alliances and Ruptures, but Temporary Expedients? And the Ordinary Reasons of War and Peace are very little better then Banter and Paradox. This is the very Truth of the Matter, and may be seen at large in the History of all the Governments in the World: But it is one of those Truths yet that is not at all times to be spoken; and ’tis the part of a Wise Man in these Cases, to Hear, See, and Say Nothing.

Fab. CCCCLXXXIII. An Eagle and a Leveret.

An Eagle that was Sharp set, and upon the Wing, looking about her for her Prey, spy’d out a Leveret, made a Stoop like Light’ning, and Truss’d it; and as she had it in the Foot, the Miserable Wretch Enter’d into an Idle Expostulation upon the Conscience, and Justice of the Proceeding: With what Honesty, says the Hare, Can you Invade the Right of another Body? Why, says the Eagle, to whom do you belong then? I belong to him, (says the Other) whom Heaven has made Master of all Living Creatures under the Sun, and from whom That Propriety cannot be taken without manifest Wrong and Usurpation. Man is My Master, and I know no other. Well, says the Eagle again in Wrath, And what’s the Title now, that he pretends to this Propriety? Why ’tis the Excellency of his Reason, says the Hare, that Entitles him to this Sovereignty; which is a Claim that from the Creation of the World to this Day, was never Subjected to the Question. In Truth, says the Eagle, You have advanc’d a very Pretty Invention here, in setting up Reason against Force, where the Cause is not to be Decided by Argument, but by Power: And to Convince ye now how much I am in the Right, You shall find, in despite of all other Pretensions, since I have ye under my Government and Law, that you were not Born for Him, but for Me.

The Moral.

Laws with Penalties are made for the Government of the Simple, and the Weak, like Cobwebs to Catch Flies; but Power is the Law of Laws, and there’s no Disputing with it, but upon the Swords Point.

REFLEXION.

Tyranny and Oppression never wanted either a Plea, or an Advocate for whatever they did; for the Majority of the Lawyers, the Divines, and All Quæstuary Professions, will be sure to run over to the Stronger Side, where Will passes for Law, and Rapine for Providence. So that it is a Folly next to Madness, for a Friendless, and an Unarmed Innocence to Expostulate with an Invincible Power. The Case of the Hare and the Eagle is a Common Case in the World, where the Weaker is a Prey to the Stronger; where a forcible 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, ’tis too late to talk of Reason and Equity, when contrary to all the Rules of Moral Justice, the Conqueror is both Judge 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. Why what have you a Nose for, says he, but to smell out a Thief from an Honest Man? I will not have you so much as Open your Mouth, I tell ye, at a Venture thus. Sir, says the Mastiff, ’tis 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 Wind once, I’ll tell ye which is which, to the very Hearts and Souls of ’em, without the Ceremony of either Bench, Witness or Jury. Nay, says the Master, if you should happen to Spy a Knight of the Post, a Catch-pole, a Jayler, a Pawn-Broker, a High-way-man, a Crop-Ear’d Scriv’ner, a Griping Usurer, a Corrupt Judge, 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 Justice, 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.

’Tis 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 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 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 ’tis 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. ’Tis 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 would 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, ’tis 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 Judges in their Own Case: Now, if we may Credit Matter of Fact and Experience, Men are the most Disunited Creatures under the Heavens: ’Tis their Delight, Study, Practice and Profession to lye Cutting One Anothers Throats, and Destroy their own Kind: Insomuch that Birds, Beasts and Insects, to the very Flies and Pismires, will rise up in Judgment 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 Distinguishes us from Brutes, as the due Exercise and Application of those Rational Faculties that Heaven has Bestow’d upon us: Which comes to the very case of the Sheep and the Doctors. Man knows what he Ought to do, but (to his Greater Condemnation,) he does not Act according to his Knowledge; whereas Animals that are Guided barely by Instinct, live in Obedience to the Voice of Heaven in that of Nature.

Fab. CCCCLXXXVI. Few Friends.

One that had a Great Honour for Socrates, took Notice of a Pitiful Little House that he was a Building: ’Tis a strange Thing (says he to the Philosopher,) that so Great a Man as you are should ever think of Living in so Wretched a Cabin. Well, says Socrates, And yet as Little as it is, he were a Happy Man that had but True Friends enow to fill it.

The Moral.

A Friend in the World, is quite Another Thing then a Friend in the Schools: And there’s a Great Difference in the Speculation of a Friend, from what we find in the Practice.

REFLEXION.

Friendship is a Divine Excellency, wrapt up in a Common Name, and nothing less then the uttermost Perfection of Flesh and Blood, for Wisdom and Virtue, can Entitle a Man to the Character of a True Friend; though Custom, I know, has so far Prevail’d for a Promiscuous Application of the Word to Common Acquaintances and Relations, that it passes in the World, by a certain kind of Figure, for Civility and Respect. But Socrates all this while did very well Understand what he said, touching the Rarity and Paucity of Friends; and he might have added, that it is as hard a matter to Understand how to Be a Friend, as to know where to Find One.

Fab. CCCCLXXXVII. An Ass Carrying an Image.

As an Ass was Carrying an Image in Procession, the People fell everywhere down upon their Knees before him. This Silly Animal fancy’d that they Worship’d Him all this while; ’till One Rounded him in the Ear; and told him, Friend, says he, You are the very same Ass with this Burden upon your Back, that you were before you took it up; and ’tis not the Brute they Bowe to, but the Image.

The Moral.

A Publick Character is never the less to be Reverenc’d, because a Coxcomb perhaps may Carry it; nor that Coxcomb one jot the more, save only for the sake of his Office.

REFLEXION.

The Simple Vanity of this Ass is a very Pertinent Reproof to those Men that take the Honour and Respect that is done to the Character they Sustain, to be paid to the Person; as if Mr. Constable should Assume to his Visage, the Reverence that’s paid to his Commission. There are that Interpret every Nod or Glance of Civility, in their own Favour, though it was neither Due to them, nor ever Intended them.

Fab. CCCCLXXXVIII. A Dog and a Cat.

There was a Dog and a Cat brought up in the same House, from a Whelp and a Kitling, and never were Two Creatures better together; so Kind, so Gamesome and Diverting, that it was half the Entertainment of the Family to see the Gamboles and Love-Tricks that pass’d betwixt them. Only it was Observ’d, that still at Meal-times they would be Snarling and Spitting at One Another under the Table: And what was the whole Sum of the Controversie at last, but a Dog-and-Cat-Wrangle about the Picking of a Bone, or the Licking of a Trencher?

The Moral.

Flesh and Blood does Naturally Consult its own Advantage; and when that comes to be the Question, There’s the Bone that in some Degree or other sets all Mortals together by the Ears.

REFLEXION.

Here’s a Perfect Emblem of the Practices and Friendships of the World; for Men have their Toying Seasons: and their Pleasant Humours, as well as Dogs and Cats. We Contract Little Likings; enter into Agreeable Conversations, and pass away the time so Merrily and Kindly together, (at least while that Fit of Dalliance and Diversion Lasts,) that one would think it impossible for any thing under the Sun to Break the Intrigue; and yet upon the throwing in any Cross Interest among ’em; (which is all One with the Bone under the Table,) nay, upon a Jealous Thought, or a Mistaken Word or Look, all former Bonds are Cancell’d, the League Broken, and the Farce Concludes in Biting and Scratching one another’s Eyes out. The same Figure will serve for Princes and States, Publick Persons and Private, Marry’d and Single; People in fine of all Professions and Pretences.

Fab. CCCCLXXXIX. Aristotle’s Definition of a Tyrant.

There was so great Offence taken at the Definition of a Tyrant in Aristotle’s Politicks, that all the Governors under the Cope of Heaven, found themselves Touch’d in the Reflexion: Insomuch that they all Met in a General Council, to take the Matter into Consideration. Those Princes (says Aristotle) are Tyrants, that intend their own Good, more then that of their Subjects. The Princes were so Nettled at the Scandal of this Affront, that every Man took it to Himself; for according to that Doctrin, all the Governors upon the Face of the Earth from Adam to this Day, have been no better then Downright Tyrants. The Council was once Thinking to put Aristotle to Extremities: but imputing it rather to the Natural Sawciness of a Pedant, (for there’s no Grammar for Politicks,) then to any Malice Prepense, they made him Eat his Words, and Expound Himself; that what he said of Tyrants, was only meant of a sort of Persecutors of Old Time, that have been now long since Extinct.

The Moral.

In all General Characters of Bad Men, whether Princes, Publick Ministers, or Private Persons, Care should be taken not to Involve the Good under the same Scandal and Condemnation. There are some Principles and Methods of Government, wherein the Best and the Worst of Princes may Agree; but then there are certain Perverse Notions of the Thing, and Corrupt Practices, that can hardly be Touch’d upon, without Engaging all Crown’d Heads in the Reproche: And ’tis Dangerous Skewing upon the Errors of the Age a Man lives in.

REFLEXION.

This Fancy gives us to understand, that Secrets of State are not properly the Bus’ness of the Schools, and in truth it is a Topick too, that does as little become the Pulpit; for Politicks are matter of Practice rather then of Notion: Beside, that the Rules of Government and those of Religion, Abstractedly consider’d, have very little Affinity one with the other: For the Wisdom of this World, or that which we call Civil Prudence, does not at all Concern it self in the Question of Virtue or of Conscience. From hence it may be Infer’d, that Ministers of State, Priests, and Philosophers, should do well to keep their Respective Professions, without Invading the Province one of another. Here’s a Check put upon the Definition of a Tyrant; not so much for the False Doctrine of the Position, as for the Scandal of Exposing Majesty, by the Innuendo of so Irreverend a Truth; for the Character of a Crown’d Head ought to be kept Sacred, let the Person be what he will. Here is likewise another Hint of Caution to us, that in all Liberties of this Nature, we keep clear of the Present Times, and be still looking another way, whatever we mean.

As to the Definition of a Tyrant it self, let it be Candidly taken, and the Drift of it is this; the common Safety of King and People is wrapt up in the Well-being of each other. The Prince intends his Own Good in that of the People; and at the same time, the Good of the People in that of Himself; for they stand or Fall together: But then there’s One Tenderness of Care and Duty, and another of Personal Inclination, or (if I may so Call it) Infirmity; and That’s Aristotle’s Tyrant, where a Ruler Indulges his Private Appetite, and Sacrifices his People to his Passions or his Pleasures.

Fab. CCCCXC. A Country-man and a Panther.

A Panther had the Fortune to drop into a Pit-fall. The People came Flocking about him; some Pelting and Battering him with Stones and Cudgels; others Pity’d him, and threw him somewhat to Eat. Toward Night, they went All Home again, taking for granted that they should find him Dead next Morning: But in that Interim he came to Himself again, and gave ’em the Slip: And upon getting Loose, he made such Havock both with Man and Beast, that the whole Country, Friend and Foe, were all in Dread of him. The Panther finding the Fright so General, call’d out to ’em, and told them; So many of ye (says he) as were Kind to me in the Pit, set your Hearts at Rest, for I’ll not Hurt a Creature of ye, now I’m at Liberty. I have not forgotten who they were that gave me Bread, and who threw Stones at me; and I’m an Enemy only to those that were Enemies to me.

The Moral.

There’s no Creature so Wild and Savage, but it may be wrought upon and Reclaim’d by Good Offices and Benefits; to the shame of that part of Mankind, that returns Evil for Good, and is yet to Learn Humanity from the Beasts of the Forrests.

REFLEXION.

Here’s a Reproof to the Practices of Ungrateful Men, under the Figure of a Grateful Beast: A Grateful, and I might have said a Generous Beast, in being kind to those in their Distress, that had been so to Him in His. How much Worse then Brutes are those Men then, that owe the Best Blood in their Veins to the Bounty of their Friends and Patrons, and yet after Raising them from the very Dunghil to Honours and Fortunes, are the forwardest to Insult upon their Supporters and Masters, when they see ’em in any Calamity; and to add Affliction to Affliction! Now to Pursue the Fable, Here’s a Common Enemy in Appearance, at the Mercy of the People about him; some Beat him, others take pity of him: He comes afterward to make his Escape, and Distinguishes his Enemies from his Friends, by Destroying the One, and Sparing the Other. Shall we call the One a Judgment now, and the other a Providence; as if the Outrage had been a Fault, and the Pity a Meritorious Act of Good Nature? the Moral will hold in both Respects; for, let the Judgment or the Execution of Death be never so Just, it is yet Barbarous, Inhuman and Unwarrantable to Agravate the Suffering with Insolence, Contumely, Malice and Reproche: And so for the Tenderness on the other hand, ’tis a Softness Inseparable from the Genuine Impulse of Reasonable Being: For the Compassion is a Laudable Benignity of Disposition, though Exercis’d upon a Beast.

Fab. CCCCXCI. A Mastiff and an Ass.

There was a Huge Bear-Dog, and an Ass laden with Bread upon a Long Journey together: They were both very Hungry, and while the Ass was Grazing upon Thistles by the Way-side, the Dog would fain have been Eating too for Company, and Begg’d a Bit of Bread of him. The Ass made him Answer, that if he were Hungry, he might e’en do as he did; for he had no Bread to spare. While this pass’d, up comes a Wolf toward them. The Ass fell a Trembling, and told the Dog, he hop’d he would stand by him if the Wolf should set upon him. No, says the Dog, they that will Eat Alone, shall e’en Fight Alone too, for me: And so he left his Fellow-Traveller at the mercy of the Wolf.

The Moral.

Common Defence and Preservation, is the Main End of Society, and the Great Benefit we receive by Joining in’t: We Love One Another, because we are the better for One Another: And it is the Interest that Supports us in the Duty; when that Reciprocal Kindness fails, as we see here in the Dog and the Ass, the League drops to pieces.

REFLEXION.

One Good Turn, we say, requires Another; and it may be added that one Shrewd Turn Deserves and Provokes Another. The Asses want of Charity in One Minute, cost him his Life in the next; and he was paid in his Own Kind too, in the return of One Scorn for Another. It was an Offence against the very Laws of Nature, and Society, and the Punishment Consequently was Providential and Just. He that shews no Compassion, shall find None.

Fab. CCCCXCII. A Laconique Try’d and Sentenc’d.

It was the Ill hap of a Learned Laconique, to make use of Three Words, when Two would have done his Business: The Matter was so Foul, and the Fact so clearly Prov’d upon him, that being Cited before the Senate, he was Heard and Condemned to Read over Guicciardines War of Pisa from End to End, without either Eating or Drinking till he had gone through it. The Poor Man fell into so Desperate an Agony before he could get over One Single Leaf on’t, that he threw himself upon his Face, Imploring the Mercy of the Court, though ’twere but to change his Punishment: They might send him to the Gallies, he said, or if it were to Flay him Alive, or Bury him betwixt Four Walls, and he should ever acknowledge it as an Act of Clemency; but for a Man of Brains and Thought, to Trouble his Head with such a deal of Tedious Trash and Pedantry, the Torment, he said, of Perillus’s Brazen Bull was Nothing to’t.

The Moral.

Time is Life, and Life is Precious; ’Tis short enough at Best; but the more we Contract our Talk and our Business, the more we have on’t. Wherefore it is Great Wisdom to Couch all we have to do, in as Narrow a Compass as possible. The Killing of a Man with many Words, is only Another sort of Murder, out of the Reach of the Law.

REFLEXION.

This Emblem bids us Husband our Time, and bring the Business of Life into as Narrow a Compass as we can; for we have a great deal to do. ’Tis in effect, so much Life Lost, as we squander away in more Words then needs, and in the Exchange of Idle and Impertinent Discourses; Beside the Mortification of a Tedious Talker. The Figure is carry’d to the Height, in the Representation, both of the Crime and of the Punishment; over and above the Equity of Tormenting the Tormentor of Others in his own kind, as Phalaris Sentenc’d Perillus to be Burnt in his Own Bull.

Fab. CCCCXCIII. Matchiavel Condemn’d.

No Man ever had a Worse Name in the World for a Promoter of Seditious and Atheistical Politicks, then Nicholas Matchiavel the Florentine: Insomuch, that he was Banished not only the Conversation, but the very Libraries of all Learned Men, upon pain of being Burnt for his Pestilent Doctrins, wherever he should be taken; and a Severe Punishment inflicted over and above upon any Man that should presume to Comfort, Abet or Receive him. It was his Fortune after this, to be found upon a Search, in the Corner of a Friends Study, and to be made a prisoner; and then in course to Undergo a Sentence according to the Decree. But all these Formalities notwithstanding, he was yet by the Extraordinary Favour of his Judges, upon his Humble Petition for a Hearing, admitted to his Defence, which was to this following Effect. He made no Difficulty of Confessing the Fact, and of Acknowledging himself the Publisher of Pernicious and Execrable Positions; but withal, says he, no Mortal upon the Face of the Earth, has a Greater Abhorrence for those Desperate Maxims then my self. As to the Inventing of those Tenets, he made Protestation, that he had no Hand in’t it all, and that the Political Part of his Discourses, was only Copy’d out of the General Practices of Christian Princes; and that if they pleas’d, he was ready to Instance in the very Precedents. After this, he appeal’d to the Justice of the Bench, whether it were not very hard to make it Mortal, for One Man to write the Naked History of a thing done; and at the same time to allow the very Doing of it to be Praise-worthy in Another. This Plea had brought him off, but for a fresh Accusation that was Immediately started against him; which was, that he was taken in the Dark One Night among a Flock of Sheep, putting Dogs Teeth into their Mouths, which must inevitably be the Ruin of the Shepherd; for it could never be Expected that the whole Flock would ever submit to the Government of One, if it had either Teeth, Wit or Horns. Upon the Proof of this Charge, he was Deliver’d up immediately to Justice, and the Law Executed upon him.

The Moral.

The Secrets of Government ought not to be Touched with Unwash’d Hands, and Expos’d to the Multitude; for upon Granting the People a Priviledge of Debating the Prerogatives of Sovereign Power, they will Infer Naturally enough a Right, and a Title to the Controlling and the Over-ruling of it.

REFLEXION.

He that Exposes the Arts of Government to the people, does in Effect Appeal to ’em, and give the Multitude some sort of Right to Judge of, and to Censure the Actions of their Superiors. For what is any thing Publish’d for, but to be Read, and to lye consequently at the Mercy of the Reader how to Understand it? As if the Author should say, Gentlemen, here’s a Scheme of Politicks Submitted to your Grave Consideration, pray’e what’s your Opinion on’t? Can any Body think, that in a Question of State Exhibited after this manner, the Mobile will not determine in their Own Favour, and Clap what Bias upon the Proposition they themselves please? So that let the Matter be Handled never so Tenderly, ’tis a main Point lost yet; the very Admittance of the Common People into the Council, and allowing them to be of the Quorum. Matchiavel Excuses himself well enough, as to any thing of Malice in his Discourses; for (says he) these Maxims are none of My Invention, neither has any Man living a Greater Abhorrence for those Poysonous Doctrins then my Self; but my Writings are only Historical Notes and Abstracts drawn from the Life of an Universal Practice. Now the Hazzard and the Mischief is this, that in all these Cases, Men are Apt to take things by the Wrong Handle, and raise Arguments for their Own Advantage. And that’s the Moral of Matchiavel’s putting Dogs Teeth by Night into the Mouths of the Sheep: That is to say, ’tis a Sly way of Irritating Subjects to fall foul upon their Rulers, which certainly is a Crime Unpardonable in any State.

Fab. CCCCXCIV. A Dispute betwixt a Doctor, a Vint’ner and a Botcher.

There was a Vint’ner and a Botcher Challeng’d a Doctor of Divinity to a Tryal of Skill in his own Trade. He Ask’d them by whom they’d be Try’d? They’d be Try’d by the Text they said. The Thing was Agreed, and the Time Set, and so they brought their Geneva Bibles along with them. The Doctor told them by way of Preface, that though St. Paul fought with Beasts at Ephesus, it was not the Fashion for his Followers to Fight with Beasts in England; and therefore if they could not prove themselves to be Men, he’d have nothing to do with them. They stood upon their Pantoufles, that Men they were, and that Men he should find ’em to be; and they were ready to cast the Cause upon that Issue. That’s well, says the Doctor to one of ’em, and pray’e what are you for a Man in the First place? I am a Vint’ner, says t’other. Very Good, quoth the Doctor, and do you ever put New Wine into Old Bottles? Yea, I do so, says the Vint’ner. Then, says the Doctor, You are no Man; for the Text says, that No Man putteth New Wine into Old Bottles. I shall now come to your Companion; Pray’e, will you tell me Friend, what are you for a Man? I am, says t’other, a Taylor. Alias a Botcher, I suppose, quoth the Doctor. Put the Case now that my Doublet were out at the Elbows, and I have no more of the Old Cloth to Patch it up withal, could you Mend it d’ye think? Yea, quoth the Botcher, I could get New Cloth to Mend it. Why then, says the Doctor, You are no Man neither; for you shall find it in Another Text, that No Man putteth New Cloth into an Old Garment, so that you are both Beaten here at your own Weapons; for here are Two Texts, to prove that You Two are No Men; which is but according to your own Rule and Method of Interpreting Scripture.

The Moral.

This Fable strikes at the Ridiculous License of Prophane Intermedlers in Holy Matters; that is to say, a sort of Illiterate Enthusiasts, and Mechanicks, that without either Authority or Skill, will be Correcting Magnificat, and setting up the Phantome of New Lights against the Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles.

REFLEXION.

The Wisdom of the Law will not suffer any Man to Exercise a Trade that he has not serv’d his Time to; and a Body would think that the Reason of this Provision should hold as well in Divinity, as in Manual Crafts, for Revelations at this time of the Day, are as much out of Date as Miracles. This Comical Whimsie may serve in General for a Reproof to Bold and Ignorant Pretenders in matters that they do not Understand; and so to those also that Confidently Usurp upon other Mens Provinces, without any Right or call to the Function. What are the Freaks in fine, of these Religionaries, but Fits of the Spleen, and the Fumes of a Dark Melancholy, Cover’d under the name and pretence of Divine Gifts and Graces? They’ll Cap ye Texts, as School-Boys Cap Verses; and in Defiance of all the Extraordinary Cases, the Figures, Types, Allegories, and Parables that are so frequent in Holy Writ, every thing must be Understood too, as the Doctor has Turn’d it here upon the Vint’ner and the Botcher, according to the Letter. They’ll draw ye a Warrant for the Murdering of Kings, from the Example of Ahab and Benhadad. An Authority for Couzening their Neighbours, from the Israelites Robbing the Egyptians. In One Word, they shall Overturn all the Principles of Human Society, Morality, and Religion it self, and shew ye a Text for’t: And upon the whole Matter, what is the Conscience of these People more at last, then Fancy and Illusion? They Contend for they know not what, like the Two Fellows that went to Loggerheads about their Religion; the One was a Martinist he said; the other said that all Martinists were Hereticks, and for his part he was a Lutheran: Now the Poor Wretches were both of a Side, and Understood it not. As for the Bus’ness of Learning and Common Sense, they call it the Wisdom of this World, and effectually make it a Heavenly Grace to be an Egregious Coxcomb. There was an Honest Simple Tradesman, wonderfully Earnest with the Parson of the Parish to know what the Forbidden Fruit was; as if there had been no more in’t, then whether ’twas a Kentish or a Kirton Pippin. The Good Man told him, that it was an Apple, and that Adam’s Eating of it, brought all his Posterity under a Sentence of Condemnation. T’other said, it was so hard a Case, that in reverence to the Divine Mercy, he thought himself bound to question the whole Story. This Liberty of Retailing Divinity by the Letter, is the very Root of Infidelity and of all Heresies, nay of Atheism it self. For when people have been Beating their Brains about a Difficulty, and find they can make Nothing on’t, they are apt to think there’s Nothing in’t; for the Mystery’s Lost to Him that stands Poring only upon the Letter.

Fab. CCCCXCV. There’s no To Morrow.

A Fellow had got a Wench in a Corner; and very Earnest they were upon the Text of Encrease and Multiply; but the Gipsy stood upon her Points forsooth; She’d not be Towz’d and Tumbled at that Rate, i’ faith not She. In fine, No Peny, No Pater-Noster; and there was no Good to be done unless he would Marry her. The Poor Devil was under a kind of Duresse; and for brevity sake, promis’d her with a kind Oath, that he would Marry her to Morrow. Upon this Assurance, they Sign’d and Seal’d. The next Day they met again, and the Next to that; and so Every Next Day, for a matter of a Fortnight after; and the Love went on to the Tune of To Morrow, and To Morrow still. But the Girl finding her Self Fool’d, and put off thus from One to Morrow to Another, fell in the Conclusion to Expostulating with him upon the Matter. Did not you Swear, Yesterday says she and Yesterday, and I know not how many Yesterdays, that you’d Marry me to Morrow? Yes my Dear, says the Spark, I did Swear so; and I do now Swear it all over again too, and thou shalt find me as good as my Word. Ay, but hark ye, says the Lass, is not to Day to Morrow? No my Heart, says the Gallant again, that’s thy Mistake; for there are No to Morrows; People are apt to Talk of ’em indeed, but they never come, for Life it self is but the Time Present.

The Moral.

The Sparks Case here in the Fable, of to Morrow and to Morrow, is Every Man’s, and Every Days Case in the World; and we do the very same Thing with God Almighty, that this Blade does with his Mistress, we Promise, and Put-off, and Perform Nothing.

REFLEXION.

Whoever Reads and Considers this Emblem, will find it to be his own Case; we promise, and we put-off, and we sin, and we go on Sinning: But still as our Conscience Checks us for’t, we take up Faint Purposes, and Half Resolutions to do so no more, and to lead a New Life for the future. Thus the Young Fellow here, we Indulge our Selves in our Pleasures from Time to time; and when we have Whil’d away our Lives, Day after Day, from One to Morrow to Another, that same to Morrow never comes. This is the Sluggard’s Plea and Practice; the Libertine’s; the Miser’s; and in short, whose is it not? Now if Man would but Consider the Vanity and the Vexation of a Lewd Course of Life; the Impiety first of Entring into Vows, which they intend Before-hand not to Perform, and afterward of Breaking them; the Folly and the Presumption of Undertaking for any thing that is wholly out of our Power; the Necessity of Emproving every Moment of our Lives, the Desperate and the Irreparable Hazzard of Losing Opportunities: People would not venture Body and Soul upon the necessity of a Procrastinated Repentance; and Postpone the most uncertain Duties of a Man and of a Christian. For there’s no to Morrow, nor any thing in truth, but the Present Instant that we can call our Own.

Fab. CCCCXCVI. A Lady in Trouble for the Loss of a Set of Horses.

A Certain Lady, that was fall’n under Great Tribulation for the Loss of a very fine Set of Horses, went Raving up and down like a Mad Woman from Place to Place, and Every Body must be Tir’d with the History of her Misfortune: Well, says She, they were the best Natur’d Poor Wretches, they’d look at Me so Kindly still when I came to take Coach; to say Nothing of the Value of them, really I cannot think my self safe with other Horses. And at this rate, she went on, Amplifying upon the Affliction, while her Friends and Relations on the other Hand, were not wanting to Ply her upon the Ordinary Topiques of the Transitory State of Mortals. But when they had proceeded as far with her as their Religion and Philosophy could carry them, and found that she was not to be Comforted; Why, truly Madam, says One of her Confidents, this is a very great Tryal, but since they are gone, and there’s no Recalling of them, I hope your Ladyship does not think ’em too Good for Him that Has ’em.

The Moral.

We are more Sollicitous for our Horses and our Dogs, then we are for our Souls, our Friends, or our Children; and therefore it was well enough turn’d upon the Lady here toward the bringing of her to her self again, to mind her, that there was neither Heaven nor Hell in the Case of Losing a Set of Horses.

REFLEXION.

This Fancy looks at First Blush, as if it Border’d a little upon Prophaneness; but if it be Taken by the Right Handle, it will bear the Moral of a most Christian, a Necessary, and a Seasonable Check to those People that deliver up themselves to the Transports of Extravagant Passions for Trifles: As it was the Case of a Lady that kept her Bed for the Loss of a Favorite-Puppy she had. Her Friends came to Condole with her upon the Tydings of some Dismal Calamity that had Befall’n her, and ask’d her very tenderly what terrible Misfortune it might be, that she laid so heavily to Heart? Only, says she, the Greatest Affliction (I thank the Lord for’t,) that ever befel Me since I was Born: My Pretty Pearl is Dead. Alas Madam (says One of the Condolers,) Why you have lost a very Good Husband. That’s true, says T’other, but the Lord may send me such Another Husband; I shall never have such Another Puppy. These Impetuous Violences, are no News to Any Man that has Observ’d and Study’d the Infirmities of here and there One perhaps of that Fair and Frail Sex. But we must not Imagine at last, because the Moralist has made it a Woman’s Case in the Story, that we our Selves are not Guilty Every Man of us, in some sort or other, and in a Thousand Instances, of the same Weaknesses and Mistakes, even in the Ordinary Course of Human Life; for what’s the Doctrin of all this upon the main, but a Rebuke to those that set their Affections too much upon the things of this World, and consequently too little upon Matters of Greater Moment; with him that upon the Firing of his House, was so Overjoy’d for the Saving of his Plate, Linnen, Paintings, Hangings, and other Rich Moveables, that he never so much as thought of his only Child all this while that was Burnt in the Cradle. Every Man has his Feeble, as they call it; One Man’s Weak side is Ambition; Another’s Avarice, Malice, Envy, Revenge, Pride, Vain-Glory; and some again are so wholly taken up with the Pleasures of Wine, Women, Jolly Company and Good Cheer, as if all the Faculties of their Reasonable Souls had been only given them to Subminster to their Appetites. The very World it self, in One Word, is but a Moor-Fields College of People that run Mad for Common Disappointments.

Fab. CCCCXCVII. The Hypocrite.

There happen’d a Discourse in very Good Company, upon the Subject of Religion and Hypocrisie; and how hard a Matter it was, in the Case of an Artificial Disguise, to know the One from the Other; though the Scripture Allows us, and in truth Obliges us, to Judge of the Tree by its Fruits. Well, says One to his Next Man, Do you know such a Person? Oh very well, says t’other; he’s one of the Holiest Men to Heaven-ward that ever you met with, but the Arrantest Rascal among his Neighbours in the whole Parish.

The Moral.

’Tis not the Name, the Semblance, or the Ostentation of Religion and Holiness that will Attone for the Abuse on’t: In making God the Author, the Director and the Abettor of those Flagitious Villanies in Christians, that Pagans Themselves would have an Abhorrence for. But when All comes to All, a Knave in his Practice, is a Knave in his Heart too.

REFLEXION.

The Hypocrite is but the Devil in the Shape of an Angel of Light; and as it is no easie Matter to Distinguish the One from the Other; so ’tis a thing of a most Desperate Consequence to Mistake them; and the Question will be this at last, How to Reconcile the Offices of Charity and Prudence. The One bids us believe and hope the Best; the Other bids us provide against the Worst. Now it is not for Nothing that the Holy Ghost it self has Denounc’d so many Woes against this sort of Impostors; and Inculcated over and over so many Cautions how we have any thing to do with them; which is no other then a Declaration of an Abhorrence of these People, and a plain Intimation of the Danger of being Deluded and Impos’d upon, under the Mask of Religion both in One. There’s no Cruelty, no Fraud, no Violence, no Oppression, that is not acted under a Colour of Divine Authority, Impulse and Direction. Churches are Robb’d and Prophan’d; Princes Depos’d and Murder’d; Religion and Morality, with all the Principles of Virtue and Common Honesty, are overturn’d; and the Name of God himself is made Use of, as a Principal and as a Witness to the Impiety, in a Defiance to all the Dictates of Heaven and Right Reason: And all this is but a Preachment upon the Text at last, of Fear God and Keep his Commandments. When a King’s Head is to be struck off by his own Rebellious Subjects, ’tis brought on commonly with the Prologue of a Fast, which in the Style of the Holy Intrigue, is call’d a Seeking of the Lord. This Work and Judgment of God (though it be Secret) must be done with Great Gravity, (says James Melvil, by way of Preface to the Murder of Cardinal Beaton.) Vive l’Evangile, was the Word to several of the Massacres in France. ’Twas often in the Mouth of a Lady, Zealous in her way, with Deep Protestations, that She had rather lye with Forty Men then go to One Mass: Nay, and I have heard of Tenants too, that Refus’d to pay their Landlord his Rent, unless he could shew a Text for’t. Here’s enough said to set forth the Character of an Hypocrite, so as to Answer the Morality that is Couch’d under this Figure; but the great Difficulty will be the Steering of a Middle Course, betwixt Believing too much, and too little: That is to say, betwixt taking a Good Man for an Hypocrite, and an Hypocrite for a Good Man. We are to have a Reverence for the very Appearances of Piety; but whenever we find the Holy Man to God-ward, to be no better than a Juggling Knave among his Neighbours, that’s the very Hypocrite that we find Stigmatiz’d among the Scribes and Pharisees in the Holy Gospel.