Your Hand a little says the Man unless y 'ave a mind to Draw All the Dogs in the Town upon me For That will Certainly be the End on 't when they shall find themselves Rewarded instead of Punish'd The MORAL Good Nature is a Great Misfortune where it is not Manag'd with Prudence Christian Charity 't is true bids us return Good for Evil but it does not Oblige us yet to Reward where we should Punish REFLEXION THIS is to Enform us that Wicked and Ill-Natur'd Men are not to be Oblig'd by Kindnesses Especially when they find they may be the better for Insolence for at That Rate he that Rewards Past Affronts Draws On and Encourages New Ones There are Churlish Currs in the Moral as well as in the Fable and we are here taught how to Behave our selves upon the Biting of All Manner of Dogs Under the Rule and Correction of This Allegory we may reckon Calumny Slander and Detraction in any Form or Figure whatsoever and all Manner of Affronts and Indignities upon our Good Names or our Persons There may be Place in All These Cases for a Generous Charity to Forgive Offences even of the Highest Ingratitude and Malice But it is not Advisable to Reward where Men have the Tenderness not to Punish This way of Proceeding is Dangerous in All the Affairs Publique as well as Private of Humane Life for 't is a Temptation to Villany when People when a Man fares the Better for Evil Doing Ill Nature in fine is not to be Cur'd with a Sop but on the contrary Quarrelsome Men as well as Quarrelsome Currs are worse for fair Usage FAB LXXXIX A Hunted Bever THE Bever is a kind of an Amphibious Creature but he lives Mostly in the Water His Stones they say are Med'cinal and it is principally for Their Sake he knows that People seek his Life and therefore when he finds himself Hard Pinch'd he Bites 'em off and by leaving Them to his Pursuers he Saves Himself The MORAL When a greater Interest is at Stake 't is a Warrantable Point of Honour and Discretion to compound the Hazzard by parting with the Less provided that while we Quit the One we may save the Other REFLEXION WE find This Doctrine and Practice to be Verify'd in State-Chaces as as well as in Those of the Woods That is to say where it is made a Crime to be Rich and where Men are forc'd to lay Violent Hands on Themselves to be Safe and Quiet and with the Bever here to compound with their Nutmegs to save their Lives FAB XC A Thunny and a Dolphin A Thunny gave Chace to a Dolphin and when he was just ready to seize him the Thunny struck before he was aware and the Dolphin in the Eagerness of his Pursuit ran himself a ground with him They were Both Lost but the Thunny kept his Eye still upon the Dolphin and Observing him when he was Just at Last Gasp Well says he the Thought of Death is now Easy to me so long as I see my Enemy go for Company FAB XCI Two Enemies at Sea THere were Two Enemies at Sea in the same Vessel the One at the Ships Head the Other at the Stern It Blew a Dreadful Storm and when the Vessel was just ready to be swallow'd up One of 'em Ask'd the Master which Part of the ship would be First under Water so he told him the T'other End would Sink first Why then says he I shall have the Comfort of seeing my Enemy go before me The MORAL of the TWO FABLES above 'T is a Wretched Satisfaction that a Revengeful Man takes even in the Losing of his Own Life provided that his Enemy may go for Company REFLEXION THERE is some Comfort in Company even in a State of Adversity Society is so Necessary and Agreeable to Mankind in All Cases that Death is Certainly the More Uneasy for a Man's going alone into Another World But the Consolation Pointed at in This Fable is That which an Envious Man takes in the Ruine of his Enemy There is a Memorable Instance to This Purpose of a Gentleman that had an Estate for Lives and Two of his Tenants in the Lease One of them dyes and the Other desires his Landlord to lay Both Farms into One and Accept of Him for his Tenant The Gentleman fairly Excus'd Himself and away goes the Man in a Rage to his Wife Told her how it was and Swore a Great Oath that he would be Reveng'd of his Landlord This was in Harvest Time and he went out next day to his Reapers but stay'd so long that his Wife sent up and down to look after him To shorten the Story they found him at last in a Ditch Vomiting his Heart out The Man it seems had Poyson'd himself and the Revenge upon his Landlord was the Defeating him of his Estate by Destroying the Last Life in his Lease In One Word Revenge stops at Nothing that 's Violent and Wicked It Divides the Dearest Friends Embroils Governments and Tears Families to pieces But to say no more on 't The Histories of All Ages are full of the Tragical Outrages that have been Executed by this Diabolical Passion beside that it hardens People into a Brutall Contempt of Death as in the Fables above where they may but see their Enemies fall for Company FAB XCII A Fortune-Teller THere was a kind of a Petty Conjurer that made it his Profession to Resolve Questions and tell Fortunes and he held forth in the Market-Place Word was brought him in the very Middle of his Schemes and Calculations that his House was Robb'd and so away he scours immediately to learn the Truth on 't As he was running home in All Haste a Droll takes him up by the Way with this short Question Friend says he How come You to be so Good at telling Other Peoples Fortunes and Know so little of your Own FAB XCIII A Cunning Woman A Certain Dame that pass'd in the World under the Name of a Cunning Woman took upon her to Avert Divine Judgments and to Foretell Strange Things to come She play'd the Counterfeit Witch so long till in the Conclusion she was Taken up Arraign'd Try'd Convicted Condemned to Dye and at last Executed for a Witch indeed D' ye hear Good Woman says one to her as she was upon the Way to her Execution Are the Gods so much Easyer then the Judges that you should be Able to make Them do any Thing for ye and yet could not Prevail with the Bench for the Saving of your Own Life FAB XCIV An Astrologer and a Traveller A Certain Starr-Gazer had the Fortune in the very Height of his Celestial Observations to stumble into a Ditch A sober Fellow passing by gave him a piece of Wholesome Counsel Friend says he Make a Right Use of Your Present Misfortune and pray for the Future let the Starrs go on quietly in their Courses and do you look a little Better to the Ditches The MORAL of the
be too Strong for T'other they 'll be ready to Hang themselves upon Every Gate or Style they come at This is the Moral of the Friendship betwixt a Thrush and a Swallow that can never Live together FAB LXVI A Fowler and a Pigeon AS a Country Fellow was making a Shoot at a Pigeon he trod upon a Snake that bit him by the Leg. The Surprize Startled him and away flew the Bird. The MORAL We are to Distinguish betwixt the Benefits of Good Will and those of Providence For the Latter are immediately from Heaven where no Human Intention Intervenes REFLEXION THE Mischief that we Meditate to Others falls commonly upon our Own Heads and Ends in a Judgment as well as a Disappointment Take it Another Way and it may serve to Mind us how Happily People are Diverted Many Times from the Execution of a Malicious Design by the Grace and Goodness of a Preventing Providence A Pistol 's not taking Fire may save the Life of a Good Man and the Innocent Pigeon had Dy'd if the Spiteful Snake had not Broken the Fowler 's Aim That is to say Good may be drawn out of Evil and a Body's Life may be Sav'd without having any Obligation to his Preserver FAB LXVII A Trumpeter taken Prisoner UPon the Rout of an Army there was a Trumpeter made a Pris'ner and as the Soldiers were about to Cut his Throat Gentlemen says he Why should You Kill a Man that Kills No Body You shall Die the rather for That cries one of the Company for being so Mean a Rascal as to set other People together by the Ears without Fighting your self The MORAL He that Provokes and Incites Mischief is the Doer of it 'T is the Man that Kills Me the Bullet is only a Passive Iustrument to serve his End that Directs it REFLEXION THIS is to Reprove Those according to the old Moral that Stir up Men in Power to do Publick Mischief which is much Worse than any Man 's Doing a Private One Himself And only a Safer Way of Committing greater Outrages The Trumpeter's Plea is so Arrant a Shuffle here that an Incendiary at the Barr or in the Pulpit has as much to say for Himself He that Countenances Encourages or Abetts a Mischief Does it The Seditious Lawyer or Divine Kills No Body with his own Hand but by a False Gloss perhaps upon a Law or a Text he may cause Ten Thousand Swords to be Drawn without Spilling One Drop of Bloud immediately Himself Shall any Man now that Willfully and Maliciously procures the Cutting of whole Armies to Pieces set up for an Innocent As if the Lives that were taken away by his Instigation were not to be Charged upon his Account He that Covers Murder Oppression Sacrilege Rebellion with a Cloak of Statute and Scripture makes God and Government Effectually the Authors of the Wickedness And Those are the Basest and Worst of Bravo's that Employ Iourneymen-Mercenaries under them to do the Work What is This but to Engage our Bibles and our Law-Books in a Conspiracy against Themselves Shall He that gives Fire to the Train pretend to Wash his Hands of the Hurt that 's done by the Playing of the Mine Humane Corruptions are as Catching as Powder as Easily Enflam'd and the Fire afterward as Hard to be Quench'd That which a Man Causes to be Done he Does Himself and 't is all a case whether he does it by Practice Precept or Example In One Word He that Kindles the Passions of the Mobile is Answerable for the Following Conflagration When the Men of the Long Robe have once Preach'd the People to Tinder the Least Spark sets them a Fire so that they have no more to do then to Inculcate the Doctrine of Disobedience and so leave the Multitude to chew upon 't A Trumpeter in the Pulpit is the very Emblem of a Trumpeter in the Field and the same Charge holds Good against Both. Only the Spiritual Trumpeter is the more Pernicious Instrument of the Two for the Latter serves only to Rowze the Courage of the Soldies without any Doctrine of Application upon the Text whereas the other infuses Malice over and above and Preaches Death and Damnation Both in One and gives ye the very Chapter and Verse for 't FAB LXVIII A Dog and a Wolfe THere was a Hagged Carrion of a Wolfe and a Jolly Sort of a Gentile Dog with Good Flesh upon his Back that fell into Company together upon the King's High-Way The Wolfe wonderfully pleas'd with his Companion and as Inquisitive to Learn how he brought himself to That Blessed State of Body Why says the Dog I keep my Master's House from Thieves and I have very Good Meat Drink and Lodging for my pains Now if you 'll go along with Me and do as I do you may fare as I fare The Wolfe Struck up the Bargain and so away they Trotted together But as they were Jogging on the Wolfe spy'd a Bare Place about the Dogs Neck where the Hair was worn off Brother says he how comes this I prethee Oh That 's Nothing says the Dog but the Fretting of my Collar a little Nay says T'other if there be a Collar in the Case I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust The MORAL We are so Dazzel'd with the Glare of a Splendid Appearance that we can hardly Discern the Inconveniencies that Attend it 'T is a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command and Warm Lodging But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his Gutt has but a Hard Bargain of it REFLEXION IN This Emblem is set forth the Blessing of Liberty and the Sordid Meanness of those Wretches that sacrifice their Freedom to their Lusts and their Palates What Man in his Right Senses that has wherewithal to Live Free would make himself a Slave for Superfluities The Wolfe would have been well enough Content to have Barter'd away a Ragged Coat and a Raw-Bond'd Carcass for a Smooth and a Fat One but when they came to talk of a Collar once away Marches He to His Old Trade in the Woods again and makes the Better Choice of the Two To speak to the First Point we are lyable to be Impos'd upon by Outsides and Appearances for want of Searching things to the Bottom and Examining what Really they are and what they Only seem to be This Fiction of the Wolfe is a Reproof to Eager Appetites and Over-Hasty Judgments that will not give themselves time to Ballance Accounts and Compute Beforehand whether they are to get or Lose by the Bargain It holds as well against Intemperate Curiosities and Rash Wishes That is to say against the Folly of the One and the Wickedness of the Other for if we come once to take Evil for Good our very Prayers are turn'd into Sin But what with a Certain Itch of Prying into and Meddling with Other Peoples Matters and a Natural Levity that puts us upon Shifting and Changing we fall
Death and an Old Man AN Old Man that had Travell'd a Great Way under a Huge Burden of Sticks found himself so Weary that he Cast it Down and call'd upon Death to Deliver him from a more Miserable Life Death came presently at his Call and Asked him his Bus'ness Pray Good Sir says he Do me but the favour to Help me up with my Burden again The MORAL Men call upon Death as they Do upon the Devil When he comes they 're affraid of him REFLEXION 'T IS Matter of Custom and in Passion rather then in Earnest that Men in Pain and Misery are so ready to call for Death For when he comes they are affraid of him It may be said to be the Motto of Humane Nature rather to Suffer then to Dye though 't is Good however to be always ready for That which Must come at Last The Doctrine is This That Skin and All that a man has will he give for his Life We are apt to Pick Quarrels with the World for Every Little Foolery Oh that I were e'en in in my Grave cryes my Lady My Pretty Pearl is Dead Never did any thing go so near my Heart I Praise the Lord for 't Pray Madam Bethink your self says a Good Woman to her upon a Condoling Visit. Why you have Out-liv'd the Loss of a most Excellent Husband Ay Madam says the sorrowful Widow But the Lord may send me such Another Husband I shall never have such Another Dog Every Trivial Cross makes us think we are Weary of the World but our Tongues run quite to Another Tune when we come once to parting with it in Earnest Then 't is Call the Doctor Pothecary Surgeon Purge Flux Launce Burn Saw I 'le Endure Any thing in This World if you can but keep Life and Soul together When it comes to That once 't is not Help me Off with my Burden but Help me Up with it FAB CXIV A Doctor and Patient with Sore Eyes A Physician Undertakes a Woman with Sore Eyes upon the the Terms of No Cure No Mony His Way was to Dawb 'em quite up with Oyntments and while she was in That Pickle to carry of a Spoon or a Porringer or somewhat or Other at the End of his Visit. The Womans Eyes Mended and still as she came More and More to her self again there was Every Day less and less left in the House to be seen The Doctor came to her at last and told her Mistress says he I have Discharg'd my 〈◊〉 Your Eyes are Perfectly Well again and pray let me be Payd now according to Our Agreement Alas Sir says she I 'm a Great deal Worse then I was the First Minute you Undertook me for I could see Plate Hangings Paintings and Other Goods of Value about my House 'till You had the Ordering of me but I am now brought to such a Pass that I can see nothing at all The MORAL There are Few Good Offices done for Other People which the Benefactor does not hope to be the Better for Himself REFLEXION THIS Fancy is Half Knavery Half Humour and the Doctors Part in 't is no more then according to the Common Practice of the World in Law as well as in Physick when People make the Remedy Worse then the Disease as when a Man spends the Fee Simple of an Estate in a Contest for the Title The Barber that Pick'd a Gentlemans Pocket while he was Washing of his Face Wrote after This Copy The Moral holds forth This Matter of Advice to us not to Contract any Obligations Rashly for Good Offices in course are rather Baits and Snares then Benefits and there are some Certain People that a Sober Man would not Venture the being Beholden to The Poor Woman here had her Jest for her Houshold-Stuff and the Vain Satisfaction of Paying her Physician with a Conceit for his Mony It Minds me of the Orator that was to Teach a Young Man Rhetorick on Condition of Double Pay upon the Perfecting of him in his Profession and not a Penny before The Master follow'd his Scholar Close and came to him at last for his Mony according to the Bargain The Young Fellow begg'd him over and over to Forbear it a while but could not Prevail He told him Then that there was nothing Due to him for if Rhetorick be as you say the Art or Power of Persuasion and if I cannot prevail with you to forbear Your Mony I am not Master of my Trade yet This was the Woman's Way of Reasoning with the Physician The Dr. would have his Mony for the Curing of her Eyes and the Woman shuffl'd it off that she was not Cur'd for she could see Nothing at all which was One Fallacy upon Another FAB CXV A Cat and Mice THere was a House Mightily troubled with Mice and a Notable Cat there was that Time after Time had Pick'd up so Many of 'em that they agreed among themselves to keep above in the Cieling for they found that upon the Plain Floor there was No Living for ' em This Spoil'd Pusses Sport unless she could find a way to Trepan them Down again So she Leapt up to a Pin that was driven into the Wall and there Hung like a Polcat in a Warren to Amuse them The Mice took Notice of it and One Wiser then the rest Stretched out his Neck to learn the Truth of the Matter and so soon as ever he found how ' t was Ah says he You may Hang there 'till Your Heart Akes for if you were but a Dish-Clout as you are a Counterfeiting-Devil of a Cat here 's not a Creature will come Near ye The MORAL Let no man lay himself at the Mercy of a known Enemy under any Shew or Pretence Whatsoever for he forfeits his Discretion even though he should happen to Save his Carcass and his Fortune REFLEXION WHAT we cannot Compass by Force must be Attempted by Invention and Address but then on the Other hand in All Cases of Hazzard Things would be well Weigh'd and Examin'd before we Trust. This Fable is the Fiction of a Case not Altogether Incredible 'T is a Common Thing for an Old Jade to Counterfeit Lame for fear of Hard Riding for a Duck to run Flapping and Fluttering away as if she were Maim'd to carry People from her Young as there 's a Story of a Fox that was Hard Hunted and Hung himself up by the Teeth in a Warren among the Vermin to put the Dogs to a Loss Without any more Words Twenty Instances might be given to shew how near That which we call Impulse or Instinct comes to Reason For the Cats Policy was no Other in truth then That we call Sleeping Dog-Sleep And there was the very same Fore-thought and Design in 't too which in a Construction of Law and Equity passes for Malice Prepense FAB CXVI An Ape and a Fox UPon the Decease of a Lyon of Late Famous Memory the Beasts Met in Councel to Chuse a King There were
to the Eye Rellishing to the Palate Harmonious to the Ear Gentle to the Touch and Fragrant to the Smell 't is all we Look for and all we Care for 'T is true all This while that our very Nature Requires a Dose of These Enjoyments nay and that Providence it self does not only Allow but Prescribe it for the Common Comfort and Benefit of Humane Society and of Mankind for Life would be no longer Life without it But the Crime and the Danger lies in the Excess and in the Immoderate Love and Use of them Was not the Apple in Paradise Fair to the Eye and Grateful to the Tast and yet there was Death in 't What were the Poets Sirens but Figures of our Seducers that Charm us by the Ear and Tempt us to leap Over-board That is to say by Debauching us into False Doctrines and Opinions which do but Answer In the One side the Moral of the Songs on the Other And so for the Touch and the Smell the Former 't is true has made more Havock in the World but yet a Man may be Poyson'd with a Perfume as well as with a Nauseous Potion To Conclude we have Snakes in our Beds in our Cups in our Dishes and whoever dips too deep will find Death in the Pot. FAB CLXXXI A Daw and Pigeons A Daw took Particular Notice of the Pigeons in such a Certain Dove-House that they were very Well Fed and Provided for So he Went and Painted himself of a Dove-Colour and took his Commons with the Pigeons So long as he kept his Own Counsel he Pass'd for a Bird of the Same Feather but it was his Hap once at Unawares to Cry KAW upon which Discovery they Beat him out of the House and when he came to his Old Companions again They'd have None of him neither so that he Lost himself Both Ways by This Disguise The MORAL He that Trims betwixt Two Interests loses himself with Both when he comes to be Detected for being True to Neither REFLEXION This is to Caution us against All Superfluous and Dangerous Desires Our Own Lot is Best and by Aiming at what we have Not and what is Impossible to be had we lose what we have already No Man goes out of Himself but to his Loss Imitation is Servile let it be Where How and What it will Nature Points out to us which way Every Man's Talent and Genius lies and He that keeps to his Own Province or Biass speeds Best The Painting of the Daw like a Pigeon did not make him One neither can any Man do himself Right in Another bodies Shape Besides that when he is once Out 't is Hard to find his Way Home again The Hypocrite is never so far from being a Good Christian as when he looks Likest One 'T is much a Case with a Faction in a Government and a Daw in a Pigeon-House There 's a Fraud driven on and they Assimilate themselves as much as may be to the Interest they Propose to be the Better for They put on all Appearances in Matter of Opinion Practice and Pretence Suitable to the Humour they are to Joyn withall But still Some Unlucky Accident or Other happens to Discover them in the End and then when they would go off again the People of their Own Plume and Colour Beat 'em away and Refuse to Entertain them This is no more then what we find to be True in All Turns of State Double-Dealers may Pass Muster for a While but All Parties Wash their Hands of them in the Conclusion FAB CLXXXII A Daw with a String at 's Foot A Country Fellow took a Daw and ty'd a String to his Leg and so gave him to a Little Boy to Play withal The Daw did not much like his Companion and upon the First Opportunity gave him the Slip and away into the Woods again where he was Shackled and Starv'd When he came to Die he Reflected upon the Folly of Exposing his Life in the Woods rather then Live in an Easie Servitude among Men. The MORAL 'T is Fancy not the Reason of Things that makes Life so Uneasie to us as we Find it 'T is not the Place nor the Condition but the Mind Alone that can make any Body Miserable or Happy REFLEXION MEN that are Impatient under Imaginary Afflictions change commonly for Worse as the Daw did here in the Fable that Threw himself into a Starving Necessity rather then he would Submit to the Tolerable Inconvenience of an Easie Restraint This was a Republican Daw that Kaw'd for Liberty not Understanding that he that Lives under the Bondage of Laws is in a State of Freedom And that Popular Liberty when it passes Those Bounds is the most Scandalous Sort of Slavery Nothing would serve him but he must be at his Own Disposal and so away he goes Carries his String along with him and Shackles Himself This is just the Humour and the Fate of Froward Subjects They Fancy themselves Uneasie under the Errors of a Male-administration of Government when their Quarrel strikes in truth at the very Root and Conditions of Government it self It is as Impossible for a Government to be without Faults as for a Man to be so But Faults or No Faults It comes yet much to a Case for where they cannot Find 'em they can Create them And there goes no more to 't neither then the Calling of Necessary Justice by the Name of Oppression And what 's the End on 't more then This now They Run away from their Masters into the Woods and there with Esop's Daw they either Starve or Hang Themselves FAB CLXXXIII Iupiter and Fraud JUpiter Appointed Mercury to make him a Composition of Fraud and Hypocrisie and to give Every Artificer his Dose on 't The Medicine was Prepar'd according to the Bill and the Proportions duly Observ'd and Divided Only there was a great deal too Much of it made and the Overplus remain'd still in the Morter Upon Examining the Whole Account there was a Mistake it seems in the Reck'ning for the Taylors were forgott'n in the Catalogue So that Mercury for Brevity sake gave the Taylors the Whole Quantity that was Left and from hence comes the Old Saying There 's Knavery in All Trades but Most in Taylors The MORAL It is in some sort Natural to be a Knave We were Made so in the very Composition of our Flesh and Blood Only Fraud is call'd Wit in One Case Good Husbandry in Another c. while 't is the Whole Bus'ness of the World for One Man to Couzen Another REFLEXION LYING and Couzening is a General Practice in the World tho' it appears in some Men and in some Trades more then in other Aesop is still Introducing some or other of the Gods to Countenance the Corruptions of Flesh and Blood And since Custom and Interest will have it so that all Tradesmen must use Fraud more or less even in their own Defence the Practice being in some sort so Necessary 't
he had Wrongfully Taken He came as Unwillingly to the Point as a Bear to the Stake which gave Occasion to somebodie 's saying that it was with This Man and his Money as it is with Women and their Children He was well enough pleas'd in the Getting of it but it went to the very Heart of him when he Parted with it The MORAL Great Officers are but like Spunges they Suck till they are Full and when they come once to be Squez'd the very Hearts Blood of them comes away with their Money REFLEXION IF Men could but Separate the Profit and the Pleasure of their Sins from the Sin it self and keep the Former when they Renounce the Other what a Number of Penitents should we have in This Wicked World But the Doctrine of Satisfaction and Restitution lies so Cursedly hard upon the Gizzards of our Publicans that the Blood in their Veins is not Half so Dear to 'em as the Treasure they have in their Coffers The Man and the Money are in This Case as good as Incorporated and Fining him is little less then Flaying him But Justice however finds him Out And This in Few Words is the Sum of the Moral Avarice is as hard to Part with any thing as it was Eager to Get it When a Man is once in Possession of an Ill Gotten Estate De Facto he never Trouble his Head with the De Iure of the Question but looks upon the Propriety of what he has Gotten by Rapine to be Transferr'd to him by Providence The Money in short had Chang'd the Master and he 'd rather part with an Eye out of his Head then with a Penny out of his Coffers FAB CCCL An Old Man that was willing to put off Death THere goes a Story that Death call'd upon an Old Man and bad him come along with him The Man Excus'd himself that T'other World was a Great Journy to take upon so short a Warning and begg'd a Little time only to make his Will before he Dy'd Why says Death You have had Warning enough One would think to have made Ready before This. In truth says the Old Man This is the First Time that ever I saw ye in my whole Life That 's False says Death for you have had Daily Examples of Mortality before Your Eyes in People of All Sorts Ages and Degrees And is not the Frequent Spectacle of Other Peoples Deaths a Memento sufficient to make You think of Your Own Your Dim and Hollow Eyes methinks the Loss of your Hearing and the Faltering of the rest of your Senses should Mind ye without more ado that Death has laid hold of ye already And is This a time of day d' ye think to stand Shuffling it off still Your Peremptory Hour I tell ye is now come and there 's No Thought of a Reprieve in the Case of Fate The MORAL Want of Warning is No Excuse in the Case of Death For Every Moment of our Lives either Is or Ought to be a Time of Preparation for 't REFLEXION 'T IS the Great Bus'ness of Life to fit our selves for our End and no Man can Live Well that has not Death always in his Eye 'T is a Strange Mixture of Madness and Folly in One Solecism for People to Say or Imagine that ever any Man was Taken out of This World without time to Prepare himself for Death But the Delay of Fitting our selves is our Own Fault and we turn the very Sin into an Excuse Every Breath we draw is not only a Step towards Death but a Part of it It was Born with us It goes along with us It is the Only Constant Companion that we have in This World and yet we never think of it any more then if we knew Nothing on 't The Text is True to the very Letter that we Die Daily and yet we Feel it not Every thing under the Sun reads a Lecture of Mortality to us Our Neighbours our Friends our Relations that fall Every where round about us Admonish us of our Last Hour and yet here 's an Old Man on the Wrong-side of Fourscore perhaps Complaining that he is surpriz'd FAB CCCLI A Miser and his Bags A Covetous Rich Churle finding himself at the Point of Death caus'd his Coffers to be brought up and his Bags laid before him You and I says he must Part and I would willingly Beqùeath ye to Those that will take most Delight in ye Why then say the Bags you must devide us betwixt your Heirs and the Devils Your Heirs will have Drink and Whores for your Money and the Devils will be as well pleas'd on the Other hand that they are to have your Soul for 't The MORAL The Money of a Miser is the Last Friend he takes his leave of in This World REFLEXION 'T IS a Great deal of Pains that some People take to give Others Satisfaction and to Torment Themselves But This Verifies the Old Proverb Happy is the Son whose Father goes to the Devil for Ill Gotten Goods and Estates are commonly Squander'd away with as Little Conscience as they were Rak'd together There goes a Canker along with them when over and above the Iniquity of the Extortion and Oppression the Bloud of so many Widows and Orphans cries to Heaven for Vengeance Now a Less Generous Chuff then This in the Fable would have Hugg'd his Bags to the Last and have Envy'd That Satisfaction to his Heirs which he Himself could Enjoy no longer But it was his Care to Transmit to his Posterity a Curse with his Money and to Bequeath them the Sin in the Inordinate Love of Riches together with his Treasure THE FABLES OF POGGIUS FAB CCCLII. Industry and Sloth ONe was asking a Lazy Young Fellow what made him lye in Bed so long Why says he I am hearing of Causes every Morning that is to say I have Two Lasses at my Bed-side so soon as ever I wake Their Names are Industry and Sloth One bids me get up 'tother bids me lye still and so they give me Twenty Reasons why I should Rise and why I should not 'T is the part in the mean time of a Just Judge to hear what can be said on Both sides and before the Cause is over 't is time to go to dinner The MORAL We spend our Days in Deliberating what to do and we end them without coming to any Resolution REFLEXION THIS Fable does naturally enough set forth an Expostulation betwixt Reason and Appetite and the Danger of running out our Lives in Dilatory Deliberations when we should rather be Up and Doing In all these Cases 't is odds that the Paradox carries it against the true Reason of the Thing for we are as Partial to our Corruptions as if our Understanding were of Councel for our Frailties and manage Disputes of this kind as if we had a Mind to be overcome The Sluggard's Case in this Fable is the Case of Mankind in all the Duties of a Virtuous and a Well-Govern'd
a Common Mistake of Matters at Home as well as Abroad for we keep Registers of our Neighbours Faults and none of their Good Deeds and no Memorials all this while of what we do Amiss our Selves But I am not as this Publican is the very Top of our Righteousness Thus goes the World and a Lew'd Practice it is for one Man to value himself upon the Wickedness of another But the Worst of all is yet behind that is to say to think our selves safe so long as we keep our Iniquities from the Knowledge of Men and out of our own View and Memory without any Awe of that Justice that never Sleeps and of that All-seeing Eye and Wisdom that Observes all our Mis-doings and has them perpetually in his Sight FAB CCCLXXXIX A King and a Rich Subject A Certain Prince that had a very Wealthy Over-grown Subject found it convenient to make a Traitor of him provided it could but Handsomly be brought about So the Man was taken into Custody and the Kings Evidence produced against him for Consults at this Place and at that against the Life of the King and the Peace of the Government and for Receiving Comforting and Abetting the Enemies of the Crown The Man had the Character of a very Loyal Person and People were almost at their Wits end to hear of so Horrid an Accusation against him But the Witnesses Swore Home and one of them Extream Positive that if his House at that very instant were but narrowly Search'd for Men and Arms they would find such a Provision that the Modern Discoveries at Tichbourn and Flixham were Nothing to 't The Pretended Criminal began now to Moralize upon the Story and so away goes he to his Majesty casts himself at his Feet and promises that if he might but have as Ample a Pardon as other Witnesses to Consults have had before him he would shew him the very Bottom of the Plot. I cannot deny says he but I have a great many of the Enemies of your Royal Crown and Dignity at this time Conceal'd in my House and if your Majesty shall be pleased to appoint any Person to make Seizure of them they shall be immediately Delivered up So the Prince Order'd a Squadron of his Guards and a Trusty Officer in the Head of 'em to go along with him The Gentleman led them very Frankly to his Coffers and shew'd them his Treasure These are the Traytors says he that you are to take care of and pray be pleas'd to see that they may be kept in safe Custody till they shall be Delivered by Due Course of Law The MORAL We may gather from hence that Riches are many times but a Snare to us and that Mony makes many a Man a Traytor But if a Body will Compound at last with his Estate to save his Life when he has nothing left him he may be at Rest. For a Certificate of Poverty is as good as a Protection REFLEXION THE Story of Ahab and Naboth comes directly to the Point of this Fable that is to say as to the King and Subject with the Iniquity of the Subornation and Practice Only the one was a Poor Subject and the other a Rich which does not one jot alter the Morality of the Case The Old Saying that Mony does all things is not much wide of the Truth for it gives and it takes away it makes Honest Men and Knaves Fools and Philosophers and so forward Mutatis Mutandis to the End of the Chapter There 's not any Corruption in Nature but Mony is at one end on 't The whole World is under the Dominion of it for all things under the Sun are Bought and Sold. But as it gives Men Reputation so it brings People into Snares and Dangers too It exposes them to Factions Robbers Cheats Knights of the Post and the like It fills their Heads and their Hearts with Cares and Disquiets And what at last are all the Baggs and Possessions that Rich Men take so much Pride and Pleasure in but Spunges Deposited in their own Hands 'till there shall be occasion to Squeeze them for the Publick Use FAB CCCXC A Merchant and a Seaman A Merchant at Sea was asking the Ships-Master what Death his Father Dy'd He told him that his Father his Grandfather and his Great Grandfather were all Drown'd Well says the Merchant and are not you your self afraid of being Drown'd too No not I says the Skipper But Pray says t'other again what Death did Your Father Grandfather and Great Grandfather Dye Why they Dy'd all in their Beds says the Merchant Very good says the Skipper and why should I be any more afraid of going to Sea then you are of going to Bed The MORAL He that troubles his Head with drawing Consequences from meer Contingencies shall never be at rest And this is further to mind us that in an Honest Course of Life we are not to fear Death REFLEXION 'T is much in our own Power how to Live but not at all when or how to Dye So that our part is only to Submit to Fate and to bid Death Welcom at what Time and in what Place or Manner soever it shall please God to send it The Reason and the Doctrin of this Fable is Clear Strong and Edifying We are either not to Fear Death at all or to Fear it every moment of our Lives nay and in all the Forms that ever it appear'd in which will put us to such a stand that we shall not dare even to Live for fear of Dying We must neither Eat nor Drink nor Breathe nor Sleep if we come once to Boggle at Presidents and at the doing of those things over again that ever any Man dy'd of before There is not one instant of Life in fine but may be our Last Beside that we Live not only in the daily Danger of Death but in a continual Certainty of it So that the Question is not how or of what this or that Man Dy'd but the Inevitable Fate and Mortality of Mankind One Man dies in his Bed another at Sea a Third in the Field this Man of one Accident or Distemper that of another And what is there more in all this now then so many several ways to the same Journeys End There is no such Preservative against the Fear of Death as the Conscience of a Good Life and if we would have it Easie we must make the Thought of it Familiar to us FAB CCCXCI Mice Cat and a Bell. THere was a Devillish Sly Cat it seems in a certain House and the Mice were so Plagu'd with her at every turn that they call'd a Court to Advise upon some way to prevent being surpriz'd If you 'll be Rul'd by me says a Member of the Board there 's nothing like Hanging a Bell about the Cats Neck to give Warning before-hand when Puss is a coming They all lookt upon 't as the best Contrivance that the Case would bear Well says another and now