"A WOLF," says Plutarch, "peeping into a hut where a company of Shepherds were regaling themselves with a joint of mutton; "Lord," said he, "what a clamour would these men have raised, if they had caught me at such a banquet!"

A prowling Wolf one evening put
His muzzle in a Shepherd's hut;
And there at table saw them seated,
To a young lamb's fat quarter treated.

REFLECTION.

How apt are men to condemn in others what they practise themselves without scruple!

A DISPUTE once arose betwixt the North-Wind and the Sun, about the superiority of their power; and they agreed to try their strength upon a traveller, which should be able to get his cloak off first. The NorthWind began, and blew a very cold blast, accompanied with a sharp driving shower. But this, and whatever else he could do, instead of making the man quit his cloak, obliged him to gird it about his body as close as possible. Next came the Sun, who, breaking out from a thick watery cloud, drove away the cold vapours from the sky, and darted his warm sultry beams upon the head of the poor weather-beaten traveller. The man, growing faint with the heat, and unable to endure it any longer, first throws off his heavy cloak, and then flies for protection to the shade of a neighbouring grove.

Ff

REFLECTION.

There is something in the temper of men so averse to severe and boisterous treatment, that he, who endeavours to carry his point that way, instead of prevailing, generally leaves the mind of him, whom he has thus attempted, in a more confirmed and obstinate situation, than he found it at first. Bitter words and hard usage freeze the heart into a kind of obduracy, which mild persuasion and gentle language only can dissolve and soften.

THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE BULLS.

FOUR Bulls, which had entered into a very strict friendship, kept always near one another, and fed together. The Lion often saw them, and as often had. a mind to make one of them his prey: but though he could easily have subdued any of them singly, yet he was afraid to attack the whole alliance, as knowing they would have been too many for him, and therefore contented himself for the present with keeping at a distance.. At last, perceiving no attempt was to be made upon them as long as this combination held, he engaged a Fox, who took occasion by whispers and hints, to foment jealousies, and raise divisions among them. This stratagem succceeded so well, that the Bulls grew cold and reserved towards one another, which soon after ripened into a downwright hatred and aversion; and, at last, ended in a total separation. The Lion had now obtained