Two Cocks were fighting for the sovereignty of the dunghill. And one of them having got the better of the other, he that was vanquished crept into a hole, and hid himself for some time; but the victor flew up to an eminent place, clapt his wings and crowed out victory. An eagle, who was watching for his prey near the place, saw him, and making a stoop, seized him in his talons, and carried him off. The Cock that had been beaten, perceiving this, soon quitted his hole, and shaking off all remembrance of his late disgrace, gallanted the hens with all the intrepidity imaginable.

REFLECTION.

This fable shows the impropriety and inconvenience of running into extremes. Much of our happiness depends upon keeping an even balance in our words

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and actions; in not suffering the scale of our reason to mount us too high in time of prosperity, nor to sink us too low with the weight of adverse fortune.

THE FLY IN ST. PAUL'S CUPOLA.

As a Fly was crawling leisurely up one of the columns of St. Paul's Cupola, she often stopped, surveyed, examined, and at last broke forth into the following exclamation: "Strange! that any one, who pretended to be an artist, should ever leave so superb a structure with so many roughnesses unpolished!" "Ah, my friend," said a very learned architect, who hung in his web under one of the capitals, "you should never decide of things beyond the extent of your capacity. This lofty building was not erected for such diminutive animals as you or I; but for a certain sort of creatures, who are at least ten thousand times as large: to their eyes, it is very possible, these columns may seem as smooth, as to you appear the wings of your favourite mistress."

REFLECTION.

We should never estimate things beyond our reach,

by the narrow standard of our own capacities.

THE SHEEP AND THE BRAMBLE.

A SHEEP, during a severe storm, wandered into a thicket for shelter, and lay there so snug and warm, that he soon fell fast asleep. The clouds clearing away, and the wind returning to rest, inclined the Sheep to return to his pasture, but ah! what was his situation; a Bramble had laid such a firm hold of his fleece, that it was left as a forfeit, for the protection the thicket had given him.