vile than lying? And when do we lie more notoriously, than when we disparage and find fault with a thing for no other reason but because it is out of our power.

A

FABLE L.

The Viper and the File.

VIPER entering a smith's shop, looked up and down for something to eat, and seeing a File, fell to gnawing it as greedily as could be. The File told him, very gruffly, that he had best be quiet and let him alone; for that he would get very little by nibbling at one, who, upon occasion, could bite iron and steel.

MORALS.

It's the fate of envy to attack those characters that are superior

to its malice.

Witlings! beware, nor wantonly provoke
Those who with int'rest may repay the joke;
Some claim our pity who fall preys to wit,
But all men triumph o'er the Biter Bit.

REFLECTION.

By this Fable we are cautioned to consider what any person is, before we make an attack upon him after any manner whatsoever: Particularly how we let our tongues slip in censuring the actions of those who are, in the opinion of the world, not only of an unquestioned reputation, so that nobody will believe what we insinuate against them; but of such an influence, upon account of their own veracity, that the least word from them would ruin our credit to all

intents and purposes. If wit be the case, and we have a satirical vein, which at certain periods must have a flow, let us be cautious at whom we level it; for if the person's understanding be of better proof than our own, all our ingenious sallies, like liquor squirted against the wind, will recoil back upon our own faces, and make us the ridicule of every spectator. This Fable, besides, is not an improper emblem of Envy; which, rather than not bite at all, will fall foul where it can hurt nothing but itself; and such is its malignancy, that the greatest wits and brightest characters in all ages have ever been the objects of its attack. Ought we not, then, to guard against the admission of an inmate that not only attempts to injure the virtuous part of mankind, but also effectually ruins the peace of its possessor?

THER

FABLE LI

The Mountains in Labour.

HE Mountains were said to be in labour, and uttered most dreadful groans. People came together, far and near, to see what birth would be produced; and after they had waited a considerable time in expectation, out crept a mouse.

MORALS.

To raise uncommon expectations renders an ordinary event ridiculous.

Thus the vain Alchymist, in promise bold,
Beholds projection big with MINES of GOLD:
But now, his glasses burst, he thinks him rich
To save a little oil to cure the itch.

REFLECTION.

Great cry and little wool, is the English proverb; the sense of which bears an exact proportion to this Fable. By which are exposed, all those who promise something exceeding great, but come off with a production ridiculously little. Projectors of all kinds, who endeavour by artificial rumours to raise the expectations of mankind, and then by their mean performances defeat and disappoint them, have, time out of mind, been lashed with the recital of this Fable. How agreeably surprising is it to see an unpromising favourite, whom the caprice of fortune has placed at the helm of state, serving the commonwealth with justice and integrity, instead of smothering and embezzling the public treasure to his own private and wicked ends! And on the contrary, how melancholy, how dreadful! or rather, how exasperating and provoking a sight is it to behold one, whose constant declarations for liberty and the public good have raised people's expectations of him to the highest pitch, as soon as he is got into power exerting his whole art and cunning to ruin and enslave his country! The sanguine hopes of all those that wished well to virtue, and flattered themselves with a reformation of everything that opposed the well-being of the community, vanish away in smoke, and are lost in a dark, gloomy, uncomfortable prospect.

ΟΝ

FABLE LII.

The Two Frogs.

NE hot sultry summer, the lakes and ponds being almost everywhere dried up, a couple of Frogs agreed to travel together in search of water. At last they came to a deep well, and sitting upon the brink of it, began to consult, whether they should leap in or no. One of them was for it; urging, that there was plenty of clear spring water, and no danger of being disturbed. Well, says t'other, all this may be true; and yet I can't come into your opinion for my life: For, if the water should happen to dry up here too, how should we get out again?

MORALS.

We ought never to change our situation in life, without duly considering the consequences of such a change.