man, I dare: why, I can tear all these blocks to pieces, you see. Put your feet now into this gap, where you see an iron thing there, and try what you can do. The Lion presently put his paws into the gaping of the wood, and with one lusty pluck made it give way, and out drops the wedge; the wood immediately closing upon it, there was the Lion caught by the toes. The Wood-man presently upon this raises the country, and the Lion finding what a strait he was in, gave one hearty twitch and got his feet out of the trap, but left his claws behind him. So away he goes back to his father, all lame and bloody, with this confession in his mouth: Alas! my dear father, says he, this had never been, if I had followed your advice.

MORALS.

The vengeance of Heaven, sooner or later, treads upon the heels of wilful disobedience to parents.

When wayward children in the pride of youth,
Scorn wisdom's precepts, and the curb of truth;
Laugh at experience, and her sagest rules,
And hold restraints the doting fits of fools;
They thoughtless rush, where folly leads the way,
Where evils throng, and vice holds lordly sway.
Yet hoary age by long experience knows,
Where vices flourish, and where evil grows;
With cautious fondness for the budding mind,
Warns from the path, where ill with ill's combin'd;
Whilst heedless youth, in all the pomp of pride,
Spurn at his prudence, and his laws deride.
A few short years disperse the dazzling shade,
Which fame excited, and which transports made;

Wearied and pall'd with pleasure's fleeting joys,
Which madness raves for, and which health destroys;
Too late they find, by sage experience taught,
The rules of age are with true wisdom fraught.

REFLECTION.

Children are not to reason upon obedience to parents, provided there be nothing in the command, or in the imposition, that is simply evil; for headstrong and undutiful children seldom escape a remarkable punishment, which gives them reason to say to their parents, this had never been, if I had followed your advice.

A

N old fellow was feeding an Ass in a fine green meadow; and being alarmed with the sudden approach of the enemy, was impatient with the Ass to put himself forward, and fly with all the speed that he was able. The Ass asked him, Whether or

no he thought the enemy would clap two pair of panniers upon his back? The man said, No, there was no fear of that. Why then, says the Ass, I will not stir an inch; for what is it to me who my master is, since I shall but carry my panniers as usual?

MORALS.

Men in a fright, or alarmed with the apprehensions of some imminent danger to themselves, often fly for succour to those from whom they have not deserved any. It is prudent so to behave in our prosperity, as that we may make every one our friend in times of adversity: for no one is exempted from the mutability of fortune.

The man that is poor may be void of all care,
If there's nothing to hope, he has nothing to fear:
Whether stocks rise or fall, or whate'er be the news,
He is sure not to win, and has nothing to lose.

REFLECTION.

This fable shows us how much in the wrong the poorer sort of people most commonly are, when they are under any concern about the revolutions of a government. All the alteration which they can feel is, perhaps, in the name of their sovereign, or some such important trifle. But they cannot well be poorer, or made to work harder than they did before. And yet how are they sometimes imposed upon, and drawn in by the artifices of a few mistaken or designing men, to foment factions, and raise rebellions, in cases where they can get nothing by the success; but, if they miscarry, are in danger of suffering an ignominious, untimely death.

JOY and Sorrow, two twin-sisters, once quarrelled

vehemently who should have the preference; and being unable to decide the matter, left it to Minos to determine. He tried all means to make them agree and go hand in hand together, as loving sisters ought; but finding his counsel had no effect upon them, he decreed that they should be linked. together in a chain; and each of them in turn should be perpetually treading upon the heel of the other; and not a pin matter then, says he, which goes foremost.

MORALS.

No man is to presume in prosperity, or despair in adversity; for good and ill fortune do as naturally succeed one another, as day and night.

The Gods one time, as poets feign,
Would pleasure intermix with pain ;
And perfectly incorporate so,

As one from t'other none might know;
That mortals might alike partake
The Good and Evil which they make.

In mighty bowl they put these twain,
And stirr'd and stirr'd, but all in vain:
Pleasure would sometimes float aloft,
And pain keep pleasure down as oft:
Yet still from one another fly,
Detesting either's company.

The Gods, who saw they sooner migh!
Mix fire and water, day and night,
Unanimously then decreed

They should alternately succeed;
Each other's motions still pursue,
And a perpetual round renew :
Yet still divided should remain,
Tho' link'd together with a chain.

Thence comes it that we never see
A perfect bliss or misery;
Each happiness has some alloy :
And grief succeeded is by joy.

The happiest mortal needs must own
He has a time of sorrow known:
Nor can the poorest wretch deny
But in his life he felt a joy.

REFLECTION.

It is the lot of mankind to be happy and miserable by turns. The wisdom of Providence will have it so; and it is exceedingly for our advantage that so it should be. There is nothing pure and unmixed under the heavens; and if there were, such an abstracted simplicity would be neither nourishing nor profitable to us. By the mediation of this mixture,