than the most malicious weapon, brandished at them in a public manner, could have been capable of doing.

ONE-EYED Stag that was afraid of the Hunts

men at land, kept a watch that way, and fed with his blind side towards an arm of the sea, where he thought there was no danger. In this hope of security, he was shot, by a ball from a boat, and so ended his days with this lamentation: Here I am destroyed, says he, where I reckoned myself to be safe on the one hand; and no evil has befallen me, where I most dreaded it, on the other. But it is my comfort that I intended the best.

MORALS.

We are liable to many accidents that no care or foresight can prevent: but we are to provide, however, the best we can against them, and leave the rest to Providence.

The man whom we fear and suspect for a cheat,
Can hardly delude us with art and deceit;
But he, in whose faith we securely confide,

May come round with impunity on our blind side.

REFLECTION.

We are many times preserved or destroyed by those accidents or counsels that in all probability should have had quite contrary effects. But yet it is our part to act according to reason, and commit ourselves to Heaven for the rest. The wisest of men have their follies or blind sides, and have their enemies too, who watch to take advantage of their weakness. It behoves us therefore to look to ourselves on the blind side, as the part that lies most exposed to an attack. And yet, when we have done our best to prevent mischief, the very precaution itself serves many times to contribute to our ruin. In short, the ways and workings of Providence are unsearchable, and it is not in the power of human prudence to obviate all the accidents of life.

A

FABLE XXI.

A Shepherd and a Young Wolf.

SHEPHERD took a Wolf's sucking Whelp and trained it up with his Dogs. The Whelp fed with them, grew up with them, and whensoever they went out upon the chase of a Wolf, the Whelp would be sure to make one. It fell out sometimes that the Wolf escaped; but this domestic Wolf would be still hunting on, after the dogs had given over the chase, till he came up to his true brethren, where he took part of the prey with them, and then went back again to his master. And when he could come in for no snacks with the Wolves, he would now and then make free, by the by, with a straggling Sheep out of the flock. He carried on this trade for a while; but at last he was caught in the fact, and hanged by his injured master.

H

MORALS.

Men naturally false and treacherous are no more to be reclaimed than Wolves. Benefits but augment their power to do mischief, and they never fail to make use of it to the prejudice of their benefactors.

The knave profest may seem a gen'rous foe,
Deserves a rope, yet claims our pity too;
But dragg'd to light, and stript of his disguise,
The sneaking hypocrite unpitied dies.

REFLECTION.

Ill dispositions may be dissembled for a while, but nature is very hardly to be altered, either by counsel or education. It may do well enough for curiosity and experiment, to try how far ill-natured men, and other creatures, may be wrought upon by fair usage and good breeding; but the inclination and cruelty of the dam will be hardly ever out of the Whelp. Thrust back nature with a pitch-fork, says the poet, and it will return. This Fable is a true portrait of an ungrateful and treacherous mind, which, according to the proverb, holds with the Hare, and runs with the Hound; which pretends greater zeal than others, like the Wolf's Whelp in the chase, in the detection and pursuit of a common enemy; but at the same time divides spoils with him, and, rather than want an opportunity of doing mischief, will prey privately upon the property he pretends to defend. Many such instances we might give in public life; and there have been too many such also in private life. The punishment so richly merited in the Fable is heartily to be wished whenever they happen, and it is a pity it should be wanted.

IN

N a terrible tempest at Sea, one Seaman took notice that the rest of his fellows were praying severally to so many Saints. Have a care, my masters, says he, what you do; for what if we should all be drowned now before the messenger can deliver his errand? would it not be better, without going so far about, to pray to Him that can save us without help. MORALS.

A wise man will take the nearest and surest way to obtain his end, and to commit no business of importance to a proxy, where he may do it himself.

Inactive wishes are but waste of time,

And, without efforts, pray'rs themselves a crime:

Vain are their hopes, who miracles expect,
And ask from heaven what themselves neglect.

REFLECTION.

Mankind, indolent and discontented, are very apt