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THE GARDENER AND HIS DOG.
A Gardener’s Dog happened by some mischance to fall into the
well: his Master ran immediately to his assistance; but when helping
him out, the surly brute bit his hand. The Gardener took this
ungrateful treatment so ill, that he shook him off, and left him to
shift for himself. Thou wicked wretch! said he, to injure the hand
that was stretched forth to save thy life! The hand of thy Master,
who has hitherto fed and taken care of thee! Die there as thou
deservest; for so base and unnatural a creature is not fit to live.
APPLICATION.
When a man has suffered his mind to become so debased as to
be capable to doing injuries to him who has showered benefits on
his head, he can scarcely be treated with too much severity. He
deserves at least to be scouted as an outcast to society. All the
favours that are bestowed upon men of this worthless disposition,
are thrown away; for the envy and malevolence of the ingrate, work
him up into a hatred of his benefactor. Generous men should
therefore use a just circumspection in the choice of the objects of
their benevolence, before they give way to the feelings of the heart,
or waste its bountiful overflowings upon those who, instead of
making a grateful return, will bite them like a drowning but spiteful
dog. The Fable is also intended as an admonition to servants, who
owe an especial duty to their masters; whose kindness should be
met by their faithful exertions to serve them; and whose interest
they ever ought to make their own.
THE DEER AND THE LION.
A Deer, terrified by the cry of the Hunters, instead of trusting to
his fleetness, made towards a cave which he chanced to espy, and in
which he hoped to conceal himself until they were passed by; but he
had scarcely reached the entrance before he was seized by a Lion
who lay crouching there, ready to spring upon his prey, and who
instantly killed and tore him to pieces. In the last agonies of death,
he thus gave vent to his feelings: Ah, me! said he, unhappy creature
that I am. I hoped in this cave to escape the pursuit of men; but
have fallen into the jaws of the most cruel and rapacious of wild
beasts.
APPLICATION.
This Fable points out the dangers to which we expose ourselves,
when, for want of presence of mind, we suffer ourselves to be
guided by our unreasoning fears, which no sooner shew us an evil,
than they throw us into the utmost confusion in our manner of
escaping, and prevent us from discerning the safe path by which we
ought to avoid it. Thus, in a rash endeavour to shun a less danger,
we oftentimes blindly run headlong into a greater. The fate of the
Deer should warn us to consider well what may be the ultimate
consequences, before we take any important step; for many paths
which appear smooth and pleasant at a distance, are found to be
rough and dangerous, when we come to tread them; and many a
plausible scheme, which promises us ease and safety, is no better
than a tempting bower, with a Lion crouching among its foliage,
ready to spring upon and devour us.
THE PLOUGHMAN AND FORTUNE.
As a Ploughman was turning up the soil, his plough uncovered a
treasure which had been hidden there. Transported with joy, he
seized upon it, and fervently began to thank the ground for being so
liberal to him. Fortune passing by, observed what he was about, and
could not forbear shewing her resentment at it. You stupid creature,
said she, to lie thus thanking the ground, and take no notice of me!
If you had lost such a treasure, instead of finding one, I should have
been the first you would have laid the blame upon.
APPLICATION.
How often do we ascribe our success or misfortunes to wrong
causes! Vanity sometimes leads us to consider our prosperity as the
natural result of our own sagacity, and inattention sometimes
induces us to make acknowledgments to wrong persons. But if we
would have our praises valued, we should be cautious to direct them
properly. Our thanks are an indirect affront to those who receive
them without deserving them; and at the same time an act of open
ingratitude to those who merit them without receiving them. In
prosperity, as well as in adversity, let us not forget the power and
goodness of Heaven; and if we implore the aid of the Almighty in
our distress, we should not neglect to send up our acknowledgments
of his goodness with the voice of gratitude.
THE APE AND THE FOX.
An Ape meeting with a Fox, humbly requested he would be so
good as to give him some of the superfluous hair from his bushy tail,
to make into a covering for his bare posteriors, which were exposed
to all the inclemency of the weather; and he endeavoured to further
his suit by observing to Reynard, that he had far more than he had
any occasion for, and a great part even dragged along in the dirt.
The Fox answered, that as to his having too much, it was more than
he knew; but be it as it would, he had rather sweep the ground with
his tail as long as he lived, than part with the least bit of it for a
covering to the filthy posteriors of an Ape.
APPLICATION.
Riches, in the hands of a wise and generous man, are a blessing
to the community in which he lives: they are like the light and the
rain, and diffuse a good all around them. But wealth, when it falls to
the lot of those who want benevolence and humanity, serves only as
an instrument of mischief, or at best produces no advantage to the
rest of mankind. The good man considers himself as a kind of
steward to those from whom fortune has withheld her smiles, and
thus shews his gratitude to Heaven for the abundance which has
been showered down upon him. He directs the superfluous part of
his wealth at least, to the necessities of such of his fellow-creatures
as are worthy of it, and this he would do from feeling, though there
were no religion which enjoined it. But selfish avaricious persons,
who are generally knaves, how much soever they may have, will
never think they have enough, much less be induced, by any
consideration of virtue or religion, to part with any portion for the
purposes of charity and beneficence. If the riches and power of the
world were to be always in the hands of the virtuous part of
mankind, it would seem, according to our human conceptions, that
they would produce more good than in those of the vile and
grovelling mortals, who often possess them. Without any merit,
these move apparently in a sphere of ease and splendour, while
good sense and honesty have to struggle in adversity, or walk in the
dirt. But the all-wise Disposer of Events does certainly permit this
order of things for just, good, and wise purposes, though our
shallow understandings are not able to fathom them.
THE THIEF AND THE BOY.
An arch mischievous Boy, sitting by the side of a well, observed a
noted Thief coming towards him. The little dissembler, wiping his
eyes, affected to be in great distress. The Thief asking him what was
the matter? ah! says the Boy, I shall be severely flogged, for in
attempting to get some water, I have dropped the silver tankard into
the well. Upon this the Thief, eager for a prize, stripped off his
cloaths, and went down to the bottom to search for it; where having
groped about to no purpose, he came up again, but found neither
the Boy nor the cloaths, the little wag having run off with and hidden
them, and left the Thief to look for the tankard at his leisure.
APPLICATION.
Nothing gives more entertainment to honest men than to see
rogues and sharpers tricked and punished in the pursuit of their
schemes of villainy, by making their own contrivances instrumental
in bringing down their wickedness upon their own heads. In these
instances, Justice seems as it were to be acting in person, and saves
the trouble of publicly enforcing punishment by the penal laws; but
indeed vice carries with it its own punishment, and the misery
attendant upon it in this world, seems always pretty exactly
balanced to its various degrees of enormity. The abandoned man
drags on a contemptible or infamous life, with a constantly
deadened or disturbed conscience, and amidst associates like
himself, where he can never hope to meet with either friendship or
fidelity.
THE FOX AND THE SICK LION.
It was reported that the Lion was sick, and the beasts were
given to understand that they could not make their court better than
by going to visit him. Upon this they generally went; but it was
particularly taken notice of, that the Fox was not one of the number.
The Lion therefore dispatched one of his Jackalls to enquire why he
had so little charity and respect as never to come near him, at a
time when he lay so dangerously ill, and every body else had been
to see him? Why, replies the Fox, pray present my duty to his
majesty, and tell him that I have the same respect for him as ever,
and have been coming several times, but was fearful of being
troublesome, as I have observed, from the prints of their footsteps,
that great numbers have gone into the royal den; but I have not
seen a single trace of their coming out again.
APPLICATION.
He that embarks implicitly in any scheme, may be mistaken,
notwithstanding the number who keep him company; but he that
keeps out till he sees reason to enter, acts upon true maxims of
policy; and it is the quintessence of prudence not to be too easy of
belief: for a rash and hasty credulity has been the ruin of many. Men
who habituate themselves to think, will profit by the experience of
others, as well as their own: but commonly the multitude do not
reason, but stupidly follow each other step by step; not moving out
of the sphere in which chance has placed them: and the notions or
prejudices they may have imbibed in youth, remain with them to the
last. There is no opinion, however impious or absurd, that has not its
advocates in some quarter of the world. Whoever, therefore, takes
up his creed upon trust, and grounds his principles on no better
reason than his being a native or inhabitant of the regions wherein
they prevail, becomes a disciple of Mahomet in Turkey, and of
Confucius in China; a Jew, or a Pagan, as the accident of birth
decides.
THE SUN AND THE WIND.
A dispute arose between the North Wind and the Sun, about the
superiority of their power, and they agreed to determine matters by
trying which of them could first compel a Traveller to throw off his
cloak. The North Wind began, and blew a very cold blast,
accompanied by a sharp driving shower; but this, and whatever else
he could do, instead of making the Man quit his cloak, induced him
to gird it about him more closely. Next came the Sun, who, breaking
out from a cloud, drove away the cold vapours, and darted his warm
sultry beams upon the weather-beaten Traveller. The Man growing
faint with the heat, first threw off his heavy cloak, and then flew for
protection to the shade of a neighbouring grove.
APPLICATION.
There is something in the temper of man so averse to severe and
boisterous treatment, that he who endeavours to carry his point in
that way, instead of prevailing, generally leaves the mind of him
whom he has thus attempted to subdue, in a more confirmed and
obstinate state. Bitter words and hard usage freeze the heart into an
obduracy, which mild, persuasive, and gentle language only can
dissolve. Persecution has always fixed those opinions which it was
intended to dispel; and the quick growth of christianity in early
times, is attributed in a great measure to the barbarous reception
which its first teachers met with in the Pagan world; and since that
time the different modes of faith which have grown out of
christianity itself, have been each established by the same kind of
intolerant spirit. To reflect upon these things, furnishes matter of
wonder and regret, for the benevolent Author of the christian
religion taught neither intolerance nor persecution. The doctrines he
laid down are plain, pure, and simple. They teach mercy to the
contrite, aid to the humble, and eternal happiness to the good. In
short, persecution is the scandal of all religion, and like the north
wind in the Fable, only tends to make a man wrap his notions more
closely about him.
THE HORSE AND THE ASS.
The Horse, adorned with his great war-saddle, and champing his
foaming bridle, came thundering along the high-way, and made the
mountains echo with his neighing. He had not gone far before he
overtook an Ass, who was labouring under a heavy burthen, and
moving slowly on in the same track. In an imperious tone he
threatened to trample him in the dirt, if he did not get out of the
way. The poor Ass, not daring to dispute, quietly got aside as fast as
he could, and let him go by. Not long after this, the same Horse, in
an engagement, happened to be shot in the eye, which made him
unfit for show, or any military business, so he was stripped of his
ornaments, and sold to a carrier. The Ass meeting him in this forlorn
condition, thought that now it was his time to retort: Hey-day,
friend, says he, is it you! Well, I always believed that pride of your’s
would one day have a fall.
APPLICATION.
It is an affectation of appearing considerable, that puts men
upon being proud and insolent; but this very affectation infallibly
makes them appear little and despicable in the eyes of discerning
people. Did the proud man but rightly consider what kind of
ingredients pride is composed of and fed with, and the unstable
foundation, and the tottering pinnacle upon which it stands, he
would blush at the thoughts of it, and cease to be puffed up by the
little supernumerary advantages, whether of birth, fortune, or title,
which he may enjoy above his neighbours. These might indeed be a
blessing to him, and to the community in which he lives, if wisely
used; but if guided by pride, and consequently by want of sense,
they will prove only a curse; and the reverence and respect which he
looks for, will not be paid with sincerity, nor does he deserve it; and
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