Contend with him; ſo that conſequently no Creature of leſs Force is upon any Terms to Encounter him. Not but that there are ſome ſpecial Inſtances to the contrary, in Exception to the General Rule. The Moraliſt makes the Event to confirm the Reaſon, and to ſupport the Authority of the Lions Council. It may paſs likewiſe in ſome ſort, for a Puniſhment of Diſobedience to a Parent; but there's the Voice of Providence and Wiſdom in't, as well as the Voice of a Father; which is intimated in ſhewing us, that the Yoak of Oxen, and the Horſe that ſtood Bridled and Sadled, had a Man ſtill to their Maſter.
Fab. CCCCXXXI.
A Hare and a Sparrow.
A Sparrow happen’d to take a Buſh juſt as an Eagle made a Stoop at a Hare, and when ſhe had got her in the Foot, Poor Wat cry'd out for Help. VVell, (ſays the Sparrow) and why don't_ye Run for’t now? I thought your Footmanſhip would have Sav'd ye. In this very Moment: comes a Hawk, and whips away the Sparrow; which gave the Dying Hare this Conſolation in her laſt Diſtreſs, that ſhe ſaw her Inſolent Enemy overtaken with a juſt Vengeance, and that the Hard-Hearted Creature that had no Pity for Another, could obtain, none for her ſelf neither, when ſhe ſtood moſt in need on’t.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
Here's a Juſt Judgment upon Ill-Nature, wherefore let no Man make Sport with the Miſerable, that is in danger to be Miſerable Himſelf, as Every Man may be; and in Truth every Man deſerves ſo to be, that has no TTenderneſs for his Neighbour. It is a High Degree of Inhumanity not to have a Fellow-feeling of the Misfortune of my Brother; but to take Pleaſure in my Neighbours Miſery, and to make Merry with it, is not only a Brutal, but a Diabolical Barbarity and Folly.
Fab.
