Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/60

One Good Turn they fay requires another : But yet He that has to do with Wild Beajls (as fame Men are No Better) and comes off with a Whole Skin, let him Expetl No Other Reward.

This Fable will bear Divers Morals v as Firft, That it is but Due Gra- titude to be Thankful to our Prefervers. Secondly, The Crane's Good Fortune can hardly Excufe his Facility. And then the Crane did 111 again to Infift upon a Reward -, for a Good Office pays it felf ; neither was he reafonably to Expeft that fo Perfidious a Creature fhould keep Touch with him. Thirdly, Though the Wolf was to blame for not making Good his Promife, there is yet in Equity a kind of a Reward, in not Chopping off his Head when he had it at Mercy.

The Cafe of the Crane here, is a Cafe of Confcicnce ; for 'tis a Nice Bufinefs to Determine, how far Wicked Men in their Diftreiies May be Reliev'd ; How far they Ought to be Reliev'd ; and to what Degree of Lofs, Labor, and Difficulty, a Sober, a Wile, and a Good Man may In- terpofe to their Redrefs. He may Give; he may Lend, he may Venture, fo far as Generofity and Good Nature fhall prompt him; provided always that he go no farther than the Confcience of the Caufe, or of the Aclion will Warrant him. A Man is at Liberty, 'tis true, to do many Kind and Brave Offices, which he is not Bound to do : And if the Largenefs of his Heart fhall carry him beyond the Line of Neceflary Prudence, we may reckon upon it only as a more Illuftrious Weakncfs.

Here is a Fi&ion of One Crane that fcap'd, that there might not want One Inftance of an Encouragement to a Dangerous Aft of Charity: But this One Inftance is not yet fufficient to juftifie the making a Common Pra&ice of it, upon the fame Terms. 'Tis poffible for One Blot not to be Hit ; or to be Over-feen perhaps. And fo 'tis as pofiible for One 111 Man, either not to think of the Mifchicf he could do, or to flip the Oc- cafion of it ; but fuch a Deliverance however, is a Thing to Thank Pro- vidence for, without (landing upon a Reward for the Service. The Bone in the Throat of the Wolf may be Underflood of any fort of Pinch, or Cala- mity, either in Body, Liberty, or Fortune. How many do we fee Daily, Gaping and Struggling with Bones in their Throats, that when they have gotten them drawn out, have Attempted theRuine of their Deliverers ! The World, in fhort, is full of Pra&ices and Examples to Anfwer the Intent of this Fable ; and there are Thoufands of Confciences that will be Touch'd with the Reading of it, whofe Names are not written in their Foreheads.

A Countryman happened in a Hard Winter to fpy a Snake un- der a Hedg, that was half Frozen to Death. The Man was Good Naturd, and Took it up. and kept it in his Bofbm till Warmth brought it to Life again j and fo foon as ever it

was