Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXXIX and CXXX

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CXXIX.

A Fox and Grapes.

THere was a Time, when a Fox would have Ventur'd as far for a Bunch of Grapes, as for a Shoulder of Mutton, and it was a Fox of Those days, and of That Palate, that stood Gaping under a Vine, and licking his Lips at a most Delicious Cluster of Grapes that he had Spy’d out there; He fetch'd a Hundred and a Hundred Leaps at it, till at last, when he was as Weary as a Dog, and found that there was No Good to be done; Hang 'em (says He) they are as Sour as Crabs; and so away he went, turning off the Disappointment with a Jest.

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Fab. CXXX.

A Wolfe and a Lyon.

AS a Wolfe and a Lyon were abroad upon Adventure together, Heark, (says the Wolfe) Don't you hear the Bleating of Sheep? My Life for Yours Sir, I'le go fetch ye a Purchase. Away he goes, and follows his Eare, till he came just under the Sheepfold: But it was so well fortify d, and the Dogs asleep so Near it, that back he comes Sneaking to the Lyon again, and tells him, There are Sheep Yonder (says he) 'tis true, but they are as Lean as Carrion, and we had e'en as good let ‘em alone ‘till they have more Flesh on their Backs.

The Moral of the two Fables above.

'Tis matter of Skill and Address, when a man cannot Honestly Compass what he would be at, to Appear Easy and Indifferent upon Al Repulses and Disappoitments.

REFLEXION.

'Tis a Point of Good Discretion to make a Virtue of a Neccessity, and to Content our selves with what we cannot get, though we have never so much a Mind to’t; for ’tis a Turn of Art to seem to Despise what we cannot Compass, and to put off a Miscarriage with a Jest; Beside, that it is Better to have People think a man could Gain Such or such a Point if he Would, then that he Would, but cannot.

The Foxes Put off in This Fable, is a most Inftructive Point of Philosophy toward the Government of our Lives; Provided that his Fooling may be made our Earnest; as it would be much for our Honour and Quiet so to be. No man can be Miserable if he can but keep Clear of the Snare of Hopes and Fears; and Antidote himself against the Flatteries of the One, and the Alarums of the Other: It is a High Point of Christian, as well as of Civil Prudence; for a man to say Thus to Himself beforehand, of a Thing that he has a Mind to [If I cannot get it, I shall be Better without it.] Or if he can but say after the Missing of it, [It was better Lost then found.] Now if we cannot Arrive at the Pitch of making This Indifference a Virtue indeed, we may however so Disguise it yet, (though in a cafe of Necessity) as to make it Look like One: Not but that it would be much better if we could Attain to the Perfection it selfe, as well as we may in Appearance Cover the Disgrace.

I knew a Fine Lady once, and she was a Woman of Sense, Quality, and a very Generous Mind, She lay under Mortifications in abundance, and yet was never Observ’d to be Peevish, or Angry, upon Any Provocation Whatsoever; and the Reason she gave for’t was This: [It Will make Me Look Old,) So that it is not so much the want of Ability to master our Affections, as the want of Resolution to go thorough with the Experiment, This is a way to keep us Firm in All Tryals: or if He, that upon a True Principle, lives without any Disquiet of Thought, may be sayd to be Happy. It Emproves All our Disappointments into Providences, when we can let fall the Vain Desire of any thing without Feeling the Loss of it. It comes All to a Case now, upon the force of the Moral, whether we Quit, as the Fox did the Grapes, because he could not come at them, or as the Wolfe did the Sheep, because he durst not Venture, upon ’em. But be it either the One or the Other, there's a Virtue, and a Blessing in't, Both ways, in getting the Better of our Passions: which might certainly be done if we had but Halfe the Tenderness for our Minds and Consciences, that we have for our Carcasses, and our Fortunes.