Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/180

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voury Vapour of her Own, and yet would be Perpetually Inveighing againſt Foul Breaths. Now This way of Covering Defects, Scandals or Inconvenicnces, is the Only Way of Expoſing them.

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Fab. CXXXVII.

Waſps, Partridges, and a Husbandman.

A Flight of Waſps, and a Covy of Partridges that were hard put to’t for Water, went to a Farmer, and begg'd a Soup of him to Quench their Thirſt. The Partridges offer'd to Dig his Vineyard for't, and the Waſps to ſecure him from Thieves. Pray hold your Hand, ſays the Good Man; I have Oxen and Dogs that do me Theſe Offices already, without ſtanding upon Terms. And therefore it will become me to Provide for Them in the Firſt Place.

The Moral.

Charity begins at Home, ut the Neceſſary Duty of it in One Place, does not Diſcharge the Chriſtian Exerciſe of it in Another.

REFLEXION.

Charity is a Humane, as well as a Chriſtian Virtue, and there is a Place for it, even upon Brutes, under the Duty of Tenderneſs and Good Nature, as well as upon Men; but ſtill with a Diſtinction by way of Preference, that it is to be Employ’d in the Firſt Place upon Thoſe that have the Faireſt Right to't: ‘Tis One thing I muſt Confeſs, to Condition for a Good Office, and Another thing to do it Gratis; ſo that the Husbandman took the Propoſal by the Right Handle in That Reſpect: But his being provided of Servants already, to do his Work was no Excuſe for his Want of Charity to Relieve his Diſtreſſed Neighbor.

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Fab. CXXXVIII.

Jupiter and a Serpent.

JUpiter had Preſents made him upon his Wedding-Day, Greater, or Leſs, from All Living Creatures. A Serpent brought him a Roe in his Mouth for an Offering. The Thing was Acceptable enough, but not the Preſenter; for (ſays Jupiter) though Gifts are Wellcome to me, of Themſelves, I muſt not yet receive any from a Serpent.

The Moral.

He that receives a Preſent, Contracts an Obligation; which a Body would be Aſham'd of in the Caſe of an Ill Man: for it looks toward making a Friendſhip with him.

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