Heart and Soul in the Pot for Company. He gave it a Viſit Every Morning, which it ſeems was taken Notice of, and Somebody that Obſery'd him, found out his Hoard one Night, and Carry'd it away. The Next day he miſſed it, and ran allmoſt out of his Wits for the Loſs of his Gold. Well, (ſays a Neighbour to him) And what's All This Rage for? Why you had no Gold at all, and ſo you Loſt None. You did but Fancy all this while that you Had it, and you may e'en as well Fancy again that you have it ſtill,'°Tis but laying a Stone where you layd your Mony, and Fancying That Stone to be your Treaſure, and there's your Gold again. You did not Uſe it when you Had it; and you do not Want it ſo long as you Reſolve not to Uſe it.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
We are never the better for the Poſſeſſion of any thing. Barely for the Propriety ſake, but ‘tis the Uſe and Application of it towards the Conveniences of Life, and the Comforts of Humane Society, that gives Every thing its Value. The Divine Goodneſs we ſee is perpetually at Work; Nature keeps-on her Courſe, and the Heavens ſhed their Influences without Intermiſſion; and what's the Doctrine now of This Great Example, but that the Bleſſings of Providence, which are Common and Diffuſive, ought not to lye Idle; and that Whoever Buryes his Talent, either of Underſtanding, or of Fortune, breaks a Sacred Truſt, and Couzens Thoſe that ſtand in Need on't. But we have a ſort of ſordid Wretches among us that had rather Caſt their Silver and Gold into the very Mine again from whence it was Taken, or leave it at the Mercy of Thieves, and Common Hazzards, then that any Man Living ſhould be the Better for't.
Fab. CXLVII.
A Stag with One Eye.
A One-Eyed-Stag that was affraid of the Huntſmen at Land, kept a Watch That Way with T’other Eye, and fed with his Blind Side ſtill toward an Arm of the Sea, where he thought there was no Danger. In this Proſpect of Security, he was Struck with an Arrow from a Boat, and ſo Ended his Days with This Lamentation: Here am I deſtroy'd, ſays he, where I reckon’d my Self to be Safe on the One Hand; and No Evil has befal'n me, where I moſt Dreaded it, on the Other.
The
