The MORAL.
Of Two Things Equally Good, that’s the Beſt that laſts longeſt.
REFLEXION.
The Greateſt of Temporal Bleſſings, are Health, and Long Life; and the moſt Durable of Good Things muſt Conſequently be the Beſt. The Queſtion here betwixt the Crow and the Swallow, has ſomewhat in it of the Caſe betwixt Virtue and Senſual Pleaſures, as (for the purpoſe) of Youth, Wine, Women, and All other Entertainments whatſoever, that may ſerve to Gratify a Carnal Appetite. Here’s Temporary Oppos'd to Etcrnal; Joys that ſhall Endure for Ever, Freſh, and in Vigour; to Satisfactions that are attended with Satiety and Surfeits, and Flatten in the very Taſting.
Fab. CLXII.
A Nightingale and a Bat.
AS a Nightingale was Singing in a Cage at a Window, up comes a Bat to her, and Asks her why ſhe did not ſing in the Day, as well as in the Night. Why (ſays the Nightingale) I was Catch'd Singing in the Day, and ſo I took it for a Warning: You ſhould have thought of This then ſays 'Tother, before you were Taken; for as the Caſe ſtands now, Y’are in no Danger to be Snapt Singing again.
The MORAL.
A Wrong Reaſon for the Doing of a Thing is worſe then No Reaſon at all.
REFLEXION.
There’s No Recalling of what's Gone and Paſt; ſo that After-Wit comes too Late when the Miſchief is Done. That is to ſay, it comes too late for That Bout. But it is not Amiſs however, for a Man that has gone aſtray, to call to mind where he went out of his Way, and to look back Step by Step into All his Miſcarriages and Miſtakes. The Glaſs of Life is Behind us, and we muſt look into what's Paft, if we would take a View of what’s to Come. A Fault Committed, or a Misfortune Incurr’d, cannot be Recall'd ’tis True; but yet the Meditating upon One Falſe Step may help to Prevent Another. Wherefore ‘tis Good, upon the Point of Common Prudence, to be Thoughtful, provided we be not more Sollicitous then the Thing is worth, and that we make a Right Uſe of Thoſe Reflexions; that is to ſay, an Uſe of Repentance, where we did Morally Amiſs; an Uſe of Rectitying our Judgments, where we did Fooliſhly; and an Uſe of Caution in Both Caſes, never to do the ſame Thing over again. This is no more then what in Conſcience, Equity, and Reaſon we are Bound to do. But we muſt have a care all this while, not to run into Falſe Conſequences for want of laying Things and Things together; and to Sham Fallacyes upon the World for Current Reaſon, as the Nightingale was taken Singing in the Day when ſhe was at Liberty. And what's This to her Reſolution of Singing only in the Night, now the's in the Cage. FAB.
