Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/240

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The MORAL.

A Coward in his Caſtle, makes a Great Deal more Bluſter then a Man of Honour.

REFLEXION.

THE Advantages of Time and Place are enough to make a Poultron Valiant. There's Nothing ſo Couragious as a Coward if you put him out of Danger. This way of Brawl and Clamour, is ſo Arrant a Mark of a Daſtardly Wretch, that he does as good as Call himſelf ſo that Uſes it. The Kid behind the Door has the Priviledge of a Lord Mayors Fool. He's under Protection: he One is Scurrilous, and the Other Saucy; and yet Theſe are the Two Qualities that paſs but too frequently in the ⁠ord for Wit and Valour.

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Fab. CCVIII.

An Aſs to Jupiter.

A Certain Aſs that ſerv'd a Gard’ner, and did a great deal of Work for a very Little Meat, fell to his Prayers for Another Maſter. Jupiter Granted his Requeſt, and turn'd him over to a Potter, where he found Clay and Tile ſo much a Heavyer Burden then Roots and Cabbage, that he went to his Prayers once again for Another Change. His next Maſter was a Tanner; and there, over and above the Encreaſe of his Work, the very Trade went againſt his Stomach: For (ſays he) I have been only Pinch'd in my Fleſh, and Well Rib-Roaſted ſometimes under my Former Maſters; but I'm In now for Skin and All.

The Moral.

A Man that is ever Shifting and Changing, is not, in truth, ſo Weary of his Condition, as of Himſelf; And He that ſtill Carries about him the Plague of a Reſtleſs Mind, can never be pleas'd.

REFLEXION.

'TIS a High Point of Prudence for any Man to be Content with his Lot. For ‘tis Forty to One that he that Changes his Condition out of a Preſent Impatience and Diſſatisfaction, when he has try’d a New one, Wiſhes for his Old One again; and Briefly the more we ſhift the Worſe Commonly we Are. This Ariſes from the Inconſtancy of our Minds, and One Prayer does but make way for Another. Thoſe People, in fine, thatare