Fab. CCXLVIII.
An Ape and her Two Brats.
THERE was an Ape that had Two Twins. She Doted upon One of them, and did not much Care for T’other. She took a ſudden Fright once, and in a Hurry whips up her Darling under her Arm, and carries the Other a Pick-a-Pack upon her Shoulders. In This Haſte and Maze, Down ſhe comes, and beats out her Favourites Brains againſt a Stone; but That which ſhe had at her Back came off Safe and Sound.
The MORAL.
Fondlings are Commonly Unfortunate.
REFLEXION.
PARTIALITY in a Parent is commonly Unlucky, if not a little Unnatural, for Fondlings are in danger to be made Fools, by the very Error of their Education, and we find it Experimentally that the Children that are leaſt Cocker'd make the Beſt, and Wiſeſt Men. ’Tis well to be Tender, but to ſet the Heart too much upon any thing, is what we cannot Juſtify, either in Religion, or in Reaſon. I was Saying that Partiality was a little Unnatural too. I do not mean a Partiality of Inclination; for we cannot Command our Likings, or our Averſions; but I ſpeak of a Partiality that ſhews it ſelf in a Diſtinguiſhing Preference of One to the Other, and therefore what Hankering Diſpoſitions ſoever we may have, That Fondneſs ſhould not Tranſport us beyond the Bounds of a Diſcreet Affection: And Other Circumſtances apart, we ſhould no more be Kinder to One Child then to Another, then we are Tender of One Eye more then of the Other; for they are Both our Own Fleſh and Bloud alike. Children are Naturally Jealous, and Envious, and the Quenching of their Spirits ſo Early, Hazzards the Damping of them forever. Beſide, that there is no ſuch Fop in Fine, as my Young Maſter that has the Honour to be a Fool of his Lady Mothers Making. She Blows him up with a Conceit of Himſelf. and there he Stops without ever Advancing One Step further. In ſhort, ſhe makes a Man of him at Sixteen, and a Boy all the Days of his Life after. And what is All This now, but the True Moral of the Ape with her Brats here in the Fable? The Cub that ſhe carry’d at her Back had the Wit to Shift for it ſelf; but the Other, that ſhe Hugg'd as the Devil did the Witch, Periſh’d in her very Arms.
FAB.
