REFLEXION.
It requires Great Care and Circumſpection, that we Weigh and Ballance things before we pronounce them to be either Good or Evil: For Men are Thankful many times for direct Maledictions, and Mortify themſelves upon the Miſtake of Imaginary Bleſſings. 'Twas a Wiſe Frog that Advis’d her Fellows to think well on't, before they rung the Bells for the Sun's Wedding. This Fancy looks toward the Caſe of a Republican Humour that has got a-head in a Monarchial State, Now Empire is not to be ſhar’d in Comfort; and when Sovereignty Marries, 'tis no longer Single but Popular; and ſtill the Greater the Number of Governors, the Heavier is the Height of the Government. Now though the Order of Superiority and Subjection be of Abſolute Neceſſity for the good of Mankind, this does not yet hinder it in many reſpects, from being Grievous to thoſe that live under it; every common Man would be Free, and thinks himſelf Wrong’d if he be not ſo. Now this is for want of Underſtanding the True and Natural Reaſon of the Matter; which is, that when One Government comes to be Diſlolv'd, the Firſt thing to be done is to fall to Cutting of Throats toward the ſetting up of Another.
Fab. CCCCVI.
The Fox Condemn'd.
THere was a Fox (as the Story has it) of a very Lewd Life and Converſation, that happen'd at laſt to be Catch'd in his Roguery, and call'd to Account for the Innocent Blood he had ſpilt of Lambs, Pullets and Geeſe without Number, and without any Senſe either of Shame or of Conſcience. While he was in the hands of Juſtice, and on his way to the Gibbet, a Freak took him in the Head to go off with a Conceit. You Gentlemen, the King’s Officers, ſays he, I have no Mind in the World to go to the Gallows by the Common Road; but if you'll carry me through the Little Wood there on the Right Hand, I ſhould take it very kindly. The People fancy'd a Trick in't at Firſt, and that there might be ſome Thought of a Reſcue, or an Eſcape in the Caſe; till Reynard Aſſur'd them upon his Honour, that he had no ſuch Deſign: Only he was a great Lover of Muſick, and he had rather have one Chirping Madrigal in the Woods, then Forty from Turks and Popes upon the Ladder.
The
