REFLEXION.
This Fable gives to Underſtand, that where Men of Power happen to be Unjuſt and Cruel, all the Prudence and Innocency in the World will not ſave a Man: He that would Thrive in ſuch a Court, muſt Govern himſelf betwixt Sincerity and Adulation. The Art of Pleaſing is not every Man's Talent, neither will the ſame way of Manage work upon all Humours alike. The Art of Pleaſing, is in Truth but the Art of Living; and the Skill of Cutting to a Thrid, betwixt Flattery and Ill Manners; but ſo as to Accommodate the Method and the Application, to the Genius of the Man, or of the People, and to the Quality of the Buſ'neſs in Hand: Not but that there are ſome Caſes and Natures that a Man cannot ſo much as Touch, without Burning his Fingers, and where Truth, Flattery, and Trimming are all Mortal.
We may learn from hence alſo, that Juſtice is ſo Awfully Sacred, that the moſt Faithleſs of Men have a ſecret Veneration for it; for their Uttermoſt Cruelties are cover'd with the ſemblance of it; and in the very Exerciſe of the Vice, they Affect the Reputation of the Vertue. 'Tis neither Prudent nor ſafe, in fine, to Provoke great Men, or indeed to have any thing to do with them, if they be not Men of Honour, as well as of Power; for though their Hands ſeem to be Bound, they can yet Untye themſelves, by Virtue of a Certain Prerogative they have to Play Faſt or Looſe at Pleaſure.
Fab. CCCCXVII.
Two Laden Aſſes.
THere's an Old Story of Two Aſſes Travelling upon the Road, the One Laden with Oats, the other with Mony: The Mony-Merchant I Warrant ye, was ſo Proud of his Truſt, and of his Bell, that he went Juking and Toſſing of his Head, and Tabring with his Feet all the way, as if no Ground would hold him. The other Plodding on with his Noſe in the Breech of his Leader, as Gravely as One Foot could follow another. While they were Jogging on thus upon the Way, out comes a Band of Highway-Men from the next Wood, and falls upon the Aſs that carried the Treaſure. They Beat, Wound and Rifle him, and ſo leave him, without ſo much as taking the leaſt Notice of his Fellow. Well, (ſays the King's Aſs,) and for all this Miſchief I may e'en thank my Mony. Right, ſays the other; and it has been my Happineſs that I was not thought worth the Robbing,
The
