Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/461

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Force of Natural Reaſon, to Maſter the Temptation of falling either into Preſumption or Deſpair.

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Fab. CCCCXXXIV.

The Owl and the Sun.

THere was a Pinking Owl once upon a very Bright and a Glorious Morning, that fate Sputtering at the Sun; and ask'd him what he meant to ſtand Staring her in the Eyes at that Rate. Well, ſays the Sun, but if your Eyes will not bear the Light, what's your Quarrel to my Beams that Shed it? Do you think it a Reaſonable Thing that the whole VVorld ſhould be Depriv'd of the Greateſt Bleſſing in Nature, to Gratify the Folly, the Arrogance and the Infirmity of One Sot?

The Moral.

There is nothing ſo Excellent, or ſo Faultleſs, but Envy and Detraction will ſind ſomewhat to ſay againſt it.

REFLEXION.

It is no more in the Power of Calumny and Envy to Blaſt the Dignity of a Wiſe and of an Honeſt Man, then it was in the Power of the Blear-Ey'd Owl here, to caſt a Scandal upon the Glory and Greatneſs of the Sun. The Principles of Good and Evil are as Firm, as the Foundations of the Earth, and never had any Man Living the Face yet to make an Open Profeſſion of Wickedneſs in its own Name. Not but that Men

of Vicious Lives and Converſations, have found out ways of Impoſing their Corruptions and Infirmities upon the World for Virtues, under falſe Semblances and Colours. But there's no Man all this while, that ſets up for a Knave or a Coxcomb in Direct Terms. Now the Myſtery of the Cheat lies in the Artificial Diſguiſing of One thing for Another, and in making Evil paſs for Good, and Good for Evil: As every Virtue has its Bordering Vice, and every Vice its Bordering Virtue. So that the Pretence is Fair ſtill, let the Practice be never ſo Foul, and Men will be trying to bring down the Rule to the Error, where they cannot Reconcile the Error to the Rule. When People have once Inverted the Meaſures of Moral Equity, and Natural Reaſon, and brought the Queſtion of Right or Wrong; ſo far as in them lies, to a Falſe Standard, there follows in courſe, an Envious Malevolence upon the Oppoſition. As for Example; A Fool Naturally Hates a Philoſopher: A Debauchee does as Naturally Hate a Man of good Government, and Moderation. A Man of Conſcience and Religion is as much an Eye-Sore to a Profligate Atheiſt: And a Mercenary Knight of the Poſt has juſt as much Kindneſs for a Man of Probity and Virtue. To Conclude the Moral, There are of theſeOwls