Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CLXXII
Fab. CLXXII.
A Hound and a Mastiffe.
THere was a Man had Two Dogs; One for the Chace, T'other to look to the House; and whatever the Hound took Abroad, the Honse-Dog had his Part on’t at Home. T'other Grumbled at it, that when He took All the Pains, the Mastiffe should Reap the Fruit of his Labours. Well, says the House-Dog, That’s None of my Fault, but my Masters, that has not Train'd me up to Work for my self, but to Eat what others have Provided for me.
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
MORE People are loft for want of a Good Education and Institution,then for want of Honest and Honourable inclinations; and These are Miscariages that Parents and Tutors are in a Great Measure to Answer for. We are here given to Undersland, — that there are Offices of Trust also, as well as Offices of Labour, and the One as Necessary to the Common Good as the Other. The Mastiffe Maintains the Hound, as well as the Hound the Mastiffe; and if the One did not keep the House from being Robb'd, the Other would have Nothing to Eat in't at all. So that This Fable, upon the Whole Matter, will serve for a Political Reading to Princes and Governors, as well as to Masters of Private Families, upon the Reciprocal Use, Benefit, and Necessity of Industry and Protection betwixt Rulers and Subjects, for the Protecion of a Common-wealth: The One Supplics us with what we Want, ant the Other Supports Us in the Defence of what we Get, and neither would Signifie any thing to us without the Other.