REFLEXION.
This is to Reprove the Impertinent, Uſeleſs, and Unreaſonable Demands of Thoſe that firſt Ask what Another cannot Part with, unleſs he be a Stark Fool, or a Mad Man. And 2. That which if they could obtain would be of No Uſe, or Benefit to them at all. The Old Moral carries it to Thoſe alſo that will Part with Nothing to the Poor, even out of their Superfluities: But it ſeems to be Abominably Wreſted, for neither did the One want, nor had the other Any Thing to ſpare.
There are Cerrain Rules to be obſerved, as well in Asking, as Denying. Things againſt Nature are unreaſonable on Both Sides. Things Impoſſible are Ridiculous in the very Propoſal; and Things which the One cannot Spare, and the Other will be never the Better for, fall naturally within the Compaſs of Exceptions. That is to ſay, Thoſe Things that we know not what to do withal if we Had them; and Thoſe Things again, which Another Cannot Part with but to his own Loſs and Shame. Theſe Points are the very Conditions of This Fable. Here's a General Caution againſt Extravagant Deſires, and yet let the Refuſal be never ſo Juſt, it is Poſſible however, that a Man may Oppoſe a moſt Unconſcionable Requeſt for an Unjuſtifiable Reaſon; As in the Caſe for the purpoſe, of an Ill Natur'd Denyal, out of a Diſlike of the Man, rather than of the Thing itſelf.
The Application of This Fable to Avarice, that will part with Nothing, ſeems to be Wreſted; for it ſtrikes more properly upon the Folly of People's not being ſatisfied with the Appointments of Nature. An Ape, with a tayl, would be as ſcandalous, as a Fox without One. Why ſhould not Any One Creature Envy the Whole, as well as any One Part of Another? And why ſhould not an Ape be as much Troubled that he has no Wings, as that he has no Tayle? This Grumbling Humour has Envy in it, Avarice and Ingratitude, and ſets up it ſelf in fine againſt All the Works of the Creation.
Fab. LII.
A Lark and her Young Ones.
THere was a Brood of Young Larks in the Corn, and the Dam, when ſhe went abroad to Forrage for them, laid a Strict Charge upon her Little Ones, to pick up what News they could get againſt ſhe came back again. They told her at her Return, that the Owner of the Field had been there, and Order'd his Neigbours to come and Reap the Corn. Well, ſays the Old One, thers no Danger yet then. They told her the next Day that he had been there again, and Deſir'd his Friends to Do't. Well, well, ſays ſhe, there's no Hurt in That neither, and ſo ſhe went out a Progging for Proviſions again as before. But upon the Third Day, when they told their Mother, that the Maſter and his Son appointed to come the Next Morning about it Themſelves: Nay then,
ſays
