ſays ſhe, ‘tis time to look about us: As for the Neighbours and the Friends, I fear 'em not: but the Maſter Imſure will be as good as his Word; for ‘tis his own Bus'neſs.
Fab. LIII.
The Stag and the Oxen.
A Stag that was hard ſet by the Huntſmen, betook himſelf to a Stall for Sanétuary, and prevail’d with the Oxen to Conceal him the beſt they could, ſo they cover'd him with Straw, and by and by in comes the Keeper to Dreſs the Cattel, and to Feed them; and when he had done his Work he went his Way without any Diſcovery. The Stag reckon’d himſelf by This Time to be out of All Danger; but One of the Oxen that had more Brains than his Fellows, adyis‘d him not to be too Confident neither; for the Servant, ſays he, is a Puzzling Fool that heeds Nothing; but when my Maſter comes, he'll have an Eye Here and There and Every where, and will moſt certainly find ye out. Upon the very Speaking of the Word, in comes the Maſter, and He ſpics out Twenty Faults, I warrant ye; This was not Well, and That was not Well; till at laſt, as he was Prying and Groping up and down, he felt the Horns of the Stag under the Straw, and ſo made Prize of him.
The Moral of the Two Fables above.
REFLEXION.
We are likewiſe given to underſtand, in the Misfortune, and Miſtake of the Stag, how Rare a Felicity it is for a Man in Diſtreſs, to find out ſuch a Patron as has the Will and the Reſolution, the Skill, and the Power, to Relieve him; and that it is not Every Man’s Talent neither, to make the Beſt of a Bad Game. The Morality of this Caution is as good a Leſſon toGovernments,
