Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/121

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Now if you'll go along with Me, and do as I do, you may fare as I fare. The Wolfe Struck up the Bargain, and ſo away they Trotted together: But as they were Jogging on, the Wolfe ſpy'd a Bare Place about the Dogs Neck, where the Hair was worn off, Brother (ſays he) how comes this I prethee? Oh, That’s Nothing, ſays the Dog, but the Fretting of my Collar a little. Nay, ſays T'other, if there be a Collar in the Caſe, I know Better Things than to ſell my Liberty for a Cruſt.

The Moral.

We are ſo Dazzel'd with the Glare of a Splendid Appearance, that we can hardly Diſcern the Inconveniencies that Attend it. ’Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and Warm Lodging: But He that ſells bis Freedom for she Cramming of his Gutt , has but a Hard Bargain of it.

REFLEXION.

In This Emblem is ſet forth the Bleſſing of Liberty, and the Sordid Meanneſs of thoſe Wretches that ſacrifice their Freedom to their Luſts, and their Palates. What Man in his Right Senſes, that has wherewithal to Live Free, would make himſelf a Slave for Superfluities! The Wolfe would have been well enough Content to have Barter’d away a Ragged Coat, and a Raw: Bon’d Carcafs, for a Smooth and a Fat One; but when they came to talk of a Collar once, away Marches He to His Old Trade in the Woods again, and makes the Better Choice of the Two.

To ſpeak to the Firſt Point, we are lyable to be Impos'd upon by Outſides aud Appearances, for want of Searching things to the Bottom, and Examining what Really they are, and what they Only ſeem to be. This Fiction of the Wolfe, is a Reproof to Eager Appetites, and Over-Haſty Judgments, that will not give themſelves time to Ballance Accounts, and Compute Before hand, whether they are to get or Loſe by the Bargain. It holds as well againſt Intemperate Curioſities, and Raſh Wiſhes, That is to ſay, againſt the Folly of the One, and the Wickedneſs of the Others for if we come once to take Evil for Good, our very Prayers are turn'd into Sin: But what with a Certain Itch of Prying into, and Meddling with Other Peoples Matters, and a Natural Levity that puts us upon Shifting and Changing, we fall inſenſibly into a Thouſand Inconveniencies: and when it comes to That once, that we find our ſelves Uneaſie at Home, and no Reſting-Place in our Own Thoughts, (where Reſt is Only to be had) we are e'en glad to run away from our Selves, and Hunt abroad for’t where ‘tis never to be found. This is the Common Root of all our Wandrings and Errors. We Spend our Time, and our Peace, in Purſuit of Things wholly Forreign to our Buſineſs, and which will Certainly Deceive us at laſt.

Thus it Is, and Thus it muſt be, ſo long as we take Every thing by a Wrong Handle, and only Calculate upon our Own Misfortunes, without any Allowance for the Comforts that we Enjoy. And fo we reckon upon our Neighbours Enjoyments, on the Other hand, without any Conſideration for the Hardſhips that They Endure. Oh that I had but ſuch a Palace! Says One; Such an Eſlate; Such a Retinue; This Glorious Train; That Lovely Woman, &c. Nay the Envious Freak Deſcends to the very Pointand