Fab. LXXXVII.
A Woman and a Fat Hen.
A Good Woman had a Hen that laid her Every Day an Egg. Now ſhe fancy'd to her ſelfe, that upon a Larger Allowance of Corn, This Hen might be brought in time to lay twice a day. She Try'd the Experiment; but the Hen grew Fat upon’t, and gave quite over Laying.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
Here’s a Figure of the Folly, and the Miſchief of Vain Deſires, and an Immoderate Love of Riches. Covetouſneſs is enough to make the Maſter of the World as Poor as He that has juſt Nothing; for a Man may be brought to a Morſel of Bread, by Griping, as well as by Profuſion. 'Tis a Madneſs for a Body that has enough already, to Hazard All for the Getting of More, and then upon the Miſcarriage to leave himſelf Nothing. This was the Woman’s Caſe and Fault here. In Few Words, there’s a Juſt Medium betwixt Eating too much, and too Little; and this Dame had Undoubredly Hit upon’t, when the Matter was ſo Order'd, that the Hen brought her Every Day an Egg. But when ſhe came to Enlarge the Hens Allowance for her own Profit, upon an Opinion that more Corn would Produce more Eggs, her Avarice Miſled her into a Diſappointment, which was both a Judgment upon the Sin in the Loſs of what ſhe had before, and an Error in the very Point of Manage, and Good Huſwiv'ry ; for Repletion Obſtructs the moſt Neceſſary Offices-of Nature.
Fab. LXXXVIII.
A Man Bit by a Dog.
ONE that was Bitten by a Dog, was Advis'd, as the Beſt Remedy in the World, to Dip a Piece of Bread in the Bloud of the Wound, and give it the Dog to Eate. [Pray hold Your Hand a little (ſays the Man) unleſs y'ave a mind to Draw All the Dogs in the Town upon me; For That will Certainly be the End on’t, when they ſhall find themſelves Rewarded inſtead of Puniſh’d.
The
