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Æſop's FABLES.
Fab. XCIV.
An Aſtrologer and a Traveller.
A Certain Starr-Gazer had the Fortune, in the very Height of his Celeſtial Obſervations, to ſtumble into a Ditch: A ſober Fellow paſſing by, pave him a piece of Wholeſome Counſel. Friend, ſays he, Make a Right Uſe of Your Preſent Miſfortune; and pray, for the Future, let the Starrs go on quietly in their Courſes, and do you look a little Better to the Ditches.
The MORAL of the Three Fables above.
There needs no more than Impudence and Ignorance, on the One Side, and a Superſtitious Credulity on the Other, to the Setting up of a Fortune Teller.
REFLEXION.
This ſerves for a Reproof to the Ignorance and Confidence of Figure-Flingers, Starr-Gazers, that pretend to Foretell the Fortunes of Kingdoms and States, and yet have no Foreſight at all in what concerns Themſelves.
The Moral of theſe Fables ſtrikes upon the Vanity and Arrogance of Empyricks and Impoſtors Themſelves, and upon the Folly of the Fond Believers of them. The Caution holds alſo againſt Unlawful Curioſities; Sickly, and Superſtitious Fancyes and Dreams; Fore-bodings of Ill Luck; as the Croſſing of a Hare, the Spilling of Salt, &c. This Humour, let it look never ſo Little, and Silly, (as it paſſes many times only for Frolique and Banter) is One yet of the moſt Pernicious Snares in Humane Liſe; when it comes once to get Poſſeſſion, and to Gain Credit; Eſpecially among Women and Children, where the Imagination is ſtrong in the One, and the Diſpoſition as Plyant as Wax for any Impreſſion, in the other. Wherefore, of All Things in This World, Care is to be Taken, that they get not a Hankering after Theſe Juggling Aſtrologers, Gypsies, Wizzards, Fortune-Tellers, Conjurers, Quacks, Cunning Women, &c. To ſay Nothing of the Fooleries of Fortune-Books, and a Hundred other Vulgar Wayes of Enquiry into the Event of Amours, Marriages, Life and Death, Travel, Play, or the like; which is all but a Tincture of the ſame Capital Infirmity. If theſe Pretenders were not better Supported by the Simplicity, and Devotion of the Inquiſitive Fooles that Conſult Thoſe Oracles, then they are by any Congruity of Premiſſes and Concluſions or by the Ordinary Way of Tracing Cauſes into their Effects, the Trade would not find ’em Bread; for there's No Proportion at all betwixt the Meanes, and the End. Not but that the Things they ſeem to Predict, come many times to paſs; Yet ſtill the nearer the Mark in their Conjecturcs, the more ſuſpicious is the Profeſſion on the One Hand, and the more Dangerous is the Credulity on the Other: For Thoſe People that take upon them to Reſolve ſuch Doubts, Scruples, and Difficulties, as are not to be known by any Natural Proceſs of Reaſoning; and thoſe Men that will be Prying
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