The PREFACE.
Another Man in my Place now, would perhaps take it for a Notable Stroke of Art, and Good Breeding, to Complement the Reader with Twenty Fooleries of Apology, and Excuſe, for ſuch an Undertaking: As if the Honeſteſt and the moſt Neceſſary Part of a Man's Life, and Bus'neſs, were a thing to be Aſham'd of. Now All that I have to ſay upon this Common Place, is in Three Words, that I meant well in what I have done; and let the Performance be what it Will, I Comfort my ſelf yet in the Conſcience of a Good Intention. I ſhall not Charge any of My Failings upon the Importunity of my Friends though I have not Wanted Earneſt and Powerful Inſtances and Encouragements to proceed upon This Work; over and above the Impulſe of a Natural Curioſity and Inclination that led me to't. But theſe were Temptations that I could Eaſily have Reſiſted, or put by, in favour of a Carcaſs that's in a manner, paſt Labour; if it had not been for Another Motive, that I ſhall now tell the Reader in Confidence, and ſo Conclude.
This Rhapſody of Fables is a Book Univerſally Read, and Taught in All our Schools; but almoſt at ſuch a rate as we Teach Pyes and Parrots, that Pronounce the Words without ſo much as Gueſſing at the Meaning of them: Or to take it Another way, the Boys Break their Teeth upon the Shells, without ever coming near the Kernel. They Learn the Fables by Leſſons, and the Moral is the leaſt part of our Care in a Child s Inſtitution: ſo that take Both together, and the One is ſtark Nonſenſe, without the Application of the Other; beſide that the Doctrine it ſelf as we have it, even at the Beſt, falls Infinitely ſhort of the Vigour and Spirit of the Fable. To ſupply This Defect now, tve have had ſeveral Engliſh Paraphraſes and Eſſays upon Æſop, and Divers of his Followers, both in Proſe and Verſe: the Latter have perchance Ventur'd a litte too far from the Preciſe Scope of the Author, upon the Priviledge of a Poetical Licenſe: And for the Other of Ancient Date, the Morals are ſo Inſipid and Flat, and the Style and Diction of the Fables, ſo Courſe and Uncouth, that they are rather Dangerous, than Profitable, as to the purpoſe they we're Principally Intended for; and likely to do Forty times more Miſchief by the One then Good by the Other. An Emblem without a Key to't, is no more then a Tale of a Tub; and that Tale ſillily told too, is but One Folly Grafted upon Another. Children are to be Taught, in the firſt Place, what they Ought to do. 2dly, The Manner of Doing it: And in the third Place, they are to he Inur'd, by the Force of Inſtruction and Good Example, to the Love and Practice of Doing their Duty; whereas on the Contrary, One Step out of the way in the Inſtitution, is enough to Poyſon the Peace, and the Reputation of a whole Life. Whether I have, in this Attempt, Contributed or not, to the Emprovement of theſe Fables, either in the Wording, or in the Meaning of
