Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/152

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The MORAL.

Great Boaſters and Lyars have the Fortune ſtill ſome way or other to Diſprove themſelves.

REFLEXION.

There are fome Falſities ſo Bold and Notorious, that they carry their Contradictions in the very Reaſon and Preſumption of the Matter, without any other Evidence.

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Fab. CIV.

A Fox and Huntſmen.

A Fox that had been Hard-run, begg’d of a Countryman that he ſaw at Work in a Wood, to help him to ſome Hiding-Place. The Man Directed him to his Cottage, and thither he went. He was no ſooner got in, but the Huntſmen were preſently at the Heels of him, and asked the Cottager if he did not ſee a Fox That Way? No tnuly, ſays he, I ſaw None; but Pointed at the ſame time with his Finger to the Place where he lay. The Huntſmen did not take the Hint, it ſeems; but the Fox ſpy'd him, it ſeems, through a Peeping Hole he had found out to ſee what News: ſo the Fox-Hunters went their Way, and then Out ſteals the Fox, without One Word ſpeaking, Why how now, ſays the Man, Han't ye the Manners to take leave of your Hoſt before you go? Yes, yes, ſays the Fox; If you had been as Honeſt of your Fingers, as you were of your Tongue, I ſhould not have gone without bidding ye Farewell.

The MORAL.

A Man may tell a Lye by Signs, as well as in Words at length, and his Conſcience is as Anſierable for his Fingers, as for his Tongue.

REFLEXION.

There's No Truſting of Thoſe that Say One Thing, and Do Another, Eſpecially if they follow Fair Words with Foul Deeds. Here's a Caſe of Honour, and of Conſcience, Both in One, upon the Matter of Hoſpitality, and of Truſt. The Laws of Hoſpitality are Sacred on the One Side, and ſo are the Duties we Owe to our Country on the Other. If we Conſicer the Truſt, Faith muſt not be Broken; If the Common Enemy, his Councel is not to be kept. The Wood Man did as good as Tacitly promiſe the Fox a Santuary; but not being Sui Juris, he promis’d more then he could War-rantably