The Moral.
REFLEXION.
This Fable will bear Divers Morals; as Firſt, That it is but Due Gratitude to be Thankful to our Preſervers. Secondly, The Crane's Good Fortune can hardly Excuſe his Facility. And then the Crane did Ill again to Inſiſt upon a Reward; for a Good Office pays it ſelf; neither was he reaſonably to Expect that ſo Perfidious a Creature ſhould keep Touch with him. Thirdly, Though the Wolf was to blame for not making Good his Promiſe, there is yet in Equity a kind of a Reward, in not Chopping off his Head when he had it at Mercy.
The Caſe of the Crane here, is a Caſe of Conſcience; for 'tis a Nice Buſineſs to Determine, how far Wicked Men in their Diſtreſſes May be Reliev'd; How far they Ought to be Reliev'd; and to what Degree of Loſs, Labor, and Difficulty, a Sober, a Wiſe, and a Good Man may Interpoſe to their Redreſs. He may Give; he may Lend, he may Venture, ſo far as Generoſity and Good Nature ſhall prompt him; provided always that he go no farther than the Conſcience of the Cauſe, or of the Action will Warrant him. A Man is at Liberty, 'tis true, to do many Kind and Brave Offices, which he is not Bound to do: And if the Largeneſs of his Heart ſhall carry him beyond the Line of Neceſſary Prudence, we may reckon upon it only as a more Illuſtrious Weakneſs.
Here is a Fiction of One Crane that ſcap'd, that there might not want One Inſtance of an Encouragement to a Dangerous Act of Charity: But this One Inſtance is not yet ſufficient to juſtifie the making a Common Practice of it, upon the ſame Terms. 'Tis poſſible for One Blot not to be Hit; or to be Over-ſeen perhaps. And ſo 'tis as poſſible for One Ill Man, either not to think of the Miſchief he could do, or to flip the Occaſion of it; but ſuch a Deliverance however, is a Thing to Thank Providence for, without ſtanding upon a Reward for the Service. The Bone in the Throat of the Wolf may be Underſtood of any fort of Pinch, or Calamity, either in Body, Liberty, or Fortune. How many do we fee Daily, Gaping and Struggling with Bones in their Throats, that when they have gotten them drawn out, have Attempted the Ruine of their Deliverers! The World, in ſhort, is full of Practices and Examples to Anſwer the Intent of this Fable; and there are Thouſands of Conſciences that will be Touch'd with the Reading of it, whoſe Names are not written in their Foreheads.
Fab. IX.
A Countryman and a Snake
A Countryman happened in a Hard Winter to ſpy a Snake under a Hedg, that was half Frozen to Death. The Man was Good Naturd, and Took it up. and kept it in his Boſom till Warmth brought it to Life again; and ſo ſoon as ever it
