Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/175

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' a Point of Good Dicretion to make a Virtue of a Necceity, and to Content our elves with what we cannot get, though we have never o much a Mind to’t; for ’tis a Turn of Art to eem to Depie what we cannot Compas, and to put off a Micarriage with a Jet; Beide, that it is Better to have People think a man could Gain Such or uch a Point if he Would, then that he Would, but cannot.

The Foxes Put off in This Fable, is a mot Inftructive Point of Philoophy toward the Government of our Lives; Provided that his Fooling may be made our Earnet; as it would be much for our Honour and Quiet o to be. No man can be Mierable if he can but keep Clear of the Snare of Hopes and Fears; and Antidote himelf againt the Flatteries of the One, and the Alarums of the Other: It is a High Point of Chritian, as well as of Civil Prudence; for a man to ay Thus to Himelf beforehand, of a Thing that he has a Mind to [If I cannot get it, I hall be Better without it.] Or if he can but ay after the Miing of it, [It was better Lot then found.] Now if we cannot Arrive at the Pitch of making This Indifference a Virtue indeed, we may however o Diguie it yet, (though in a cafe of Neceity) as to make it Look like One: Not but that it would be much better if we could Attain to the Perfection it elfe, as well as we may in Appearance Cover the Digrace.

I knew a Fine Lady once, and he was a Woman of Sene, Quality, and a very Generous Mind, She lay under Mortifications in abundance, and yet was never Oberv’d to be Peevih, or Angry, upon Any Provocation Whatoever; and the Reaon he gave for’t was This: [It Will make Me Look Old,) So that it is not o much the want of Ability to mater our Affections, as the want of Reolution to go thorough with the Experiment, This is a way to keep us Firm in All Tryals: or if He, that upon a True Principle, lives without any Diquiet of Thought, may be ayd to be Happy. It Emproves All our Diappointments into Providences, when we can let fall the Vain Deire of any thing without Feeling the Los of it. It comes All to a Cae now, upon the force of the Moral, whether we Quit, as the Fox did the Grapes, becaue he could not come at them, or as the Wolfe did the Sheep, becaue he durt not Venture, upon ’em. But be it either the One or the Other, there's a Virtue, and a Bleing in't, Both ways, in getting the Better of our Paions: which might certainly be done if we had but Halfe the Tendernes for our Minds and Conciences, that we have for our Carcaes, and our Fortunes.



Boy was Groping for Eels, and layd his hand upon a Snake, but the Snake, finding it was Pure Simplicity, and not Malice, Admonih’d him of his Mitake; Keep your elf Well while you are Well, ays the Snake; for if you Meddle with Me, You'll Repent your Bargain.