Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/74

20 ome Ditinction of Good and Evil, by Certain Equitable Rules and Methods of Reward and Punihment. Jupiter, that knew the Vanity of their Hearts, threw them down a Log for their Governour; which, upon the firt Dah, frighted the whole Mobile of them into the Mudd for the very fear on't. This Panick Terror kept them in Awe for a while, 'till in good time, one Frog, Bolder than the Ret, put up his Head, and look'd about him, to ee how quares went with their New King. Upon This, he calls his Fellow-Subjects together; Opens the truth of the Cae; and Nothing would erve them then, but Riding a-top of him, Inomuch that the Dread they were in before, is now turn'd into Inolence, and Tumult. This King they aid was too Tame for them, and Jupiter mut needs be Entreated to end 'ern Another: He did lo, but Authors are Divided upon it, whether 'twas a Stork, or a Serpent; though whether of the Two oever it was, he left them neither Liberty, nor Property, but made a Prey of his Subjects. Such was their Condition in fine, that they ent Mercury to Jupiter yet once again for Another King, whoe Anwer was This: They that will not be Contented when they are Well, mut be Patient when Things are Amis with them; and People had better Ret where they are, than go farther, and fare Wore.

Fable, under the Emblem of the Frogs, ets forth the Murmuring, and the Unteadines of the Common People; that in a State of Liberty will have a King: They do not like him when they have him, and o Change again, and grow Sicker of the Next, than they Were of the Former. Now the Bus'nes is only this: They are never atisfy'd with their preent Condition; but their Governors are till either too Dull, or too Rigid. 'Tis a Madnes for him that's Free, to put himelf into a Hate of Bondage, and rather than bear a Les Misfortune to Hazzard a Greater.

This Alluion of the Frogs runs upon All Four (as they ay) in the Reemblance of the Multitude, both for the Humour, the Murmur, the Importunity, and the ubject-Matter of the Petition. Redres of Grievances is the Quetion, and the Devil of it is, that the Petitioners are never to be pleas'd. In one Fit they cannot be Without Government: In Another they cannot bear the Toak on't. They find Abolute Freedom to be a Direct State of War; for where there's no Means of either preventing Strife, or Ending it, the Weaker are till a Prey to the Stronger. One King is too Soft, and Eaie for them; Another too Fierce! And then a Third Change would