Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/476
REFLEXION.
This Parable of the Hedge and the Vineyard may be aptly enough expounded of the Laws that ſecure a Civil Community. So long as the Encloſure is kept up, and maintain'd, the Peace and the Order of the Publick is Provided for; but if it be ſuffer'd by neglect, either to fall to Decay, or to be over-born by Violence, and all laid in common, the Beaſts of the Forreſt break into’t, and of a Vineyard it becomes a Wilderneſs. This Fable marks out to us alſo the double Folly of thoſe that Firft Diſappoint the Intent, Uſe and Benefit of Things, for want of Underſtanding the Reaſon of them. And Secondly, ground all this upon as groſs a Miſtake of 'em: For what's his Quarrel to the Hedge, but that his Thorns and his Brambles did not bring forth Raiſins rather then Haws and Blackberries?
Fab. CCCCL.
A Bull and a Gnat.
A Gnat that had Planted himſelf upon the Horn of a Bull, very Civilly begg’d the Bull's Pardon for his Importunity; but rather then Incommode ye, ſays he, I'll Remove. Oh never Trouble your Head for that, ſays the Bull; for 'tis all One to me whether you go or ſtay. I never felt ye when you ſat down, and I ſhall take as Little Notice of ye when you Riſe.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
There are a Thouſand Frivolous and Impertinent Pretenſions of Civility that are ſtruck at in this Fable; and they well deſerve to be Corrected; for it is certainly one of the moſt Nauſeous, Mawmiſh Mortifications under the Sun, for a Man of Senſe and Buſ'neſs to have to do with a Punctual, Finical Fop, that’s too too Mannerly, and does every thing forſooth by Rule and Compaſs: Eſpecially where his Quality, Relation, or Authority Entitles him to a Reſpect.
Fab.