FABLES AND ANIMALS.

33

The MASTIFF and the HOUND.

THERE was a man had two dogs, one for the chase, and the other to look to the house. Whatever the Hound took abroad, the Mastiff had his part of at home. The other grumbled at it, complaining, that though he took all the pains, the Mastiff reaped the fruit of his labours. Well, says the Mastiff, that is not my fault, but my master's, who has not trained me up to work for myself, but to eat what others have provided for me.

F

THE APPLICATION.

More people are lost for want of good education and instruction, than for want of honest and honourable inclinations; and these are miscarriages that parents and tutors have, in a great measure, to answer for. We are here given to understand, that there are offices of trust as well as offices of labour, and that the one is as necessary to the common good as the other. The Mastiff maintains the Hound, as well as the Hound the Mastiff; and if the one did not keep the house from being robbed, the other would have nothing to eat in it at all. So that this fable, upon the whole, may serve as a lesson to princes and governors, as well as to masters of private families, upon the reciprocal use, benefit, and necessity of industry and protection between rulers and subjects, for the preservation of the state: the one supplies us with what we want, and the other supports us in defence of what we get, and neither could long exist without the other.

FABLES AND ANIMALS.

35

The CAT and the MICE.

THE Mice called a general council; and having met, after the doors were locked, entered into a free consultation about ways and means how to render their fortunes and estates more secure from the danger of the Cat. Many things were offered, and much was debated, pro and con, upon the matter. At last a young Mouse, in a fine florid speech, concluded upon an expedient, and that the only one, which was to put them for the future entirely out of the power of the enemy; and this was, that the Cat should wear a bell about her neck, which, upon the least motion, would give the alarm, and be a signal for them to retire into their holes. This speech was received with great applause, and it was even proposed by some, that the Mouse who made it should have the thanks of the assembly. Upon which, an old grave Mouse, who had sat silent all the while, stood up, and, in another speech, owned that the contrivance was admirable, and the author of it, without doubt, an ingenious Mouse; but, he said, he thought it would not be so proper to vote him thanks, till he should farther inform them how this bell was to be fastened about the Cat's neck, and what Mouse would undertake to do it.

THE APPLICATION.

Many things appear feasible in speculation, which are afterwards. found to be impracticable: and since the execution of any thing is that which is to complete and finish its very existence, what raw counsellors are those who advise, what precipitate politicians those who proceed to the management of, things in their nature incapable of answering their own expectations, or their promises to others! At the same time, the fable teaches us, not to expose ourselves in any of our little politic coffee-house committees, by determining what should be done upon every occurrence of mal-administration, when we have neither commission nor power to execute it. He that, upon such occasions, adjudges, as a preservative for the state, that this or that should be applied to the neck of those who have been enemies to it, will appear fully as ridiculous as the Mouse in the fable, when the question is asked, Who shall put it there? In reality, we do but expose ourselves to the hatred of some, and the contempt of others, when we inadvertently utter our impracticable speculations, in respect of the public, either in private companies or authorized assemblies.