To the Youth of the British Isles.
In collecting together, for your use and benefit, some of the prudential maxims, and moral apothegms, of the ancient sages, the Publishers of this volume have been stimulated by an ardent desire to render this excellent mode of instruction as agreeable as possible; and, at the same time, to impress the precepts contained in the Fables more forcibly on your minds, they have endeavoured to make the embellishments worthy of your notice and examination.
If the seeds of morality and patriotism be early sown, they will spring up, and ripen to maturity, in a confirmed love of truth, integrity and honour; and without these for his guide, no man can do credit to himself or his country. This consideration is of vital importance; for our comfort and happiness through life, mainly depend upon a strict adherence to the rules of morality and religion. The youth who is early tutored in an invincible regard for his own character, will soon perceive the duties imposed upon him by society, and will have pleasure in fulfilling them, as much for his own satisfaction as for the sake of his fellow men: but when the latent powers of the mind are neglected, or not directed into the paths of rectitude, by good precepts and worthy examples, vice and folly enter the opening, and lead their victim into evils and errors, which render his life miserable, and sometimes hurry him into an ignominious grave.
To delineate the characters and passions of men, under the semblance of Lions, Tigers, Wolves, and Foxes, is not so extravagant a fiction as it may at first sight seem: for the innocent and inexperienced will find, when they engage in the busy scenes of the world, that they will have to deal with men of dispositions not unlike those animals; and that their utmost vigilance will be required to guard against their violence or machinations.
In attempting to form an estimate of the characters of mankind, many gradations and shades will be found between the two extremes of virtue and vice. The philanthropist views with feelings of benevolence the wavering balance, and adds those he finds on the confines, to the number of the virtuous; while the misanthrope, with gloomy malignity, endeavours to include within the circle of vice, those who are standing upon the ill-defined line of division, and thus swells the number of the bad. Both observe with pain, that great numbers exist, whose whole lives seem to be spent in disfiguring the beautiful order which might otherwise reign in society, regardless of the misery which their wickedness scatters around them. They see men, who suffer their bad passions and gross appetites to be the sole rule of their conduct; and whether these shew themselves in an inordinate ambition, a thirst after false glory, or an insatiable avarice, their consequences are pernicious, and diffuse evil, distress, and ruin among mankind, in proportion to the extent to which their baneful influence reaches. The misanthrope, in contemplating the scene of mischief and disorder, is apt to arraign the wisdom and justice of Providence for permitting it to exist; but the philanthropist views it with a more extended range of vision; and while he laments the evil, he attributes the apparent want of human feelings in the actors, to an early perversion of intellect, or to a stifling of the reasoning power given by the Great Creator to man for his guide, and without which he is the worst animal in the creation, a mere two-legged Tiger. Upon the childhood and youth of such men, the great truth taught by the inspired and wisest writers of all ages, that “no life can be pleasing to God which is not useful to man,” has not been sufficiently impressed, or probably the energy with which they pursue their wicked career might have been led into a different course, and instead of the scourges, they would have been the benefactors of mankind.
When religion and morality are blended together in the mind, they impart their blessings to all who seek the aid of the one and obey the dictates of the other, and their joint effects are seen and felt in the perpetual cheerfulness they impart. They incite the innocent whistle of the ploughman at his plough, of the cobler in his stall, and the song of the milk-maid at her pail: and it is a sign of their being perverted, when they engender melancholy notions; for these are the offspring of bigotry, fanaticism, and ignorance. The service of the Omnipotent is not of this gloomy cast; he has spread out the table of this beautiful world of wonders, for the use of his creatures, and has placed man at the head of it, that he might enjoy its bounties, as well as prepare himself for the approaching change to another, which inspiration has powerfully impressed on his soul as the unknowable region of his next advance. The materialist, in his dreary reveries, cannot comprehend this, neither will he acknowledge that his being placed here is equally as miraculous as that he should be placed in another world or worlds, progressively to improve, to all eternity: but to harbour doubts on this subject, is like disputing the wisdom, the justice, and the mercy of the Author of our being, who, according to the conceptions we form of his goodness, as exhibited in the design, the grandeur, and the immensity of creation, where every thing is systematic, regular, and in order, would never decree that man should be placed here instinctively to know his Maker—to take a short peep at the stupendous, the amazing whole—to view all these, and have powers of mind given him only to know and repugnantly to feel, that after a life mixed with turmoil, grief, and disease, he is to be annihilated! In our conception of things, and to the limited understanding which has been given us, all this would appear to be labour in vain.
The volume of the creation speaks alike to all, and cannot be defaced by man; but the ways of Providence are beyond his comprehension. Omnipotence has not been pleased to gratify his pride and vanity, nor to consult his understanding, in the government of the universe; but sufficient has been disclosed unto him to point out the moral duties he owes to society, and the religious worship due to his Maker, without groping after what is utterly beyond his reach: for our feeble reason is too weak to comprehend the divine essence; and our thoughts, on their utmost stretch, roll back on darkness. We reason, but we err: for how can we comprehend the immensity of endless space, of time and eternity, a beginning or an end; or what conceptions can we form of the Power which made the sun and worlds without number? Truly, this is far too much for a finite being, who does not know why he can move one of his own fingers, or cease to do so when he pleases! But all may know and fulfil their religious obligations, by reverencing and adoring their Creator, and walking humbly before him, and their moral duties, by being in their several stations, good sons, brothers, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, neighbours, and members of society.
Having, with humble diffidence, in this masquerade of life, attempted to point out to youth the exterior of the temple of virtue, and to lead them to its steps, the Editor leaves them there, respectfully recommending them to explore the whole interior, under the guidance of men more eminent for their mental powers and attainments in learning, philosophy, and piety. Of these, an illustrious band have placed, at every avenue and turning, their inestimable works, as directions to guide us to usefulness and respectability here, and eternal happiness hereafter.
Newcastle, September, 1818.
From time to time, in all ages, men inspired, or gifted with a superior degree of intellectual power, have appeared upon the stage of life, in order (by enlightening others) to fulfil the designs of Omnipotence, in uniting the world in a state of civilized society.
Patriarchs, or heads of families, at first directed or governed those who were immediately dependent upon them: these in time increased, and became clans; these again, by their quarrels, and their wars, were induced to elect chieftains or kings over a number of united clans—from which were formed the various nations and kingdoms of the earth. In this early stage of the world, when men were ignorant and uncivilized, the chase and war seem almost wholly to have occupied their time and attention. Their kings ruled over them with despotic sway, and the will of the prince was the only law: and thus the barbarism of the subject and the tyranny of the ruler went hand in hand together. That over-swollen pride, which seems the natural accompaniment of despotic power, blinds the understandings of its possessors, and renders them wholly regardless of the important trust reposed in them. The evils arising out of their bad government, are felt, more or less, by the whole people over whom they preside; and pride and arrogance prevent the approach of sincerity and truth. The sycophant and the slave then only find admission, and all other men are kept at a distance. While kings and governors were of this character, the voice of truth could only reach their ears through allegory and fable, which took their rise in the infancy of learning, and seem to have been the only safe mode of conveying admonition to tyrants. This pleasing method of instilling instruction into the mind, has been found by experience to be the shortest and best way of accomplishing that end, among all ranks and conditions of men.
The first Fable upon record, is that of Jotham and the Trees, in the Bible; and the next, that of The Poor Man and his Lamb, as related by Nathan to King David, and which carried with it a blaze of truth that flashed conviction on the mind of the royal transgressor. Lessons of reproof, religion, and morality, were, we find, continually delivered in this mode, by the sages of old, to the exalted among mankind.
It is asserted by authors, that Apologues and Fables had their origin in the Eastern world, and that the most ancient of them were the productions of Veesh-nou Sarma, commonly called Pilpay, whose beautiful collections of Apologues were esteemed as sacred books in India and Persia, whence they were spread abroad among other nations, and were by them celebrated and holden in much estimation. They were translated from the Persian and Arabian into Greek, by Simeon Seth, a man of great learning, who was an officer of the imperial household at Constantinople about the year 1070. Seth’s Version was imitated in Latin by Piers Alfonse, a converted Jew, as early as the year 1107; and this is supposed to have been the first version of Pilpay’s Apologues that made its way, and became familiarized in Europe. The time in which Pilpay lived, seems not to be certainly known to the learned; but some of them suppose that the Fables of Æsop and others were grounded upon his models. The time in which Æsop lived is better ascertained, and of all the Fabulists who have amused and instructed mankind by their writings, his name stands pre-eminent. Authors fix his birth-place at Cotieum, in Phrygia Major. But the history of this remarkable person, who lived about 572 years before Christ, and about 100 years before Herodotus, the Greek historian, has been so involved in mystery, traditionary stories, and absurd conjectures, that any attempt to give a detail from such materials, would only serve to bewilder youth, and lead them into a labyrinth of error; and it would be impertinent to trouble the learned reader with that which must be sufficiently familiar to him.A The whole of the absurd fictions concerning this wise and amiable man, were invented by Maximus Planudes, a Greek monk.B Plutarch, and other authentic historians,C have, however, given a very different account of the illustrious Fabulist. It would appear, according to some of these relations, that Æsop, originally a shepherd’s boy, had risen from the condition of a slave, to great eminence, and that he lived in the service of Xanthus and Judman, or Idmon, in the island of Samos, and afterwards at Athens. Phædrus speaks of him as living the greater part of his life at the latter place, where, it appears, a handsome statue, executed by the hand of the famous statuary Lysippus, was erected to his memory, and placed before those of the seven sages of Greece.D He also notices his living at Samos, and interesting himself in a public capacity, in the administration of the affairs of that place; where Aristotle also introduces him as a public speaker, and records the fact of his reciting the fable of the Fox and the Hedgehog,E while pleading on behalf of a minister, upon the occasion of his being impeached for embezzling the public treasure. Æsop is also mentioned as speaking in a public capacity to the Athenians, at the time when Pisistratus seized upon their liberties.F Upon each of these occasions he is represented as having introduced a Fable into his discourse, in a witty and pleasing manner. He was holden in the highest veneration and esteem in his day, by all men eminent for their wisdom and virtue. It appears there was scarcely an author among the ancient Greeks who mixed any thing of morality in his writings, that did not either quote or mention Æsop. Plato describes Socrates as turning some of Æsop’s Fables into verse, during those awful hours which he spent in prison, immediately before his death. Aristophanes not only takes hints from Æsop, but mentions him much to his honour, as one whose works were, or ought to be, read before any other. Ennius and Horace have embellished their poetry from his stores; and ancient sages and authors all concur in bearing the most ample testimony to his distinguished merits. Plutarch, in his imaginary banquet of the seven wise men, among several other illustrious persons of ancient times, celebrated for their wit and knowledge, introduces Æsop, and describes him as being very courtly and polite in his behaviour. Upon the authority of Plutarch also, we fix the life of Æsop in the time of Crœsus, king of Lydia, who invited him to the court of Sardis. By this prince, he was holden in such esteem, as to be sent as his envoy to Periander, king of Corinth, which was about three hundred and twenty years after the time in which Homer lived, and 550 before Christ. He was also deputed by Crœsus to consult the oracle of Delphi. While on this embassy, he was ordered to distribute to each of the citizens, four minæG of silver, but some disputes arising between them and Æsop, he reproached them for their indolence, in suffering their lands to lie uncultivated, and in depending on the gratuities of strangers for a precarious subsistence: the quarrel, which it would appear ran high between them, ended in Æsop’s sending back the money to Sardis. This so exasperated the Delphians, that they resolved upon his destruction; and that they might have some colour of justice for what they intended, they concealed among his effects, when he was taking his departure from Delphi, a gold cup, consecrated to Apollo; and afterwards pursuing him, easily found what they themselves had hidden. On the pretext that he had committed this sacrilegious theft, they carried him back to the city, and notwithstanding his imprecating upon them the vengeance of heaven, they immediately condemned him to be cast from the rock Hypania, as the punishment of the pretended crime. Ancient historians say, that for this wickedness, the Delphians were for a long time visited with pestilence and famine, until an expiation was made, and then the plague ceased.
A The curious enquirer is referred to the Essay on the Æsopean Fable, by Sir Brooke Boothby, bart. from which this sketch is extracted.
B Planudes lived at Constantinople in the 14th century. His Fables were printed at Milan, A.D. 1480.
C The first person who took great pains to detect and expose the follies and absurdities of Planudes’s Life of Æsop, and collected what could be known, was Bachet de Mezeriac, a man of great learning, who flourished about the year 1632.
D These sages were Solon, Thales, Chilo, Cleobulus, Bias, Pittacus, and Periander, to whom Laertius adds Anacharsis, Maro, Pherecydes, Epimenides, and Pisistratus.
E “Ye men of Samos, let me entreat you to do as the Fox did; for this man, having got money enough, can have no further occasion to rob you; but if you put him to death, some needy person will fill his place, whose wants must be supplied out of your property.”
The Fable of the Fox and the Hedgehog was applied by Themistocles to dissuade the Athenians from removing their magistrates.—B. Boothby.
F The Fable of the Frogs desiring a King.
G The mina of silver was 12 ounces, about £3 sterling.
It was not until many ages after the death of Æsop, that his most prominent successor, Phædrus, arose. He translated Æsop’s Fables from the Greek into Latin, and added to them many of his own. Of Phædrus little is known, except from his works. He is said to have lived in the times of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and to have died in the reign of the latter. The first printed edition of his Fables, with cuts, was published at Gauda, in 1482. Caxton published some of them in 1484, and Bonus Accursius in 1489, to which he prefixed Planudes’s Life of Æsop. But the most perfect edition of Phædrus’s Works was published in five volumes, by Peter Pithou, at Troyes, in 1596, from manuscripts discovered by him in the cities of Rheims and Dijon. To these have succeeded in later times, a numerous list of fabulists,H besides such of the poets as have occasionally interspersed Fables in their works. These, in their day, have had, and many of them still have, their several admirers; but Gay and Dodsley best maintain their ground in this country, as is proved by the regular demand for new editions. Croxall’s Fables, which were first published in 1722, with cuts on metal, in the manner of wood, have also had a most extensive sale; and Sir Brooke Boothby’s elegant little volumes, in verse, published in 1809, are now making their way into the public notice. The Editor of the present volume, in attempting to continue the same pleasing mode of conveying instruction, long since laid down as a guide to virtue, has quoted and compiled from other fabulists, whatever seemed best suited to his purpose. His sole object is utility, and he is not altogether without hope, that in attempting to embellish and perpetuate a fabric, which has its foundations laid in religion and morality, his efforts may not be wholly ineffectual to induce the young to keep steadily in view those great truths, which form the sure land-mark to the haven, where only they can attain peace and happiness.
H Sir Roger L’Estrange, born 1616, died 1704.
John de la Fontaine, born 1621, died 1695.
John Dryden, born 1631, died 1701.
Antoine Houdart de la Motte, born 1672, died 1731.
John Gay, born 1688, died 1732.
Samuel Croxall, D. D. Archdeacon of Hereford, died 1752.
Edward Moore, died 1757.
Draper.
Robert Dodsley, born 1703, died 1764.
William Wilkie, born 1721, died 1772.
Abbe Brotier, born 1722, died 1789.
| A | |
| PAGE | |
| The Ape and her Young Ones | 3 |
| The Sensible Ass | 69 |
| Æsop and the Impertinent Fellow | 81 |
| The Angler and the Little Fish | 111 |
| The Ass and the Lion hunting | 161 |
| The Ass in the Lion’s Skin | 187 |
| The Ape chosen King | 195 |
| The Ant and the Fly | 269 |
| The Ant and the Grasshopper | 307 |
| The Ape and the Fox | 319 |
| Æsop at Play | 333 |
| The Ass eating Thistles | 369 |
| B | |
| The Boy and his Mother | 5 |
| The Brother and Sister | 31 |
| The Shepherd’s Boy and the Wolf | 61 |
| The Bear and the Bee-Hives | 119 |
| The Bees, the Drones, and the Wasp | 145 |
| The Hunted Beaver | 159 |
| The Bull and the Goat | 171 |
| The Two Bitches | 183 |
| The Boar and the Ass | 205 |
| The Blackamoor | 223 |
| The Belly and the Members | 275 |
| The Boys and the Frogs | 375 |
| C | |
| The Two Crabs | 1 |
| The Collier and the Fuller | 13 |
| The Cock and the Jewel | 47 |
| The Wanton Calf | 57 |
| The Crow and the Pitcher | 63 |
| The Cat and the Fox | 107 |
| The Cat and the Mice | 149 |
| Cæsar and the Slave | 177 |
| The Clown and the Gnat | 189 |
| The Countryman and the Snake | 217 |
| The Cock and the Fox | 219 |
| The Fighting Cocks | 349 |
| The Cock and the Fox | 359 |
| D | |
| The Dog in the Manger | 77 |
| The Ship Dog | 99 |
| The Dog invited to Supper | 109 |
| The Dog and the Shadow | 117 |
| The Mischievous Dog | 169 |
| The Dog and the Sheep | 207 |
| The Dog and the Wolf | 287 |
| The One-eyed Doe | 297 |
| The Deer and the Lion | 315 |
| The Dove and the Bee | 339 |
| The Dog and the Cat | 371 |
| E | |
| The Eagle, the Cat, and the Sow | 39 |
| The Eagle and the Fox | 273 |
| The Eagle and the Crow | 301 |
| F | |
| The Proud Frog and the Ox | 17 |
| The Fox and the Vizor Mask | 51 |
| The Fox and the Crow | 67 |
| The Forester and the Lion | 83 |
| The Fox without a Tail | 95 |
| The Fox and the Ass | 105 |
| The Fox and the Tiger | 115 |
| The Frogs and their King | 135 |
| The Fir and the Bramble | 143 |
| The Frog and the Fox | 147 |
| Fortune and the Boy | 153 |
| The Fox and the Grapes | 167 |
| The Fisherman | 173 |
| The Fox and the Boar | 175 |
| The Frogs and the Fighting Bulls | 179 |
| The Two Frogs | 199 |
| The Fox and the Briar | 201 |
| The Fox and the Stork | 215 |
| The Fox and the HedgeHog | 227 |
| The Fox and the Goat | 235 |
| The Fowler and the Ring-dove | 249 |
| The Fowler and the Blackbird | 263 |
| The Fatal Marriage | 277 |
| The Fox and the Lion | 285 |
| The Flying Fish and the Dolphin | 289 |
| The Fox in the Well | 311 |
| The Fox and the Sick Lion | 323 |
| The Fox and the Countryman | 331 |
| The Fox and the Wolf | 335 |
| The Frogs and the Mice | 353 |
| The Fowler and the Lark | 355 |
| The Fowler and the Partridge | 363 |
| G | |
| The Goat, the Kid, and the Wolf | 29 |
| The Goat and the Lion | 101 |
| The Gardener and his Dog | 313 |
| The Wild and the Tame Geese | 351 |
| H | |
| The Husbandman and his Sons | 15 |
| Hercules and the Carter | 37 |
| The Drunken Husband | 121 |
| The Hen and the Swallow | 127 |
| The Hart and the Vine | 157 |
| The Old Hound | 181 |
| The Hen and the Fox | 185 |
| The Hare and the Tortoise | 221 |
| The Hares and the Frogs | 251 |
| The Harper | 267 |
| The Horse and the Stag | 303 |
| The Horse and the Lion | 309 |
| The Horse and the Ass | 327 |
| The Hawk and the Farmer | 329 |
| The Horse and the over-loaded Ass | 343 |
| The Husbandman and the Stork | 345 |
| I | |
| Industry and Sloth | 9 |
| J | |
| Jupiter and the Ass | 79 |
| Jupiter and the Camel | 139 |
| Jupiter and the Herdsman | 209 |
| Juno and the Peacock | 237 |
| Jupiter and Pallas | 241 |
| The Vain Jack-daw | 255 |
| K | |
| The Bald Knight | 87 |
| The Kite and the Pigeons | 281 |
| The Sick Kite | 283 |
| The Kid and the Wolf | 293 |
| L | |
| The Leopard and the Fox | 21 |
| The Lark and her Young Ones | 41 |
| The Lion and the Four Bulls | 89 |
| The Lion, the Tiger, and the Wolf | 93 |
| The Lioness and the Fox | 123 |
| The Lamb brought up by a Goat | 125 |
| The Old Lion | 211 |
| The Lion in Love | 225 |
| The Lion and other Beasts | 239 |
| The Lion and the Mouse | 257 |
| The Lion and the Frog | 291 |
| The Lion, the Wolf, and the Dog | 367 |
| M | |
| The Master and his Scholar | 7 |
| The Young Man and the Swallow | 11 |
| The Mole and her Dam | 27 |
| The Young Men and the Cook | 43 |
| The Mule | 45 |
| Mercury and the Woodman | 49 |
| The Man and his Goose | 55 |
| The Old Man and his Sons | 91 |
| The Miser and his Treasure | 97 |
| A Man bitten by a Dog | 113 |
| The Envious Man and the Covetous | 129 |
| The Mice in Council | 193 |
| The Old Man and Death | 197 |
| The Man and the Weasel | 203 |
| The Magpie and the Sheep | 213 |
| The Man and his Two Wives | 231 |
| Mercury and the Carver | 233 |
| The Mountains in Labour | 253 |
| The Mouse and the Weasel | 271 |
| The Young Man and the Lion | 279 |
| The Country and the City Mouse | 295 |
| The Miller, his Son, and their Ass | 305 |
| The Young Man and his Cat | 361 |
| The Blind Man and the Lame | 365 |
| N | |
| The Nurse and the Wolf | 265 |
| O | |
| The Oak and the Reed | 151 |
| P | |
| The Peacock and the Crane | 23 |
| The Two Pots | 25 |
| The Partridge and the Cocks | 65 |
| The Porcupine and the Snakes | 131 |
| The Polecat and the Cock | 261 |
| The Ploughman and Fortune | 317 |
| R | |
| The Raven and the Serpent | 337 |
| S | |
| The Stag looking into the Water | 19 |
| The Sheep Biter | 33 |
| The Swallow and other Birds | 71 |
| The Sow and the Wolf | 133 |
| The Stag and the Fawn | 141 |
| The Sow and the Bitch | 163 |
| The Satyr and the Traveller | 165 |
| The Sparrow and the Hare | 229 |
| The Stag in the Ox-Stall | 247 |
| The Sun and the Wind | 325 |
| The Serpent and the Man | 341 |
| The Shepherd turned Merchant | 357 |
| T | |
| The Thief and the Dog | 53 |
| The Boasting Traveller | 59 |
| The Thieves and the Cock | 73 |
| The two Travellers | 103 |
| The Tortoise and the Eagle | 259 |
| The Trees and the Woodman | 299 |
| The Thief and the Boy | 321 |
| The Travellers and the Bear | 347 |
| The Trumpeter taken Prisoner | 373 |
| V | |
| The Viper and the File | 243 |
| W | |
| The Old Woman and her Maids | 35 |
| The Wolves and the Sick Ass | 75 |
| The Wolf, the Fox, and the Ape | 85 |
| The Old Woman and the Empty Cask | 137 |
| The Wolf and the Crane | 155 |
| The Wolf and the Lamb | 191 |
| The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing | 245 |
Two Crabs, the mother and daughter, having been left by the receding tide, were creeping again towards the water, when the former observing the awkward gait of her daughter, got into a great passion, and desired her to move straight forward, in a more becoming and sprightly manner, and not crawl sideling along in a way so contrary to all the rest of the world. Indeed mother, says the young Crab, I walk as properly as I can, and to the best of my knowledge; but if you would have me to go otherwise, I beg you would be so good as to practise it first, and shew me by your own example how you would have me to conduct myself.
Ill examples corrupt even the best natural disposition, and it is in vain to instruct our children, their talents being only imitation, to walk by one rule, if we ourselves go by another. The good precepts which we may lay down to them, will be bestowed in vain, if they see by our own conduct, that we pursue a contrary course to that which we recommend to them. Parents therefore, who are desirous of working an effectual reformation in their children, should begin by making a visible amendment in themselves; and this is a duty they owe to society, as well as to their offspring, it being of the utmost importance to both, that probity and honour be early instilled into their youthful minds, as these grow with their growth, and while at the same time they command respect, they lay the foundation of their individual happiness through life.
An Ape having two young ones, was dotingly fond of one, but disregarded and slighted the other. One day she chanced to be surprized by the hunters, and had much ado to get off. However, she did not forget her favourite young one, which she took up in her arms, that it might be the more secure: the other, which she neglected, by natural instinct, leapt upon her back, and so away they scampered together; but it unluckily fell out, in the over-anxiety of her precipitate flight, confused and blinded with haste, that she struck her favourite’s head against a branch, which threw it on the ground, where the darling bantling was seized by the dogs and killed. The hated one, clinging close to her rough back, escaped all the danger of the pursuit.
The indulgence which parents shew to their children arises from the most amiable of human weaknesses; but it is not the less injurious in its effects, and therefore it is of great importance to guard against it, and not to suffer a blind fondness to transport us beyond the bounds of a discreet affection, for this often proves the ruin of the child. This fable is also intended to expose the folly of a system of favouritism in families, for experience shews that those children who are the least pampered and indulged usually make the best and cleverest men.
A little Boy having stolen a book from one of his school-fellows, took it to his Mother, who, instead of correcting him, praised his sharpness, and rewarded him. In process of time, as he grew bigger, he increased also in villainy, till at length he was taken up for committing a great robbery, and was brought to justice and condemned for it. As the officers were conducting him to the gallows, he was attended by a vast crowd, and among the rest his Mother came sobbing along, and deploring her son’s unhappy fate; which the criminal observing, he begged leave to speak to her: this being granted, he put his mouth to her ear, as if he was going to whisper something, and bit it off! The officer, shocked at this behaviour, asked him if the crimes he had committed were not sufficient to glut his wickedness, without being also guilty of such an unnatural violence towards his mother? Let no one wonder, said he, that I have done this to her, for she deserves even worse at my hands. For if she had chastised instead of praising and encouraging me, when I stole my school-fellow’s book, I should not now have been brought to this ignominious and untimely end.
The approaches to vice are by slow degrees, and the good or evil bias given to youth is seldom eradicated. The first deviations from sound morality should therefore be most strictly watched, and wickedness checked or punished in time; for when vice grows into a habit, it becomes incurable, and both good governments and private families are deeply concerned in its attendant consequences. One need not scruple to affirm that most of the depravity which is so frequent in the world, and so pernicious to society, is owing to the bad education of youth; and to the connivance or ill example of their parents. It is therefore of the utmost consequence that parents, guardians, and tutors, should be of characters befitting them for the various and important offices they have to perform. The latter description of persons may and ought to be carefully selected; but it is to be lamented that the base and mean-spirited hosts of bad parents are out of the reach of controul, and nothing can prevent the evils arising from their tutorage. Perhaps it would be harsh to make laws to check the marriages of such; but there is no need to encourage the breed of them, for they are already over abundantly numerous.
As