for a Great One that I have Not? Why then, ſays ſhe, I'll give ye a Delicate Song for my Life: No, no, ſays the Hawk, I want for my Belly, not for my Ears.
The MORAL.
A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Buſh.
REFLEXION.
THIS Fable carries Three Morals. 1ſt. That we are not to Part with a Certainty for an Uncertainty. 2dly, That Men of Appetite are not Mov'd by any Conſideration of Vertue. 3dly, That Things of Uſe and Neceſſity, are to be preferr'd before Matters meerly of Delight and Pleaſure.
The Nightingale in the Foot of the Hawk, is the Caſe of many an Innocent Creature in the Hands of Juſtice, when the very Equity of the Law Bends under the Weight of an Over-ruling Rigour. The Belly has no Ears, and ſo there’s no Charming of it. Arguments againſt Power, are but Wind, when Reaſon draws One way, and Appetite Another. There’s no Moving of any Creature contrary to the Nature of it, Hang ‘em All up (ſays a Pleaſant Droll, upon Venners Rifing) they are not Worth the Begging. 'Tis a piece of State-Policy ſometimes, to let the Poor and the Friendleſs go to Pot; Nay, and to reckon the Execution of them among the Triumphs of Juſtice too. There is This further in’t beſides; that the Uttermoſt Severity upon Thoſe that have not where-withal to Bid for their Lives, raiſes the Price of the Market upon Thoſe that Have; and Enhances the Value of the Deliverance, or, in Plain Engiſh, of the Pardon. The Poor Nightingale had Nothing to give that the Hawk car'd for, and ſo the Dy'd, in truth, becauſe ſhe was not worth the Begging.
Fab. CCCXLIV.
A Lyon and a Hog.
A Lyon that found it Extreme Irkſome to Live Alone, gave the Beaſts of the Foreſt to Underſtand, that he was Reſolv'd to make Choice of Some or Other of his Subjects for a Friend, and Companion. There was a Mighty Buſle, who ſhould be the Favourite, and to the VVonder of All the reſt, the Lyon Pitch’d upon a Hog; for, ſays the Lyon, he is True and Faithfulto his Friend, and will ſtand by him in All Times, and Hazzards.
The
