The Moral.
It is below the Dignity of a Great Mind to Entertain Conteſts with People that have neither Quality nor Courage: Beſide the Folly of Contending with a Miſerable Wretch, where the very Competition is a Scandal.
REFLEXION.
Scoundrels are apt to be Inſolent toward their Superiors; but it does not yet become a man of Honor and Wiſdom, to Conteſt with Mean Raſcals; and to Anſwer Every Fool in his Folly. One Indignity is not to be Reveng'd by Another.
The very Conteſt ſets the Maſter and the Man upon the Same Level; and the Lion was in the Right, not to Caſt away his Diſpleaſure upon an Aſſe, where there was only Reputation to be Loſt, and None to be Gotten. The very Beaſts of the Forreſt will Riſe up in Judgment againſt ſuch men. Contempt in ſuch a Caſe as This, is the only Honorable Revenge.
Fab. XI.
A City Mouſe and a Country Mouſe.
THere goes an Old Story of a Country Mouſe that Invited a City-Siſter of hers to a Country Collation, where ſhe ſpar'd for Nothing that the Place afforded; as Mouldy Cruſts, Cheeſe-Parings, Muſty Oatmeal, Ruſty Bacon, and the like. Now the City-Dame was ſo well bred, as Seemingly to take All in Good Part: But yet at laſt, Siſter (ſays ſhe, after the Civileſt Faſhion) why will you be Miſerable when you may be Happy? Why will you lie Pining, and Pinching your ſelf in ſuch a Loneſome Starving Courſe of Life as This is; when 'tis but going to Town along with Me; to Enjoy all the Pleaſures, and Plenty that Your Heart can Wiſh? This was a Temptation the Country Mouſe was not able to Reſiſt; ſo that away they Trudg'd together, and about Midnight got to their Journeys End. The City Mouſe ſhew'd her Friend the Larder, the Pantry, the Kitchin, and Other Offices where ſhe laid her Scores; and after This, carry'd her into the Parlour, where they found, yet upon the Table, the Reliques of a Mighty Entertainment of That very Night. The City-Mouſe Carv'd her Companion of what ſhe lik'd Beſt, and ſo to't they fell upon a Velvet Couch together: The Poor Bumkin that had never ſeen, nor heard of ſuch Doings before, Bleſs'd her ſelf at the Change of her Condition, when (as ill luck would have it) all on a Sudden, the Doors flew open, and in comes a Crew of Roaring Bullies, with their Wenches, their Dogs, and their Bottles, and put the Poor Mice to their Wits End, how to ſave their Skins. The Stranger Eſpecially, that had never been at This
