Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable LXIV and LXV

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. LXIV.

A Collyer and a Fuller.

A Fuller had a very kind Invitation from a Collyer to come and Live in the House with him: He gave him a Thousand Thanks for his Civility; but cold him that it would not Stand with his Convenience; for (says he) as fast as I make any thing Clean, You'll be Smutting it again.

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Fab. LXV.

A Thrush and a Swallow.

AH my Dear Mother! says the Thrush, Never had any Creature such a Friend as I have, of this same Swallow. No, says she, nor ever any Mother such a Fool to her Son as I have, or this same Thrush: To talk of a Friendship betwixt People that cannot so much as live together in the same Climate and Season. One is for the Summer, T'other, for Winter; And that which keeps You Alive, Kills your Companion.

The Moral of the Two fables above.

'Tis a Necessary Rule in Allyances, Matches, Societies, Fraternities, Friendships, Partnerships, Commerce, and All Manner of Civil Dealings and Contracts, to have a Strict Regard to the Humour, the Nature, and the Dispofition of Those we have to do withall.

REFLEXION.

This is to bid us have a care what Friendships we Contract, and what Company we keep; for Contrary Humours and Manners will never agree together. There can be no Thought of Uniting Those that Nature it self has Divided. And this Caution holds good in all the Bus'ness of a Sober Man's Life; as Marriage, Studies, Pleasures, Society, Commerce, and the like: 'Tis in some sort, with Friends (Pardon the Courseness of the Illustration) as it is with Dogs in Couples. They should be of the same Size, and Humour; and That which Pleases the One should Please the Other: But if they Draw Several Ways, and if One be too Strong for T'other, they'll be ready to Hang themselves upon Every Gate or Style they come at. This is the Moral of the Friendship betwixt a Thrush and a Swallow, that can never Live together.