Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable XCVIII

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. XCVIII.

A Boy and his Mother.

A School-Boy brought his Mother a Book that he had Stoll'n from One of his Fellows. She was so far from Correcting him for’r, that she rather Encourag'e him. As he grew Bigger, he would be still keeping his hand in Ure with somewhat of Greater Value, till he came at last to be Taken in the Matter, and brought to Justice for't. His Mother went along with him to the Place of Execution, Where he got leave of the Officers, to have a Word or Two in Private with her. He put his Mouth to her Ear, and under Pretext of a Whisper, Bit it Clear off. This Impious Unnatural Villany turn’d Every Bodies Heart against him More and More. [Well Good People (says the Boy) Here You see Me an Example, both upon the Matter of Shame and of Punishment; And it is This Mother of mine that has brought me to't; for if she had but Whipt me soundly for the Book I stole when I was a Boy, I should never have come to the Gallows here now Im a Man.]

The Moral.

We are either Made or Marr'd, in our Education and Governments, as well as Private Families, are Concern'd in the Consequences of it.

REFLEXION.

Wicked Dispositions should be Check’d betimes; for when they come once to Habits, they grow Incurable. More People go to the Gibbet for want of Timely Instruction, Discipline, and Correction, then upon any Incurable Pravity of Nature; And it is mightily the Fault of Parents, Guardians, Tutors and Governors, that so many men Miscarry. They susser’em at first to Run-a head, and when Perverse Inclinations are Advanc'd once into Habits, there's No Dealing with ’em. It may seem somewhat a Hard Case for the Greater Thieves to Punish the Less, and to see Publique Purloyners and Oppressors fit in Triumph upon the Lives of the Little Ones that go to the Gallows: For the Tye of Morality is the same upon Both; and they Stand Both Accountable to the Same Master. But Time, Power, and Corruption, give a Reputation to the Worst of Practices, and it is no longer Oppression when it comes Gilded with the Name of Authority. This Unequal, and Unreasonable Judgment of Things, brings many a Great Man to the Stool of Repentance; for when he has Swallow’d more then he can Digest, it flicks upon his Conscience, and will neither Up, nor Down, Now in the Sight of Heaven, the Greater the Temptation, the Less is the Sins and yet in the Vogue of the World, it passes for an Exploit of Honour, for Kings and States to run away with Whole Countries that they have no Colour, or Pretence to; when many a poor Devil stands Condemn’d to a Halter, or a Whipping-Post, for the Pilfering of a Silver-Spoon perhaps, or the Robbing of a Hen-Roost: Though the Former, all this While, has No Better Title to what he takes, then the Latter; and yet to see what a deal of Fulsome Flattery, and Panegyrique we have, upon the Glorious Atchievements of the One; and only some Smithfield Ballad perchance, or a Sabbath Breaking Speech, or Consession, to Embalm the Memory of the Other. To be Short, and Plain; the Offence before God, is at least as Great in a Prince, as in a Begger, and the Morality of a Careful Education holds alike in Both. 'Twas the Mothers sparing the Rod at first, that brought the Child, at the Long Run, to the Halter.