Roger L'Estrange

“ Nature does Nothing in a Huddle, and Human Prudence should Govern it self by the same Measures. A Plurality of Voices, 'tis true, carryes the Question in all our Debates, but rather as an Expedient for Peace, then an Eviction of the Right; for there are Millions of Errors to One Reason, and Truth; And a Point is not so Easy to be Hit: In a Word, the Old Saying is a shrewd One, that Wise Men Propose, and Fools Determine. ”

“ A Vain Fool can hardly be more Miserable then the Granting of his own Prayers and Wishes would make him. How many Spectacles does every Day afford us, of Apes and Mountebanks in Gay-Coats, that pass in the World for Philosophers, and Men of Honour; and it is no wonder for one Fool to value himself upon the same Vanity, for which he esteems another. ”

“ To Emprove the Moral yet a little farther, we have a Thousand Disappointments in the Ordinary Course of Life to Answer This in the Fable. Many a Man finds this Purse of Gold in a Mistress, in a Bottle, in an Office, and in All other the vain Satisfactions of This World: And what’s the End on't at last, but when he has Compass'd his Longing, Gratify’d his Appetite, or, as he fancies, made his Fortune perhaps: He grows presently Sick of his Purchase; His Conscience is the Hue and Cry That pursues him, and when he reckons upon it that he has gotten a Booty, he has only caught a Tartar. ”

“ Many and Many a time has this been our own Case, both publick and private, when we would not Believe the Danger of things 'till the Evil was come upon us: But Good Council is cast away, upon the Arrogant, die Self conceited, or the stupid, who are either too Proud to take it, or too Heavy to Understand it. ”

“ Am not I the Creature of an Almighty Power; and is it not the Same Power and Wisdom that Made and Order'd The World, that has Assign’d me this Place, Rank or Station in’t? This Body, This Soul, This every Thing? What I am, I must be, and there’s no Contending with Invincible Necessity ”

“ In all Governments there must be Burdens to be Born, and People to Bear them: And who so Proper to bear Those Burdens, as Those that Providence and Policy have Appointed and Design’d: for that Office and Station? So that 'tis all one to the Common People who's Uppermost (That is to say, upon the Matter of Ease and Liberty) for Asses must be Asses still whoever Rides them; And Providence will keep: the World in Order full, whoever Grumbles at it. ”

“ Now 'tis One Thing to Submit to an Absolute Force, Another thing to Fly and Yield to a Natural Infirmity: So that 'tis No Departure from the Dignity of a Lyon to Fly, when Nature Drives him: Neither is it at all to the Asses Reputation, to Pursue, when Vanity, Folly and Rashness Transport him. ”

“ It is in the Bus'ness of Life as it is in a Storm, or a Calm at Sea: The Blast may be Impetuous; but seldom lasts long; and though the Vessel be Press'd never so Hard, a Skilful Steers-man will yet bear up against it: But in a Dead Calm, a Man loses his Spirits, and lies in a Manner Expos’d, as the Scorn and Spectacle of Ill Fortune. ”

“ An Ape, with a tayl, would be as scandalous, as a Fox without One. Why should not Any One Creature Envy the Whole, as well as any One Part of Another? And why should not an Ape be as much Troubled that he has no Wings, as that he has no Tayle? ”

“ Here's a Recommendation of Clemency and Wisdom, Both in One; for the Lion, in sparing the Life of the Mouse, sav'd his Own; and has left us in this Fable, an Instance of a Grateful Beast, that will stand upon Record to the Confusion of many an Ungrateful Man, that is to say, against those that in their Prosperity forget the Friends, that to their Loss and Hazard, flood by and succour'd them in their Adversity. This is a Sin of so odious and Dangerous an Example, that it puts even Piety, and Gratitude it self out of Countenance. ”

“ Government can no more Subsist without Subjection, then the Multitude can Agree without Government: And the Duty of Obeying, is no less of Divine Appointment, then the Authority of Commanding.
Here's a Petition to Jupiter, in Truth, against Himself; and in the Moral, a Complaint to God against Providence; as if the Harmony of Nature, and or the World; The Order of Men, Things, and Bus’ness, were to be Embroil'd, Dissolv'd, or Alter’d, for the sake of so many Asses. What would become of the Universe if there were not Servants as well as Masters? ”

“ REFLEXION.
'Tis a Vanity Common in the World, for Every Pretending Coxcomb to make himself One of the Party still with his Betters. They cry Wee to Every thing, and make themselves Necessary upon All Occasions, and to All Purposes, and People, when upon the Truth of the Matter, they are found to be good for Just Nothing at all. ”

“ AS a Lamb was following a Goat, Up comes a Wolfe, wheedling, to get him aside, and make a Breakfast of him: Why what a Fool art thou, says the Wolfe; that mayst have thy Belly full of Sweet Milk at Home, to leave thy Mother for a Nasty Stinking Goat! ”

“ If a Man turn his Thoughts now from This Fancy in the Forrest, to the Sober Truth of Daily Experience in the World, he shall find Asses in the Skins of Men, Infinitely more Contemptible then This Ass in the Skin of a Lyon. ”

“ But there is a curtain Habitual Meanness of Soul, which has so far prevail'd in the World, that Common Civility is no less Tainted by Course and Custom, than Friendship and Conversation is by Corruption. ”

“ Nay the Attempt of any thing above our Force, with Vanity, and Presumption, most certainly ends in a Mis-carriage that makes the Pretender Ridiculous. The Our-doing of a Great Man in his Own Way, Savours in some degree of Ill Manners, as it is upon the Main, a High Point of Indiscretion. One man cakes it for an Affront to be Out-witted; Another to be Out-Fool'd, as Nero could not Endure to be Out-Fiddled; But in short, be the Matter never so Great, or never so Trivial, 'tis the same Case as to the Envy of the Competition. ”

“ And why should not All the Works of the Creation Expostulate at the same Rate, and upon the same Grounds? Why has not Man the Wings of an Eagle to carry him from Danger, or to satissie his Curiosity what the World's a doing? ”

“ There would be no Living in This World without Penal Laws, and Conditions. And Do or Do not, This or That at your Peril, is as Reasonable, and Necessary in Families as it is in Governments. It is a Truth Imprinted in the Hearts of All Mankind, that the Gibbets, Pillories, and the Whipping-Posts make more Converts then the Pulpits: As the Child did more here for fear of the Wolfe, then for the Love of the Nurse. ”

“ And this Volubility of Human Affaires, what is it, bur either the Sport, or the Judgment of Providence, in the Punishment of Arrogance and Oppression! We are given finally to Understand, that as the Levity of Fortune leaves us Nothing to Trust to, or to Presume upon, so at the same Time there's Nothing to Despair of. ”

“ Have we never heard of Men that Gobbled the Privileges and Revenues of the Crown, and then Squander’d them away in Donatives upon the Common People? Or, What shall we say of the Scofling Atheist, that turns all the Powers and Faculties of his Soul, as much as in him lies, to the Reproach of his Maker, and yet at the same time too as Pleasant Company to the World as the Wit of a Libertine can make him. ”

“ THE Truer Hearted any Man is, the more Lyable is he to be Impos'd upon: And then the World calls it Out-witting of a Man; when, in truth, he’s only Out-knav’d: And obligd, even in Charity and Good Nature, to Believe till he be Couzen’d. ”

“ Argument is not the Work of the Chissel; neither does the Design of the Artist conclude the Truth of the Fact: But there is somewhat Heroical yet in the Imagination, though the Piece was never Drawn from the Life. ”

“ How many Experiments have been made in the Memory of Man, both in Religion, and in State, to mend Matters, upon pretence that they were Uneasie, by making them Intolerable, And whence is This, but from a Mistaken Opinion of the Present, and as False a Judgment of the Future! ”

“ 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. ”

“ Treachery is a kind of a Lay-Hypocrisy, and they are Equally Odious both to God and Man: Over and above the Corruptingg of our Manners, the Hardening of our Hearts; the Dissolving of all the Bonds of Faith, Confidence and Society, and the Extinguishing of Good Nature it self: And all This in our own Defence too. ”

“ There are Those, 'tis True, that Die for the very Fear of Death, and Plunge themselves into Certain Misery, upon the Bare Apprehension of it: But this comes rather from their Spleen, than their Misfortune. ”

“ It is the Patron, and the Price of all Wickedness: It Blinds all Eyes, and stops all Ears, from the Prince to the very Begger. It Corrupts Faith and Justice; and in one Word, ’tis the very Pick-Lock, that opens the way into all Cabinets and Councils. ”

“ The Bear passes a Judgment upon the Abandoning of a Friend in a Time of Need, as an Offence both to Honour and Vertue; And moreover, Cautions us, above All Things, to have a Care what Company we keep. There’s no Living in This World without Friendship; No Society ”

“ It is as Impossible for a Government to be without Faults, as for a Man to be so, But Faults or No Faults, It comes yet much to a Case; for where they cannot Find 'em, they can Create them; And there goes no more to’t neither, then the Calling of Necessary Justice by the Name of Oppression. And what's the End on't, more then This now? They Run away from their Masters into the Woods, and there with Æsop's Daw, they either Starve, or Hang Themselves. ”

“ The Bus'ness of the World, is more or less, the Bus'ness of Every Man that lives in’t: And if the Great and the Small do not Joyn in One Common Assistance, where the Matter requires it, they are in Danger to be Both Undone: So that it is for the Good of the Whole, that the Several Parts take care One for Another. ”

“ There are Men of Prey as well as Beasts and Birds of Prey, and for Those that Live upon, and Delight in Bloud, there’s no Trusting of them: for let them pretend what they will, they Govern themselves, and take their Measures according to their Interests, and Appetites. 'Tis a Hard Case yet, for Men to be forc'd upon Ill Nature, in their Own Defence, and to fuspect the Good Faith of Those, that give us All the Protestations and Assurance of Friendship, and Fair Dealing that One Man can give Another. ”

“ Nature has provided better for us, then we could have done for our selves.
REFLEXION.
One Double Practice may be disappointed by another; but the Gifts of Nature are beyond all the Shams and Shuffles in the World. There's as much difference betwixt Craft and Wisdom, as there is betwixt Philosophy and Slight of Hand. Shifting and Shufflling may serve for a Time, but Truth and Simplicity will most certainly carry it at the long run. ”

“ For Flying without Wings is All one with Working without Means. We see a Thousand Instances in the World, Every jot as Ridiculous as This in the Fable. That is to say of Men that are Made for One Condition, and yet Affect Another. ”

“ Nature is pleas'd to Entertain her self with Variety. Some of her Works are for Ornament, others for the Use and Service of Mankind. But they have All Respectively, their Proprieties, and their Vertues; for she does nothing in Vain. The Peacock Values himself upon the Gracefulness of his Train. The Crane's Pride is in the Rankness of her Wing: Which are only Two Excellencies in several Kinds. Take them apart, and they are Both Equally Perfect: but Good Things Themselves have their Degrees, and That which is most Necessary and Useful, must be Allow'd a Preference to the Other. ”

“ A Lyon and a Goat.
A Lyon spy’d a Goat upon the Crag of a High Rock, and so call'd out to him after this Manner: Hadst not thou better come Down now, says the Lyon, into This Delicate Fine Meadow? Well, says the Goat, and so perhaps I would, if it were not for the Lyon that's there Before me: But I'm for a Life of Safety, rather then for a Life of Pleasure. Your Pretence is the Filling of My Belly with Good Grass; but your Bus'ness is the Cramming of your Own Guts with Good Goats-Flesh: So that ‘tis for your Own Sake, not Mine, that you'd have me come down. ”

“ The Former has a Reverence in his Heart for the Power that he Invokes; He is not to be Corrupted with Gold, or Silver. He stands in Awe of his Conscience, and makes good his Profession, with his Practice: Receiving in the End, the Blessing of a Reward for his Integrity. ”

“ In few Words, a Wise Man Counts his very Minutes: He lets no Time flip him; for Time is Life: which he makes Long, by the Good Husbandry of a Right Use and Application of it, from One Moment to Another. ”

“ To say the Truth on't, we are impos'd upon by Botchers, and Men of Forehead, without Common Sense, in all Trades and Professions, even to the Venturing of Soul, Body, Life and Estate upon their Skill, Honesty and Credit. Can any Man look about him in the World now, and cast his Eye and Thought upon Every-days Instances of some of these wonderful Improvements and Conversions, without Saying to Himself, The Mythologist Pointed at all these Men in this Fable? ”

“ Our Own Lot is Best, and by Aiming at what we have Not, and what is Impossible to be had, we lose what we have already. No Man goes out of Himself but to his Loss. Imitation is Servile, let it be Where, How, and What it will. Nature Points out to us which way Every Man’s Talent and Genius lies ”

“ Who never Minded the Dividend; but in a Rage Worry'd the Ass, and then bad the Fox Divide; who had the Wit to make Only One Share of the Whole, saving a Miserable Pittance that he Reserv'd for Himself. The Lyon highly approv’d of his Way of Distribution; but Prethee Reynard, says he, who taught thee to Carve? Why truly says the Fox, I had an Ass to my Master; and it was His Folly made me Wise.
The MORAL.
There must be no Sharers in Sovereignty. Court-Conscience is Policy. The Folly of One Man makes Another Man Wise; as one Man Grows Rich upon the Ruines of Another. ”

“ Nay, what are All the Publick Outrages of a Destroying Tyranny and Oppression, but Childish Appetites let alone 'till they are grown Ungovernable? Beside, that it is Infinitely Easier to prevent Ill Habits, than to Matter them; As the Choaking of the Fountain is the surest Way to Cut off the Course of the River. It should be Consider'd too that we have the seeds of Virtue in us, as well as of Vice; and when ever we take a Wrong Biass, 'tis not out of a Moral Incapacity to do Better, but for want of a Careful Manage and Discipline, to let us Right at First. ”

“ There are more Fools in the World then Wise Men, and more Knaves then Honest Men; so that it is not Number, but Excellency, that Inhaunces the Value of Any thing, The most copious Writers are commonly the Arrantest Scriblers; And so in much Talking, the Tongue is apt to run before the Wit: In Many Words there is Folly, but a Word in Season is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Says the Oracle of Truth it self. ”

“ But the Rich Man Envies the Poor mans Health, without considering his Want; and the Poor Man Envies the Others Treasure without considering his Diseases. What's an Ill Name in the World to a Good Conscience within Ones self? And how much less Miserable upon the Wheel, is One man that is Innocent, than Another under the Same Torture that's Guilty. ”

“ Providience has Allotted Every Man a Competency for his State and Bus'ness. All beyond it is Superfluous, and there will be Grumbling without End, if we come to reckon upon't, that we want This or That because we Have it Not, instead of Acknowledging that we Have This or That, and that we want Nothing. These Things duly Weigh'd, what can be more Providential then the Blesling of having an Antidote within our selves against all the Strokes of Fortune! ”

“ Now if the Charms of an Unruly Ambition could so far prevail upon the Angels Themselves in their Purity; and upon Mankind in a State of Innocence, how Strict a Guard ought we then to keep upon our selves, that are the Children of disobedience, and bring the feeds of This Deadly Vanity into the World with us in our very Veins? ”