Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists… (1692)
“ A Bull and a Gnat. A Gnat that had Planted himself upon the Horn of a Bull, very Civilly begg’d the Bull's Pardon for his Importunity; but rather then Incommode ye, says he, I'll Remove. Oh never Trouble your Head for that, says the Bull; for 'tis all One to me whether you go or stay. I never felt ye when you sat down, and I shall take as Little Notice of ye when you Rise. The Moral. The Vanity of this Fly, strikes at a Humour that we meet with every Day in the World, in a Hundred Trifling, Nonsensical People, that will be still making Themselves more Considerable then they are. ”
