Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists… (1692)
“ But This is All Fore'd, and in Truth, it is a Dry Fable with Little or Nothing in't, Or to Turn it Another Way yet, Here’s the Life of a Poor Creature in Question, and the Lark Expostulates, and Pleades Not Guilty, but the Belly has No Eares, and the Bird-Catcher is so Intent upon his Interest, and Appetite, that he gives no Heed at all to the Equity of the Plea, which is but according to the Course of the World, when people Measure Right or Wrong by the Rule of their Own Profit or Loss. ”
