Fallow

“ It is dangerous business to venture to change the current of other lives; no one knew it better than Fallows. But he considered Morning. Morning, as it were, had been left on his door-step. Morning would be alone now—alone to listen and receive his powers.... Fallows looked up from the black water to the far-apart pickets of the wintry night. He was going home.
The cabin was lit. Fallows climbed the hill wearily. There was a certain sharpness as of treachery from his [Pg 197] night’s work, but to that larger region of mind, open to selfishness and the passion to serve men, peace had come. ”

“ REFLEXION.
'Tis the Intent of These Two Fables, to shew, that no People are so Miserable, but that at some Time or Other, in some Thing or Other, they have Reason to Account themselves Happy. And if they would but duly consider, how it is with many of their Neighbours, they would find it their Duty to be Thankful, that it is no Worse with Themselves. It is some Relief to the Miserable to shew them that there are Others yet more Miserable, and there is not any thing so Timerous, but something else is affraid of It. ”

“ The Fox should be always cunning, the Hare timid, the Lion bold, the Wolf cruel, the Bull strong, the Horse proud, and the Ass patient. Many of these fables are characterized by the strictest observance of these rules. They are occupied with one short narrative, from which the moral naturally flows, and with which it is intimately associated. "'Tis the simple manner," says Dodsley, [2] "in which the morals of Æsop are interwoven with his fables that distinguishes him, and gives him the preference over all other mythologists. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They do not make the same use of their reason as other people, but like the jaundiced eye, view every thing in a false light, and having turned a deaf ear to all advice, and pursued their unaltered course until all their property is irrecoverably lost, when at length misery forces upon them a sense of their situation, they still lay the blame upon any cause but the right one—their own extravagance and folly; like the Prodigal in the fable, who would not have considered a solitary occurrence as a general indication of the season, had not his own wicked desires blinded his understanding. ”

“ And for the Other of Ancient Date, the Morals are so Insipid and Flat, and the Style and Diction of the Fables, so Course and Uncouth, that they are rather Dangerous, than Profitable, as to the purpose they we're Principally Intended for; and likely to do Forty times more Mischief by the One then Good by the Other. An Emblem without a Key to't, is no more then a Tale of a Tub; and that Tale sillily told too, is but One Folly Grafted upon Another. Children are to be Taught, in the first Place, what they Ought to do. ”

“ One may add to this, that there are some Fables which consist less in Action than in Speaking; as that Fable, for instance, which ridicules the foolish Vanity of those Men, who attribute all the Glory of an Event to themselves, for the producing of which they contributed nothing but their own unprofitable Presence. The Fable represents them under the Allegory of a Fly, which lighting upon a Chariot, and seeing her self in the midst of a Cloud of Dust, which the Chariot-Wheels and the Horse-Feet raised in the Air, cries out ”

“ Summoned the maid, who came, but came in vain;
"The Signor did not hunt to-day," she said,
"There's nothing in the house but wine and bread."
Then suddenly the drowsy falcon shook
His little bells, with that sagacious look,
Which said, as plain as language to the ear,
"If anything is wanting, I am here!"
Yes, everything is wanting, gallant bird! ”

“ Indeed, in their grotesque grace, in their quaint humour, in their trust in the simpler virtues, in their insight into the cruder vices, in their innocence of the fact of sex, Æsop’s Fables are as little children. They are as little children, and for that reason they will for ever find a home in the heaven of little children’s souls. ”

“ Nay and Over and Above the Self-Conceited Vanity of These Brutes, there are None so forward neither, to Bespatter Men of Blood and Quality, as those that have most Reason to be Asham'd of their Descent. This Pride of Pedigree is Easily run down, if there be not Power Joyn'd to the Ostentation: But where there is Authority given to the Folly, as well as to the Fool; the Indignation that it raises makes the Insolence Insupportable. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Moral of the two Fables above.
Let every man take a True Measure of Himself, what he is Able to do, and what Not; before be comes to any Peremptory Resolution how to Proceed. He is a Madman, that to Avoid a Present, and a Less Evil, runs Blindfolded into a Greater; and for the Gratifying of a Froward Humour, makes himself a Slave All the days of his Life.
REFLEXION.
These Fables lay Open to us the Folly of Thofe People that make themselves Slaves to their Revenge ”

“ How many such Asses are there in the World, that Huffe, Look Big, Stare, Dress, Cock, Swagger, at the same Noise-Blustring Rate; and Nothing more Familiar then for a Whiffling Fop, that has not so much as One Grain of the Sense, or Soul of a man of Honour in him, to play the part of a Heroe. ”

“ The true Fable, if it rise to its high requirements, ever aims at one great end and purpose—the representation of human motive, and the improvement of human conduct, and yet it so conceals its design under the disguise of fictitious characters, by clothing with speech the animals of the field, the birds of the air, the trees of the wood, or the beasts of the forest, that the reader shall receive advice without perceiving the presence of the adviser. ”

“ The Last of the Three is the Truth that is here in queslion. The Knack of Fast aud Loose passes with a world of Foolish People for a Turn of Wit; but they are not aware all this while, of the Desperate Consequences of an Ill Habit, and that the Practice of Falsifying with Men, will lead us on Insenfibly to a Double-Dealing even with God Himself. ”

“ My folly mayhap shall delight thee, A song of fools I will recite thee, Lady fair—O list!” Herewith he sighed amain, but smiled anon, And fell anon to blither, louder note: “Sing hey, Folly—Folly ho, And here's a song of Folly, All 'neath the sun, Will gladly run Away from Melancholy. “And Fool, forsooth, a Fool am I, Well learned in foolish lore: For I can sing ye, laugh or sigh: Can any man do more? Hey, Folly—Folly, ho! 'Gainst sadness bar the door. “A Fool am I, yet by fair leave, Poor Fools have hearts to feel. ”

“ No Fable can be Pleasant, Profitable or Instrutive in Emblem, that is not drawn to the very Life of Nature; and we have a Horror for the Monstrous Productions of the Brain, as well as for those of the Body. ”

“ Covetousness is enough to make the Master of the World as Poor as He that has just Nothing; for a Man may be brought to a Morsel of Bread, by Griping, as well as by Profusion. 'Tis a Madness for a Body that has enough already, to Hazard All for the Getting of More, and then upon the Miscarriage to leave himself Nothing. This was the Woman’s Case and Fault here. In Few Words, there’s a Just Medium betwixt Eating too much, and too Little; and this Dame had Undoubredly Hit upon’t, when the Matter was so Order'd, that the Hen brought her Every Day an Egg. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A Fowler having taken a Partridge in his nets, the bird begged hard for a reprieve, and promised the man, if he would let him go, to decoy the other Partridges into his snares. No, replies the Fowler, if I had before been undetermined what to do with you, now you have condemned yourself by your own words: for he who is such a scoundrel as to offer to betray his friends, to save himself, deserves if possible worse than death. ”

“ Mr. Fable, Hans does not even dream of the changes that have taken place here, in a business way, since he left. And you can imagine how a question like that coming from him at this time . . . when it is a question of what will happen to us all, if . . . A question cannot be entirely indifferent to me. . . a man, asking his cousin, my husband, if I am married. . .
Fable.—And your being that cousin’s wife . . . is that matter of indifference to you?
Ann.—You used to be chivalrous!
Julia.—Ann!
Fable.—God forbid, Mrs. Karvan, that I should willingly touch a sensitive spot. ”

“ So that here’s only a Present Dispatch on the One Hand, to prevent a Lingring Death on the Other (as a Restless Life is in Truth no Better) There are in the World as many Illustrations of This Fable, as there are Instances of Petulant, Pragmatical, and Impertinent People that Break in upon Men of Government and Bus'ness. ”

“ THERE’s Nothing more Frequent, or more Ridiculous in the World, then for an Ass to Dress himself up like a Lyon: A Dunce sets up for a Doctor; a Beggar for a Man of Estate; a Scoundrel for a Cavalier; a Polrcon for a Sword-man: But Every Fool still has some Mark or other to be Known by, thorough All Disguises; and the More he takes upon him, the Arranter Sot he makes Himself, when he comes to be Unmasqu'd. Every Fool, or Fools Fellow, carries More or Less, in his Face, the Signature of his Manners, though the Character may be much more Legible in some, then in Others ”

“ Though the poor Traveller in the fable was not guilty of any real crime in what he did, yet one cannot help approving the honest simplicity of the Satyr, who could not be reconciled to such double dealing. In the moral sense of the fable, nothing can be more offensive to one of a sincere heart, than he that blows with a different breath from the same mouth; who flatters a man to his face, and reviles him behind his back. ”

“ This touches the Case of Those Mean Upstarts, that when they come once to be Preferr'd, forget their Fathers, and have not the Wit to Consider, how soon Fortune may set them Down again where she took ’em up; but yet at last, when they come to be minded of their Original, it makes many a Proud Fool sensible of a Scandalous Extraction, that has no Shame at all for a Scandalous Life. ”

“ Sorrow and Vexation is Entail’d upon the whole Race of Mankind. We are Begotten to't; We are Born to't; and as it has Descended to us, so it is by us to be Handed down to Those that come after us. The Stress of the Fable lies upon the Hazzard of having a Numerous Stock of Children, which must of Necessity, whether they Live or Dye, furnish Matter of Great Anxiety to the Parents. ”

“ I am dying, friendless and alone as I have lived, dying in a niche in the wall with my great unfinished diary before me—and, with the grim briefness of my necessity, this is how it has happened.
I had wooed and won Elizabeth Faulkener, and, on the day after she had come down into the forge, as was her wont, sweet and virginal; and I was there at work, and took her into my arms; and, while we dallied thus, there entered on us the ancient scholar and the swart steward. Gods! that villain blanched and scowled to see us so till his swart face was whiter than the furnace ashes. ”

“ THERE are more Ways to come to a Right Understanding of Things, then by Question and Answer. There are Certain Contentious Humors that are never to be Pleas'd, and he that Troubles his Head because he cannot Please them, is Worse then a Mad-man. Nay it falls out many times that the very Desire and Endeavour to do it, makes it more Impossible, Especially where People are Imperious and Insulting, as well as Peevish. Now in the Case of this Fable, it may be a Question whether the Wife, or the Woman, was the more Freakish of the Two: For she was still the same Uneasie Fop wherever she was ”

“ What we cannot Compass by Force, must be Attempted by Invention, and Address, but then on the Other hand, in All Cases of Hazzard, Things would be well Weigh’d and Examin‘d before we Trust. This Fable is the Fiction of a Case not Altogether Incredible. 'Tis a Common Thing for an Old Jade to Counterfeit Lame, for fear of Hard Riding: for a Duck to run Flapping and Fluttering away as if she were Maim’d, to carry People from her Young: as there's a Story of a Fox that was Hard Hunted, and Hung himself up by the Teeth in a Warren among the Vermin to put the Dogs to a Loss. ”

“ This Fable in One Word more, bids us be Careful how we Trust in Any Case without looking Well about us: for 'tis Half the Bus'ness of One part of the World to put Tricks upon T'other. The Heart of Man is like a Bog, it looks Fair to the Eye; but when we come to lay any Weight upon’t, the Ground is False under us. ”

“ This Fable applies it self to Those that Promise more in their Adversity then they either Intend, or are Able to make good in their Prosperity; but they must not think to bring themselves off at last with a Concert; for in the Sight of God, an Equivocating Juggling Sham, is as much as a Gross, Downright Lye. ”