And on it have bestowed more contrite tears, 9 Who twice a day their withered hands hold up SHAKESPEARE-"Henry V." 1. FEED UPON MY COST, feed at my cost or expense. 2. YEARNS, grieves, vexes. 3. Coz, contraction of cousin. 4. CONVOY, Conveyance; to pay for his conveyance or passage. 5. CRISPIAN, one of the numerous saints of the Roman Catholic calendar. The day dedicated to him is 25th October; the battle of Agincourt was fought on that day in 1415. 6. VIGIL, the eve before a feast or fast-day. (Lat. vigil, awake, watchful.) 7. GENTLE HIS CONDITION, make his state or condition that of a gentleman. 8. RICHARD, the reference here is to Richard II., deposed, and probably murdered, by the command of Henry IV. 9. CHANTRIES, endowed chapels, where masses were chanted by one or more priests for the souls of the persons in whose memory the chantry had been erected. THE USE OF FABLES. THERE is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice. We look upon a man who gives it us, as offering an affront to our understanding, and treating us like children or idiots. We consider the instruction as implied censure, and the zeal, which any one shows for our good on such an occasion, as a piece of presumption or impertinence. The truth of it is, the person who pretends to advise, does, in that particular, exercise a superiority over us, and can have no other reason for it, but that in comparing us with himself, he thinks us defective either in our conduct or our understanding. For these reasons there is nothing so difficult as the art of making advice agreeable; and indeed all writers, both ancient and modern, have distinguished themselves among one another according to the perfection, at which they have arrived in this art. How many devices have been made use of to render this bitter potion1 palatable ! 2 Some convey their instruction to us in the best-chosen words; others in the most harmonious numbers; some in points of wit; and others in short proverbs. But among all the different ways of giving counsel, I think the finest, and that which pleases the most universally, is the fable, in whatsoever shape it appears. If we consider this way of instructing or giving advice, it excels all others, because it is the least shocking, and the least subject to those exceptions, which I have before mentioned. This will appear to us, if we reflect in the first place, that, upon the reading of a fable, we are made to believe that we advise ourselves. We peruse the author for the sake of the story, and consider the precepts rather as our own conclusions than his instructions. The moral insinuates itself imperceptibly; we are taught by surprise, and become wiser and better unawares. In short, by this method a man is so far overreached as to think that he is directing himself, whilst he is following the dictates of another, and consequently is not sensible of that, which is the most unpleasing circumstance in advice. In the next place, if we look into human nature, we shall find, that the mind is never so much pleased as when she exerts herself in any action, that gives her an idea of her own perfections and abilities. This natural pride and ambition of the soul is very much gratified in the reading of a fable; for in writings of this kind, the reader comes in for half the performance, everything appears to him like a discovery of his own; he is busied all the while in applying the characters and circumstances, and is in this respect both a reader and a composer. It is no wonder, therefore, that on such occasions, when the mind is thus pleased with itself, and amused with its own discoveries, that it is highly delighted with the writing, which is the occasion of it. This oblique 5 manner of giving advice is so inoffensive, that, if we look into ancient histories, we find the wise men of old very often chose to give counsel to their kings in fables. To omit many, which will occur to every one's memory, there is a pretty instance of this nature in a Turkish tale. We are told that the Sultan Mahmoud, by his perpetual wars abroad and his tyranny at home, had filled his dominions with ruin and desolation, and half unpeopled the Persian empire. The vizier of this great Sultan pretended to have learned of a certain dervish to understand the language of birds, so that there was not a bird that could open his mouth, but the vizier knew what it was he said. As he was one evening with the Emperor on their return from hunting, they saw a couple of owls upon a tree that grew near an old wall, out of a heap of rubbish. "I would fain know," says the Sultan, "what those two owls are saying to one another; listen to their discourse, and give me an account of it." The vizier approached the tree, pretending to be very attentive to the two owls. Upon his return to the Sultan, "Sir," says he, "I have heard part of their conversation, but I dare not tell you what it is." The Sultan would not be satisfied with such an answer, but forced him to repeat word for word what the owls had said. "You must know then," said the vizier, "that one of these owls has a son, and the other a daughter, between whom they are now upon a treaty of marriage. The father of the son said to the father of the daughter in my hearing, 'Brother, I consent to this marriage, provided you will settle upon your daughter fifty ruined villages for her portion.' To which the father of the daughter replied, 'Instead of fifty, I will give her five hundred if you please. Allah grant a long life to Sultan Mahmoud! whilst he reigns over us, we shall never want ruined villages."" The story says the Sultan was so touched with the fable, that he rebuilt the towns and villages that had been destroyed, and from that time forward consulted the good of his people. ADDISON. 1. POTION, a draught, a dose. (Lat. poto, to drink.) 2. PALATABLE, agreeable to the palate or taste. Palate, the roof of the mouth touched by the food. 3. HARMONIOUS NUMBERS, sounds arranged in harmonious verse. 4. INSINUATE, to hint; to introduce gently or artfully. (Lat. sinus, a curve, and hence a gulf.) 5. OBLIQUE, slanting; not straightforward. 6. VIZIER, an Oriental prime minister or councillor of state. THE VANITY OF HUMAN GREATNESS. CROMWELL,1 I did not think to shed a tear In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me, And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Love thyself last cherish those hearts that hate thee: Still in thy hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not : Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, There take an inventory 3 of all I have, To the last penny; 'tis the king's my robe, And my integrity to heaven, is all : I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell! Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! |