14 FABLES. 



with whom we frequently converse, are engaged in 

 a lewd, wicked course, it will be almost impossible 

 for us to escape being drawn in with them. If we 

 are truly wise, and would shun those rocks of plea- 

 sure upon which so many have split, we should 

 forbid ourselves all manner of commerce and cor- 

 respondence with those who are steering a course, 

 which reason tells us is not only not for our advan- 

 tage, but would end in our destruction. All the 

 virtue we can boast of will not be sufficient to in- 

 sure our safety, if we embark in bad company ; for 

 though our philosophy were such as would preserve 

 us from being tainted and infected with their man- 

 ners, yet their characters would twist and entwine 

 themselves along with ours, in so intricate a fold, 

 that the world would not take the trouble to unravel 

 and separate them. Reputation is of a blending 

 nature, like water; that which is derived from the 

 clearest spring, if it chance to mix with a foul cur- 

 rent, runs on undistinguished, in one muddy stream, 

 and must ever partake of the colour and condition 

 of its associate. 



