62 FABLES. 



adherence to truth : for no, talents or industry can 

 give him weight with others, or induce the sensible 

 part of mankind to place any confidence in him, if 

 he be known to deviate without scruple from vera- 

 city. Men of this stamp soon become notorious; 

 and besides the ignominy which attaches to their 

 characters, they have to undergo the mortification 

 of not being believed even when they do speak the 

 truth. Whatever misfortune may befal them, and 

 however sincere they may be ' in making kno\vn 

 their distress, yet, like the Boy in the Fable, their 

 complaints and most earnest asseverations cannot 

 procure them credit, and are received at best with 

 doubt and suspicion. The same consequences fol- 

 low falsehood and deception, whether practised by 

 individuals or public governors, and they will both 

 find in the end that they have been guided by cun- 

 ning, and not by wisdom : for although the ignorant 

 part of mankind may, to serve the temporary pur- 

 poses of a bad government, be acted upon by false 

 alarms of imaginary dangers, yet even these in 

 time will see through the stale tricks and artifices 

 of those whose designs are to gull and impose upon 

 them. 



