Il6 FABLES. 



strength and courage enough to wound so mighty 

 and valorous a beast: Ah! says the Tiger, I was 

 mistaken in my reckoning: it was that invincible 

 Man yonder. 



APPLICATION. 



THOUGH strength and courage are very good in- 

 gredients towards making us secure and formidable 

 in the world, yet unless there be a proper portion 

 of wisdom or policy to direct them, instead of being 

 serviceable, they often prove detrimental to their 

 proprietors. A rash forward man, who depends 

 upon the excellence of his own parts and ac- 

 complishments, is likewise apt to expose a \veak 

 side, which his enemies might not otherwise have 

 observed ; and gives an advantage to others by 

 those very means which he fancied might have 

 secured it to himself. Counsel and conduct always 

 did and always will govern the world; and the 

 strong, in spite of all their force, can never avoid 

 being tools to the crafty. Some men are as 

 much superior to others in wisdom and policy, as 

 man in general is above the brute. Strength, ill- 

 governed, opposed to them, is like a quarter staff 

 in the hands of a huge, robust, but bungling fellow, 

 who fights against a master of the science. The 

 latter, though without a weapon, would have skill 

 and address enough to disarm his adversary, and 

 drub him with his own staff. In a word, savage 

 fiercenesss and brutal strength, must not pretend to 

 stand in competition with policy and stratagem. 



