FABLES. 



137 



THE OLD WOMAN AND THE EMPTY 

 CASK. 



AN Old Wpman, seeing a Wine Cask, which had 

 been emptied of its contents, but the very lees of 

 which still perfumed the air with a grateful cordial 

 scent, applied her nose to the bunghole, and snuff- 

 ing very heartily for some time, at last broke out 

 into this exclamation: O delicious smell! How 

 good! how charming must you have been once, 

 when your very dregs are so agreeable and re- 

 freshing ! 



APPLICATION. 



PtLEDRUS was an old man when he wrote his 

 Fables, and this he applies to himself; intimating 

 what we ought to judge of his youth, when his old 

 age was capable of such productions. It is at once 



VOL. IV. T 



