144 FABLES. 



could, with equal ease, have made thee an humble 

 Bramble; and high as thou art, a puff of His 

 breath, in the message of a north wind, can rob 

 thee of thy verdure, or lay thee low; and further, I 

 pray thee tell me, when the woodman comes with 

 his axe to fell timber, whether thou wouldst not 

 rather be a Bramble than a Fir? 



APPLICATION. 



PRIDE, which was implanted in the human breast 

 for wise purposes, should carefully be directed 

 aright. It was intended only to exalt the minds of 

 all ranks and conditions of men, to that pitch, which 

 will make them spurn at, and despise the doing of 

 a mean or dishonourable action ; and it is only 

 misapplied, when it puffs up those whom fortune 

 has placed in high stations, or overloaded with 

 riches, and tempts them to look down with derision 

 on those below them. The higher a man is exalted 

 in life, but especially if he have risen by dishonour- 

 able means, the more unlikely it is that he will 

 escape a storm, or the mischiefs to which he may 

 be exposed in his public capacity, in any convulsion 

 that may befal his country. When public justice 

 overtakes him, and he finds the day of reckoning 

 near at hand, the honest monitor* within will put 

 him in mind of his true situation, and he will then 

 be enabled to make a just comparison between his 

 own lofty station, and that of the poor, but honest,, 

 man. 



