1 66 FABLES. 



the fire, and presented to his shivering guest. But 

 this the Traveller thought fit to blow upon likewise; 

 and when the Satyr demanded a reason why he did 

 so, he replied, to cool his dish. This second answer 

 provoked the Satyr's indignation as much as the 

 first had kindled his surprise; so, taking the man 

 by the shoulders, he thrust him out of the place, 

 saying, he would have nothing to do with a wretch 

 who had so vile a quality as to blow hot and cold 

 with the same breath. 



APPLICATION. 



NOTHING can be more offensive to a man of a 

 sincere honest heart, than he who blo\vs with dif- 

 ferent breaths from the same mouth: who flatters 

 a man to his face, and reviles him behind his back. 

 Such double-dealing false friends ought and will 

 always be considered as unworthy of being treated 

 otherwise than as worthless and disagreeable per- 

 sons : for unless the tenor of a man's life be always 

 true and consistent with itself, the less one has to 

 do with him the better. It is unfortunately too 

 common with persons of this cast of character, in 

 the exalted stations of life, to serve a present view, 

 or perhaps only the caprice or whim of the moment, 

 to blow nothing but what is warm, benevolent, and 

 cherishing, to raise up the expectations of a de- 

 pendent to the highest degree; and when they sus- 

 pect he may prove troublesome, they then, by a 

 sudden cold forbidding air, easily blast all his hopes 

 and expectations : but such a temper, whether it 

 proceed from a designed or natural levity, is de- 

 testable, and has been the cause of much trouble 

 and mortification to many a brave deserving man, 



