226 FABLES. 



deprived of his teeth and claws, than the treacher- 

 ous forester attacked him with a huge club, and 

 knocked out his brains. 



APPLICATION. 



OF all the ill consequences that may attend the 

 blind passion of love, few prove so fatal as that of 

 its drawing people into a sudden and ill-concerted 

 marriage. In the midst of a fit of madness, they 

 commit a rash act, of which, as soon as they come 

 to themselves, they find reason to repent as long as 

 they live. Many an unthinking young man has 

 been treated as much like a savage, in this respect, 

 as the Lion in the Fable. He has, perhaps, had 

 nothing valuable belonging to him but his estate, 

 and the documents which formed his title to it; 

 and if he is so far captivated, as to be persuaded to 

 part with these, his teeth and his claws are gone, 

 and he lies entirely at the mercy of madam and her 

 relations, who will most likely not fail to keep him 

 in complete subjection, after they have stripped 

 him of all his power. Nothing but a true friend- 

 ship, and a mutual interest, can keep up a recip- 

 rocal love between the conjugal pair, and when 

 these are wanting, contempt and aversion soon step 

 in to supply their place. Matrimony then becomes 

 a state of downright enmity and hostility; and 

 what a miserable case he must be in, who has put 

 himself and his whole power into the hands of his 

 enemy. Let those reflect upon this (while they are 

 in their sober senses) who abhor the thoughts of 

 being betrayed into their ruin, by following the 

 impulse of a blind unheeding passion. 



