2*6 



FABLES. 



APPLICATION. 



CREDULITY may be said to be the child of ignor- 

 ance, and the mother of distress. A wise man will 

 not suffer himself to be imposed upon by slender 

 artifices and idle tales; but the credulous man is 

 easily deluded, and subjects himself to numberless 

 misfortunes. He is ever the dupe of designing 

 knaves, and of needy adventurers, who are always 

 intent upon serving themselves at the expense of 

 others. They fasten upon opulent men of weak 

 minds, as the objects of delusion, and for this 

 purpose, tempt them with proposals of apparently 

 advantageous schemes, which they have ready 

 made out, to entice their victims to embark along 

 with them. By credulity, they hope to establish 

 their own fortune, and provided this be done, they 

 care not, even if the ruin of their unsuspecting 

 associates follow. It will likewise ever be found 

 that when an honest man and a knave happen to 

 become partners in the same common interest, the 

 latter, whenever necessity pinches, will be sure to 

 shift for himself, and leave the former in the lurch. 



