262 FABLES. 



impieties as these declare that you are no longer 

 fit to live. 



APPLICATION. 



WHEN a wicked man in power has a mind to 

 glut his appetite in any respect, innocence or even 

 merit is no protection against him The cries of 

 justice and the voice of reason, are of no effect 

 upon a conscience hardened in iniquity, and a mind 

 versed in a long practice of wrong 1 and robbery. 

 Remonstrances, however reasonably urged, or mov- 

 ingly couched, have no more influence upon the 

 hearts of such, than the gentle evening breeze has 

 upon the oak, when it whispers among its branches ; 

 or the rising surges upon the deaf rock, when they 

 dash and break upon its sides. Power should 

 never be trusted in the hands of an impious selfish 

 man, and one that has more regard to the gratifica- 

 tion of his own insatiable desires, than to public 

 peace and justice: but as a wicked son may succeed 

 to the station of a virtuous and patriotic father, 

 care should be taken to guard against a surprise, 

 by a vigilant watchfulness of the encroaching na- 

 ture of power, even w r hen in benevolent hands, that 

 those checks may not be undermined which coun- 

 teract its abuse in bad ones. Had the poor Cock 

 exerted his usual vigilance, it would have served 

 him much more effectually than either his inno- 

 cence or his eloquence. 



