264 FABLES. 



APPLICATION. 



The Fowler's professions of friendship for the 

 birds, while he aimed at their destruction, may be 

 paralleled by too many instances in real life; and 

 however mortifying it may be to reflect upon, yet 

 so it is, that the designing knave far too often 

 succeeds in his deep-laid schemes to ensnare, over- 

 reach, and ruin the honest and the unsuspecting 

 man. Planners and projectors of this character, 

 both of high and low degree, are suffered to roam 

 at large, and it behoves the inexperienced to guard 

 against their plots with a watchful eye; for while 

 they smoothly disclaim taking any mean advantage 

 over those they are addressing, with their plausible 

 pretensions, their sole study and aim is to fill their 

 own pockets, and then to hug themselves with the 

 thoughts of their success, and to laugh at those 

 whom they have duped. As long as people can be 

 found credulous enough to suffer themselves to be 

 imposed upon, so long will there arise gentry of 

 this description, who will live in affluence by taking 

 advantage of their weakness. 



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