The fables of young Æsop, with their morals with a moral history of his life and death, illustrated with forty curious cuts applicable to each fable.

About this Item

Title: The fables of young Æsop, with their morals with a moral history of his life and death, illustrated with forty curious cuts applicable to each fable.
Publication: London :: Printed and sold by Benj. Harris ...,; MDCC [1700]
Rights/Permissions: To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
Subject terms: Fables.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A45463.0001.001
Cite this Item: "The fables of young Æsop, with their morals with a moral history of his life and death, illustrated with forty curious cuts applicable to each fable." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A45463.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 6, 2024.

Pages

Page 46

20. The Parliament of Bees. (Book 20)

[illustration]

THe Bees, in Parliament, agree
To chuse themselves a King,
To make such Laws, as Liberty
And Property may bring.

At length they to a Royal be,
Do make a grievous Moan,
Imploring him their King to be,
To sit upon the Throne.

Which done, some idle Drones contrive
Their lawful King to Slay,
Because he had preserv'd their Hives
From all the Beasts of Prey;
But in the very int'rim they were took,
And justly hang'd on a Triangle Hook.

Page 47

The MORAL.

MOnarchy! Thou Witchcraft of Felicity, and Enemy to a State free from the pale Cabals of Blood and Slaughter; in thy Bowels are Vipers, and on thy Brest Vultures! Kings that should be most free from Danger, move as if every step they took were in the Dark; and are (if not Hated) Envied by all. The Courts of Princes, are full of Minions, Parasites, and Favourites, Conspirators in the Palace, and Regicides in the Bed-Chamber; with innumerable Emmissaries without. And though Mor∣tals have universally Consented to the Punishment of Treason, yet they will in∣dulge themselves therein, though they see Quarters expos'd to view on the Ci∣ty-Gates. For my part, I do not love to imbrew my Hands in the Blood of any Creature, especially in the Blood of that Monarch, who hath restor'd me Liber∣ty and Property, unto whom I owe Sub∣jection. Nor is it consistent with Na∣ture, that the Feet should kick against the Head, because it's Elivated above all the other Parts of the Body, and Go∣verns the same.