This Fable is levelled at those spiteful people who take so malignant a
pleasure in the design of hurting others, as not to feel and understand
that they hurt only themselves; and at those who are blinded by
envy, which prompts them rather than not bite at all, to fall foul
where they cannot expect their nibbling will meet with any thing but
disappointment, as every one must who is biting at that which is too
hard for his teeth. Thus it is that spite and malignity, which are twin
brothers, and the offspring of envy, are, as well as their parent,
their own tormentors. They intend that the wounds they inflict should
be deadly, and the greatest wits and brightest characters in all ages
have been the objects of their attacks; but the brilliancy of truth
and justice at length shines forth, and shews the deformity of such
characters in the clearest light. Other people, of the same character
and disposition, though of minor consideration indeed, ought not to
be passed over unnoticed. These may be called nibblers, who let their
tongues slip very freely, in censuring the actions of persons who, in
the esteem of the world, are of such an unquestionable reputation,
that nobody will believe what is insinuated against them, and of such
influence through their own veracity, that the least word from them
would ruin the credit of such adversaries to all intents and purposes.
The efforts of little villains of this stamp, like dirty liquor
squirted against the wind, recoil back and bespatter their own faces;
or like the shades of a picture, serve to set off the brilliant tints
of the opposite virtues, which support and adorn society.
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