Xanthus _Presents_ Æsop _to his Wife_.
_Xanthus_ had no sooner made his Purchase, and carry’d his Jewel home
with him, but, having a kind of a Nice Froward Piece to his Wife, the
Great Difficulty was how to put her in Humour for the Entertainment of
this Monster, without throwing the House out at the Window. My Dear, says
he, You have been often complaining of Careless Servants; And I have
brought you one Now that I am Confident will fit your Turn. He shall Go
and Come, and Wait, and do Every thing as you would have him; Oh, your
Servant Sweet heart says she, but what did he Cost you? Why truly very
Reasonable; but at Present He’s a Little Tann’d, and out of case you must
know, with his Journey, says the Husband, and so he Order’d him to be
call’d in. The Cunning Gipsy smoak’d the Matter presently. Some Monster
says she, I’ll be Hanged else. Wife, Wife, says _Xanthus_, If you are a
good Woman, That that Pleases Me Must Please You too. While These Words
were between his Lips, up comes Æsop toward them; she gave him a Fierce
Look, and Immediately discharg’d her Choler upon her Husband. Is this a
_Man_, or a _Beast_? says she, and what Clearer Proof in the World Could
You have given me Now, of an Insufferable Hatred and Contempt? Æsop said
not one Word all This While; ’till _Xanthus_ Rouz’d him with a Reproof.
Oh Villain! says he; to have a Tongue and Wit at Will upon All other
Occasions, and not one Diverting Syllable Now at a Pinch, to Pacify your
Mistress! Æsop, after a short Pause upon’t, Bolted out an Old _Greek_
Saying, which is in _English_ to this Effect, _From Lying at the Mercy of
Fire, Water, and a Wicked Woman, Good Lord Deliver us_. If the Wife was
heartily angry before, This Scomm made her Stark Mad, and the Reproche
was so Cutting too, that _Xanthus_ himself did not well know how to
take it. But Æsop brought himself off again from the Malice of any ill
Intention, by a Passage out of _Euripides_ to this Purpose. _The Raging
of a Tempestuous Sea; The Fury of a Devouring Fire, and the Pinching
Want of Necessaries for Life, are Three Dreadful Things_, and a Body
might reckon up a Thousand more; _but all this is Nothing to the Terrible
Violences of an Impetuous Woman_, and therefore, says he, Make yourself
as Glorious on the other side, in the Rank of Good Women. _Vavasor_ the
Jesuite, in his _De Ludicra Dictione_, takes Notice of a Blunder here in
the Chronology of the Story. For Æsop was Murder’d at least Fourscore
Years before _Euripides_ was Born. But to follow the Thred of the
Relation; Upon this Oblique Admonition, the Woman came to herself again,
and took Æsop into her good Graces, who render’d his Master and Mistress
All the Offices of a Faithful Servant.