The _Frogs_ Chuse a _King_.
In the days of Old, when the _Frogs_ were All at liberty in the Lakes,
and grown quite Weary of living without Government, they Petition’d
_Jupiter_ for a _King_, to the End that there might be some Distinction
of Good and Evil, by Certain Equitable Rules and Methods of Rewards and
Punishment. _Jupiter_, that knew the Vanity of their Hearts, threw them
down a _Log_ for their Governour; which upon the first Dash, frighted
the whole _Mobile_ of them into the Mudd for the very fear on’t. This
_Panick_ Terror kept them in Awe for a while, till in good time one
_Frog_, Bolder then the Rest, put up his Head, and look’d about him,
to see how squares went with their _New King_. Upon This, he calls his
Fellow-Subjects together; Opens the truth of the Case; and Nothing would
serve them then, but Riding a-top of him; Insomuch that the Dread they
were in before, is now turn’d into Insolence, and Tumult. _This King_,
they said, was too _Tame_ for them, and _Jupiter_ must needs be entreated
to send ’em Another: He did so, but, Authors are divided upon it, whether
’twas a _Stork_, or a _Serpent_; though whether of the Two soever it
was, he left them neither Liberty, nor Property, but made a Prey of his
Subjects. Such was their Condition in fine, that they sent _Mercury_
to _Jupiter_ yet once again for _Another King_, whose Answer was This:
_They that will not be Contented when they are Well, must be Patient when
things are Amiss with them_: and People had better Rest where they are,
than go farther, and fare Worse.
The MORAL.
_The_ Mobile _are uneasie without a Ruler: They are as Restless with one;
and the oftner they shift, the Worse they Are; So that Government, or No
Government; a King of God’s Making, or of the Peoples, or none at all;
the Multitude are never to be satisfied_.