This Fable Marks out to us the Difference betwixt the Empty Vanity of
Ostentation, and the Substantial Ornaments of Virtue. It shews that
the Happiness of Life does not lie so much in the Enjoying of small
Advantages, as in living free from Great Inconveniences, and that an
Honest Mediocrity is Best. The _Fly_ stands up for the Pride, the Luxury,
and the Ambition of Courts, in the preference of Palaces, to Caves
and Private Retreats. The _Ant_ contents her self with the Virtue of
Sobriety, Retirement, and Moderation: She lives upon her Own, Honestly
Gotten and Possess’d without either Envy or Violence; Whereas the _Fly_
is an Intruder, and a Common _Smell-Feast_, that Spunges upon Other
Peoples Trenchers.
A Man can hardly fancy to himself a Truer Image of a Plain, Honest,
Country Simplicity, then the _Ant’s_ part of the Dialogue in this Fable.
She takes pains for What she Eats; Wrongs No body; and so Creates no
Enemies; She wants Nothing, and she Boasts of Nothing; Lives Contented
with her Own, and Enjoyes all with a Good Conscience. This Emblem
recommends to us the Blessings of a Virtuous Privacy, according to the
just Measures of Right Nature, and in Few Words, comprizes the Sum of a
Happy State.
The _Fly_, on the Contrary, leads a Lazy, Voluptuous, Scandalous,
Sharking Life; Hateful wherever she comes, and in Perpetual Fears and
Dangers. She Flutters, ’tis true, from place to place, from Feast to
Feast, Brags of her Interest at Court, and of Ladies Favours: And what’s
This Miserable Insect at last, but the very Picture of one of our
Ordinary Trencher-Squires, that spend their time in Hopping from One
Great man’s Table to Anothers, only to Pick up Scraps, and Intelligence,
and to Spoil Good Company! I cannot see one of These Officious, Humble
Companions, Skipping up and down from _Levee_ to _Levee_, and making
himself Necessary, wherever he thinks fit to be Troublesome: I cannot
hear a Finical Fop Romancing, how the King took him aside at such a
time; What the Queen said to him at Another; How many Ladies fell out
who should have him to her self; What Discourse pass’d; Where he is to
Eat to morrow; What Company; What Dishes; What Wine; Who Loves Who; and
what _Intrigues_ are afoot in Church and State, _&c._ Without more Words
I cannot Hear the Chat, or see the Vanity of these Pragmatical Empty
_Busie-Bodies_ without thinking of the _Fly_ in the Fable. And This
Application was the True End of Writing it.