This is to Reprove the Impertinent, Useless, and Unreasonable Demands of
Those that first Ask what Another cannot Part with, unless he be a Stark
Fool, or a Mad-Man. And, 2. That which if they could obtain would be of
No Use, or Benefit to them at all. The Old Moral carries it to Those also
that will Part with Nothing to the Poor, even out of their Superfluities:
But it seems to be Abominably Wrested, for neither did the One want, nor
had the other Any Thing to spare.
There are Certain Rules to be observed, as well in Asking, as Denying.
Things against Nature are unreasonable on Both Sides. Things Impossible
are Ridiculous in the very Proposal; and Things which the One cannot
Spare, and the Other will be never the Better for, fall naturally within
the Compass of Exceptions. That is to say, Those Things that we know not
what to do withal if we Had them; and Those Things again, which Another
Cannot Part with but to his own Loss and Shame. These Points are the very
Conditions of This Fable. Here’s a General Caution against Extravagant
Desires, and yet let the Refusal be never so Just, it is Possible
however, that a Man may Oppose a most Unconscionable Request for an
Unjustifiable Reason; As in the Case for the Purpose, of an Ill Natur’d
Denyal, out of a Dislike of the Man, rather then of the Thing it self.
The Application of This Fable to Avarice, that will part with Nothing,
seems to be Wrested; for it strikes more properly upon the Folly of
Peoples not being satisfied with the Appointments of Nature. An _Ape with
a Tayl_, would be as scandalous, as a _Fox without_ One. Why should not
Any One Creature Envy the Whole, as well as any One Part of Another: And
why should not an _Ape_ be as much Troubled that he has no _Wings_, as
that he has no _Tayl_? This Grumbling Humour has Envy in it, Avarice and
Ingratitude, and sets up it self in fine against all the Works of the
Creation.