There is some Comfort in Company, even in a State of Adversity. Society
is so Necessary and Agreeable to Mankind in All Cases, that Death is
Certainly the More Uneasy for a Man’s going alone into Another World:
But the Consolation Pointed at in This Fable, is That which an Envious
Man takes in the Ruine of his Enemy. There is a Memorable Instance to
This Purpose, of a Gentleman that had an Estate for Lives, and Two of
his Tenants in the Lease: One of them Dyes, and the Other desires his
Landlord to lay Both Farms into One, and Accept of him for His Tenant.
The Gentleman fairly Excus’d Himself, and away goes the Man in a Rage
to his Wife; Told her how it was, and Swore a Great Oath, that he would
be Reveng’d of his Landlord. This was in Harvest Time, and he went out
next day to his Reapers, but stay’d so long, that his Wife sent up and
down to look after him. To shorten the Story, they found him at last in a
Ditch, Vomiting his Heart out. The Man, it seems, had Poyson’d himself,
and the Revenge upon his Landlord was the Defeating him of his Estate
by Destroying the Last Life in his Lease. In One Word, Revenge stops
at Nothing that’s Violent and Wicked. It Divides the Dearest Friends;
Embroils Governments, and Tears Families to pieces. But to say no more
on’t, The Histories of All Ages are full of the Tragical Outrages that
have been Executed by this Diabolical Passion: beside, that it hardens
People into a Brutal Contempt of Death, (as in the Fables above) where
they may but see their Enemies fall for Company.