It is as Natural for a _Man_ to Kill a _Flea_, as it is for a _Flea_
to Bite a _Man_. There’s a kind of self-Preservation on Both sides,
and without Any Malice on Either Hand. The _Flea_ cannot Live without
_Nourishment_, nor the _Man_ without _Rest_. So that here’s only a
Present Dispatch on the One Hand, to prevent a Lingring Death on the
Other, (as a Restless Life is in Truth no Better). There are in the World
as many Illustrations of This Fable, as there are Instances of Petulant,
Pragmatical, and Impertinent People that Break in upon Men of Government
and Business. _Distractions_ have much in them of _Flea-bitings_; That is
to say, they keep us Waking, and Hinder our Repose. The _Flea_ thought
it hard to suffer Death for an Importunity: But to a Man that knows
how to Value his Time and his Quiet, One Importunity upon the Neck of
Another, is the Killing of a Man Alive, and the very Worst of Deaths.