A _Fox_ and a _Knot_ of _Gossips_.
A _Fox_ that was taking a Walk one Night Cross a Village, spy’d a Bevy
of _Jolly, Gossiping Wenches_, making Merry over a Dish of _Pullets_.
Why Ay, says he; Is not this a Brave World now? A Poor Innocent _Fox_
cannot so much as Peep into a Hen Roost, though but to keep Life and Soul
together, and what a Bawling do you make on’t presently with your Dogs,
and your Bastards! And yet You your selves can lie Stuffing your Guts
with your _Hens_, and your _Capons_, and not a Word of the Pudding. How
now _Bold-Face_, crys an _Old Trot_. Sirrah, we Eat our _Own Hens_, I’d
have you to know; and what you Eat, you Steal.
The MORAL.
_There are Men of Prey, as well as Beasts of Prey, that Account Rapine as
good a Title as Propriety._