This Fable makes Riches to be a great Enemy to our Repose, and tells
us that the Cares of Money lye heavier upon a Good Man, then the
Inconveniences of an Honest Poverty. He that sets the Anxiety, Fears
and Dangers that accompany Riches, against the Chearful and the Easie
Security of a Private Fortune and Condition, may very well be Thankful
for the One, without Repining at the other. He that sets his Heart upon
any thing in this World, makes himself a Slave to his Hopes and Fears,
and is as sure of being Disappointed, as he is of the Uncertainty of
Human Affairs. Let it be Love, Preferment, Court-Favours, Popularity, or
what else it will, some Rival or other he must expect to meet with in
all his Pretensions. The Proud Man’s Inclination is Glory, High Place
in the World, and the Applause of People. The Envious Man’s Heart is
set upon doing shrew’d Turns, Defamatory Calumnies and Revenge. In few
Words, Violent Affections never fail of being Uneasie and Importune: but
of all Extravagant Passions, the Love of _Mony_ is the most Dangerous,
in regard of the greatest Variety of Difficulties that attend it. There
may be some few Pretenders to a Beautiful Lady; some few Candidates for
the favour of a Popular Choice; But these are Competitions that Intermit,
and go off and on as it happens, upon this or that Occasion. But _Mony is
an Universal Mistriss_; Men are always Watching, Spying, and Designing
upon’t; and all the Engines of Worldly Wisdom are perpetually at Work
about it: So that whosoever is Possess’d of, and Sollicitous for that
Interest, shall never Close his Eyes, so long as Craft, Violence, or
Conspiracy, shall be able to keep them Waking.