Three _Dreaming Travellers_.
Three Men were Travelling through a Wilderness; the Journey it seems was
longer then they thought for, and their Provisions fell short; but there
was enough left for any One of ’em yet, though too little for all; and
how to Dispose of the Remainder, was the Question. Come (says One of the
Three,) Let’s e’en lye down and Sleep, and he that has the Strangest
Dream, shall have That that’s Left. The Motion was Agreed to, and so they
dispos’d themselves to their Rest. About Midnight, Two of them Wak’d, and
told one another their Dreams. _Lord_, says one of ’em, _What a Fancy
have I had! I was taken up methought into the Heavens, I know not how,
and there set down just before_ Jupiter’s _Throne. And I_, says T’other,
_was Hurry’d away by a Whirlwind, methought to the very Pit of Hell_. The
Third all this while Slept _Dog-Sleep_, and heard every Word they said.
They fell then too Lugging and Pinching their Companion, to tell him
the Story. _Nay, pray be Quiet_, says he, _What are ye? Why we are your
Fellow Travellers_, they Cry’d. _Are ye come back again then?_ says he.
They told him they had never stirr’d from the Place where they were. _Nay
then_, says t’other, _’twas but a Dream, for I Fancy’d that one of ye was
Carry’d away with a Whirlwind to_ Jupiter, _and t’other to_ Pluto: _And
then thought I to my self, I shall never see these Poor People again: so
I e’en fell on, and Eat up all the Victuals_.
The MORAL.
_There is a Fooling sort of Wit that has nothing more in’t then the
Tricking up of some Insipid Conceit to no manner of Purpose, but to
Mortifie Good Company, and Tire out an Ingenious Conversation. The Jests
of these People are only to be Order’d as we do Cucumbers: Wash them, and
Beat them, and then throw them out at the Window. That is to say, they
are Flat and Insipid, without either Meaning or Morality to help them
out._