This Emblem bids us Husband our Time, and bring the Business of Life
into as Narrow a Compass as we can; for we have a great deal to do. ’Tis
in effect, so much Life Lost, as we squander away in more Words then
needs, and in the Exchange of Idle and Impertinent Discourses; Beside the
Mortification of a Tedious Talker. The Figure is carry’d to the Height,
in the Representation, both of the Crime and of the Punishment; over and
above the Equity of Tormenting the Tormentor of Others in his own kind,
as _Phalaris_ Sentenc’d _Perillus_ to be Burnt in his _Own Bull_.