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Show 28 ON THE SLAVERY AND CoMMERCI': are well aware, that the very mention of him as a writer of fables, may depreciate him in the eyes of fame. To fuch we fhall propof; a quell:ion, " Whether this fpecics " of writing has not been more beneficial " to mankind; or whether it has not pro" duced more important events, than any •• other?" With refpeCl: to the iiril conlideration, it is evident that thefe fables, as conlifl:ing of plain and iimple tranfaCl:ions, are particularly eafy to be underll:ood; as conveyed in images, they pleafe and feduce the mind; and, as cOntaining a moral, ealily deducible on the fide of virtue ; that they afford, at the fame time, the moll: weighty precepts of philofophy. Here then are the two grand points of compoiition, " a man" ner of expreffion to be apprehened by tho " lowell: capacities, and, *(what is con'' iidered as a viCl:ory in the art) an happy " conjunCl:ion of utility and pleafure." Hence ~intilian recommends them, as iingularly ufeful, and as admirably adapted, to the puerile age; as a jull: grada~ion be~ • 01;!\ne wtit punCluUl, qui mlfcult ijtile duld. Horace. twe~l\ OF THE HuMAN SP!<:CIES. tween the language of the nurfe and the preceptor, and as furniiliing maxims of prudence and virtue, at a time when the fpeculative principles of philofophy are too difficult_ to be underll:ood. H ence alfo having been mtroduced by moll: civilized nation~ into their fyll:em of education, they have produced that general benefit, to which ~e at firll: alluded. Nor have they been of lefs confequence in maturity; but particular! to thofe of inferiour capacities, or little eru~ clition,. whom they have frequently ferved as a _guide to conduCl: them in life, and as a m~dmm, through which an explanation might be made, on many and important occaiions. With refpeCl: to the latter conlideration which is ealily deducible from hence ' !hall only appeal to the wonderful effe~e which ~he fable, pronounced by Demoll:he~ nes agam. ll: Philip of Macedon , prod uce d among his hearers; or to the fable, which was fpoken by Menenius Agrippa to the Roma. n populace'. by which an 1.1 1J. terate multitude were brought back to their duty "' |