Truth in Fiction Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker |
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| XLVI. | FABLE XLVI. The Fishermen:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
157
FABLE XLVI. The Fishermen:
Or, Hope the Best, Expect the Worst.
Some
Fishers, as they drew their Net a-Shore,
And felt a Weight they ne'er observ'd before,
Believ'd they had a mighty Purchase caught,
And hugg'd themselves with the transporting Thought:
But when they hal'd the winding Sain a-ground,
A pond'rous Stone was all the Draught they found.
The Fellows, at the Disappointment griev'd,
Which had their Labour and their Hopes deceiv'd;
'Till one, whose Age and Sense surpass'd the rest,
His discontented Partners thus address'd:
Chear up, my Mates, and grieve not at your Fate;
Since Sorrow always do's on Pleasure wait,
We shou'd provide for ev'ry Chance, if wise:
Expected Storms occasion no Surprize.
And felt a Weight they ne'er observ'd before,
Believ'd they had a mighty Purchase caught,
And hugg'd themselves with the transporting Thought:
But when they hal'd the winding Sain a-ground,
A pond'rous Stone was all the Draught they found.
The Fellows, at the Disappointment griev'd,
Which had their Labour and their Hopes deceiv'd;
'Till one, whose Age and Sense surpass'd the rest,
His discontented Partners thus address'd:
Chear up, my Mates, and grieve not at your Fate;
Since Sorrow always do's on Pleasure wait,
We shou'd provide for ev'ry Chance, if wise:
Expected Storms occasion no Surprize.
The MORAL.
‘They who consider Man's uncertain State,‘Expos'd to swift Vicissitudes of Fate,
‘In all Events shou'd reckon nothing strange,
‘Nor, with their Luck, their Resolution change:
‘Such as Expect the Worst, and Hope the Best,
‘Are ne'er too much Exalted, or Depress'd.
| Truth in Fiction | |