APPLICATION.
Wise men read effects in their causes, and profit by them; but their advice is thrown away when given to the arrogant and self-conceited, who are too proud to listen to it. It is equally lost upon fools, who stupidly or obstinately shut their eyes against impending danger, till it is too late to prevent it. In both cases, those who have no foresight of their own, and those who despise the wholesome admonitions of their friends, deserve to suffer from the misfortunes which their own obstinacy, folly, or negligence, brings upon their heads. A great portion of mankind, from an overweening conceit of their own abilities, are unwilling to be advised by any one, and through this stubborn disposition, deprive themselves of the aids of friendship, and the benefits which the good-will of their more sensible neighbours would have conferred on them with pleasure.
