“If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee: if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee: if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee when peradventure thou wert accused by the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee, and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner[[162]] ... wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse: wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the leopard: wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life: all thy safety were remotion, and thy defence absence.”
And so may we take warning, and make our defence for writing so much,—it is the absence of far more that might be gathered,—
“Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’
Like the poor cat i’ the adage.”
Macbeth, act i. sc. 7, l. 44.
Aneau, 1552.
Section VII.
EMBLEMS FOR POETIC IDEAS.
