" [Footnote: See Jones, on the Origin and Use of
Fables.]
_Ferdinand._ It is in the ninth chapter of Judges. I read it this
morning, but did not quite understand the intention of it.
_ Mr. B._ I will endeavour to explain it to you then, my love. You will
recollect, that the fruitful trees, when applied to, all declined taking
upon them the sovereign authority; but the bramble offers his services,
and gets into power. The moral of which, as applicable to the person of
Abimelech, was this:--that the desire of reigning does not prevail in
wise and good men, who should feed the people, and protect them under
the shadow of their authority; but chiefly in men of rough minds and
bloody intentions, who harass the people, and are, at last, consumed
with them, in the unjust exercise of their power.
"The parables made use of by our Saviour, are, I think, very much in the
form of fables," said Emily.
_Mrs. B._ They are, my love. They were delivered in this manner, for
the sake of some moral, which would either be obscure without an
illustration, or offensive to the bearers, if it were delivered in plain
terms.
_Louisa._ Nathan's reproof to king David, when he took away the wife of
Uriah the Hittite, is very beautiful. I read it a little time ago, in
the twelfth chapter of the second book of Samuel. He made use of a fable
to gain his attention.
_Mrs.
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