 as I trusted, to reconcile You to your Fate, and, possibly, to delight You with the Prospect of your approaching Poverty. For I sighed when I reflected on your intemperate and unbounded Thirst after
Riches,
That
Death to national Nature,
which had proved the
mortal Poison
of
Greece
and of
Rome,
and of all People who tasted it, from the Beginning of the World to this present good Day.
Being shewn to your Apartment, I perceived your Greatness seated in a moody kind of Attitude. But, having formerly had the Honour of being known to You, I took a Chair without Ceremony; and, chatting with You awhile about the Weather, the News of the Day, and such like ponderous Matters, as sage Ministers and sage Politicians are wont to do. I began to introduce and open the Business.
Pray, Mister, said your Dignity (somewhat short) have You any particular Business with me, at this Time? I am come may it please You, said I, to propose a speedy and effectual Method for the Supply of all your Wants. At these agreeable Tidings, all the Ears, your Respectableness had, were pricked up and opened to Audience.  � Go on, my Good Friend, dispatch, in Heaven's Name!
May it please You, added I, it was the Custom of all the Seers and Sages, of ancient Days, to introduce Truth and Wisdom under the Covering of Fable; and this Covering was as a Nut-Shell, if your Teeth were able to crack it, you had the Kernel for your Pains. Permit me then, at least to imitate their Manner; for, though the Matter should happen to drop by the Way, the first Traveller who takes it up may be bettered thereby.
Once upon a time, for so says my Story, a Housholder, with his Family, was cast on a certain Island, where, through a Process of Years, they propagated till they became a little Nation. The Soil was exceeding fertile, but there was neither River nor Spring in all the Land. Nature, however, had provided for this Defect, by a Kind of Fruit; that perfectly allayed the Thirst; It was bitter to the Taste, but left an agreeable Flavour in the Mouth, and gave Health, Spirits, and Vigour to the whole Constitution; and it was called by a Name which, in our Language signifies as nearly as I can render it THE FRUIT OF ABSTINENCE.
There was, also, other Fruits, of a Species wholly the Reverse of the former; for the Flavour of
