Princes can never satisfy That Worth that rates itself too high. What pity it is! some Men of Parts Should have such haughty stubborn Hearts: When once they are courted they grow vain: Ambitious Souls cannot contain Their Joy, which when they strive to hide, They cover it with so much Pride, So Saucy to Superiors, Impatient of Competitors, Th' are utterly untractable, And put off like our Nightingale. Many with him might have been great, Promoted Friends, and serv'd the State, That have beheld, with too much Joy, The wish'd for Opportunity; Then slipt it by their own Delays, Sloth, Pride, or other willful Ways. And ever after strove in vain To see the Forelock once again.[23] In some respects this poem looks forward to _The Fable of the Bees_. Mandeville subjects the nightingale to a brief psychological analysis and looks on his failure with a blend of detached pity and satiric mordancy; he strips away the sophisticated defenses that hide the basic emotions, recommending honesty with oneself and with others; he identifies the personal interests of the members of society with the interests of the state. It remains to point out that neither here nor elsewhere in this collection does Mandeville assert that private vices are public benefits. Washington University NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION [1] F. B. Kaye, ed., _The Fable of the Bees_ (Oxford, 1924), I, xxx. [2] The Preface to _Miscellanies in Verse and Prose_ is reprinted in Edward Niles Hooker's edition of _The Critical Works of John Dennis_, I (Baltimore, 1939), 6-10. [3] Richmond P. Bond, _English Burlesque Poetry_, 1700-1750 (Cambridge, Mass., 1932), p. 147. [4] Bond, pp. 3-5. [5] Bond, p. 153, cites several narrative poems of this sort. [6] From these fables in the 1693 _Miscellanies_: "The Wolf and the Horse," pp. 72-83 (the first two excerpts); "The Lyon and the Ass a Hunting," pp. 92-95; "The Wolf and the Crane," pp. 101-105. [7] _English Burlesque Poetry_, pp. 149-152. [8] These instances occur, respectively, in "The Wolf and Dog," "The Hands, Feet, and Belly," "Council Held by the Rats," "The Lyon in Love," and "The Weasel and the Rat." [9] _Aesop Dress'd_, p. 73; La Fontaine, "Le Loup et le Renard," XI. vi; Dennis, _Miscellanies_, p. 117. [10] _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 64-65; La Fontaine, I. x. [11] La Fontaine, II, vii; "The two Bitches," _Aesop Dress'd_, p. 37. [12] La Fontaine, I. i; "The Grasshopper and Ant," _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 17-18. [13] _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 48-50; La Fontaine, "Le Lion et le Moucheron," II. ix. [14] _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 71-73; La Fontaine, "L'Âne et le Chien," VIII. xvii. [15] _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 14-15; La Fontaine, VII. i. [16] "The Drunkard and his Wife," _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 24-25; La Fontaine, III. vii. [17] La Fontaine, VI. xiv; "The Sick Lyon and the Fox," _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 38-39. [18] La Fontaine, "Le Loup et le Chien," I. v; "The Wolf and Dog," _Aesop Dress'd_, pp. 2-4.