Transcriber’s Notes Italics text is enclosed in _underscores_; crossed-out text on pages 36 and 76 is enclosed in \backslashes\; and superscripted text in the first lines of the first page is preceded by carets, such as D^r. Bracketed page numbers, such as [Page 81], at the beginning of each Fable, were added as a Search aid by Transcriber, as the Table of Contents is in alphabetical, rather than page number sequence. [Illustration: _Newcastle 1^st. October 1818_ _To Thomas Bewick & Son D^r., To an Imp^l. Copy of Esop’s Fables 1^£ 11^s 6^d_ _Received the above with thanks_ _Thomas Bewick_ _Robert Elliot Bewick_ _Thomas Bewick_ _his Mark_ ] THE FABLES OF ÆSOP, AND OTHERS, WITH DESIGNS ON WOOD, BY THOMAS BEWICK. “_The wisest of the Ancients delivered their Conceptions of the Deity, and their Lessons of Morality, in Fables and Parables._” [Illustration] NEWCASTLE: PRINTED BY E. WALKER, FOR T. BEWICK AND SON. SOLD BY THEM, LONGMAN AND CO. LONDON, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1818. [Illustration: _Wise Men think Good Men Grieve Knaves invent and Fools believe._ ] THE PREFACE DEDICATORY. _To the Youth of the British Isles._ In collecting together, for your use and benefit, some of the prudential maxims, and moral apothegms, of the ancient sages, the Publishers of this volume have been stimulated by an ardent desire to render this excellent mode of instruction as agreeable as possible; and, at the same time, to impress the precepts contained in the Fables more forcibly on your minds, they have endeavoured to make the embellishments worthy of your notice and examination. If the seeds of morality and patriotism be early sown, they will spring up, and ripen to maturity, in a confirmed love of truth, integrity and honour; and without these for his guide, no man can do credit to himself or his country. This consideration is of vital importance; for our comfort and happiness through life, mainly depend upon a strict adherence to the rules of morality and religion. The youth who is early tutored in an invincible regard for his own character, will soon perceive the duties imposed upon him by society, and will have pleasure in fulfilling them, as much for his own satisfaction as for the sake of his fellow men: but when the latent powers of the mind are neglected, or not directed into the paths of rectitude, by good precepts and worthy examples, vice and folly enter the opening, and lead their victim into evils and errors, which render his life miserable, and sometimes hurry him into an ignominious grave.