a better Use. Having begg'd Pardon for those Offences, they
desired the Gods to lessen their Thirst, and give them Strength to
resist the Importunities of it; yet, in the Midst of their sorest
Repentance, and most humble Supplications, they never forgot Small
Beer, and pray'd that they might continue to have it in great Plenty,
with a solemn Promise, that how neglectful soever they might hitherto
have been in this Point, they would for the Future not drink a Drop of
it with any other Design than to mend their Complexions._

_These were standing Petitions, put together to last; and having
continued to be made use of without any Alterations for several Hundred
Years together, it was thought by Some, that the Gods, who understood
Futurity, and knew, that the same Promise they heard in_ June, _would
be made to them the_ January _following, did not rely much more on
those Vows, than we do on those waggish Inscriptions by which Men offer
us their Goods,_ To Day for Money, and to Morrow for Nothing. _They
often began their Prayers very mystically, and spoke many Things in a
spiritual Sense; yet they never were so abstract from the World in
them, as to end One without beseeching the Gods to bless and prosper
the Brewing Trade in all its Branches, and, for the Good of the Whole,
more and more to increase the Consumption of the Hops and Barley._

This Parable likewise has been very displeasing to my Enemies, yet they
never complain'd of it, nor ever shew'd their Resentment against those
Passages, where their Frailties were most exposed. But the true
Grievance not being to be named, their next Care was to hinder the
Spreading of my Animadversions upon them; that what I had said might
not be read by Many; and accordingly, giving the Book an ill Name, and
making some imperfect Quotations from it, they procure, as I have said
before, the Grand Jury's Presentment against it. But this being
now-a-Days the wrongest Way in the World to stifle Books, it made it
more known, and encreas'd the Sale of it. This made some hot People
raving mad; and now I began to be attack'd with great Fury from all
Quarters; but as Nothing has appeared yet, that might not be easily
answer'd from _The Fable of the Bees_ it self, or the Vindication I
have spoke of before, I have not hitherto thought fit to take Notice of
any.

It was wrote for the Entertainment of idle People, and calculated for
Persons of Education, when they are at Leisure and want Amusemen