Sunday, September 5, 2010

L'Estrange: A Father and His Sons

A Countryman that liv’d handsomly in the World himself upon his honest Labour and Industry, was desirous his Sons should do so after him; and being now upon his Death-bed: My dear Children (says he) I reckon myself bound to tell you before I depart, that there is a considerable Treasure hid in my Vineyard; wherefore pray be sure to dig, and search narrowly for’t when I am gone. The Father dies, and the Sons fall immediately to work upon the Vineyard. They turn’d it up and over, and not one penny of Money to be found there, but the Profit of the next Vintage expounded the Riddle.

Good Counsel is the best Legacy a Father can leave to a Child, and it is still the better, when it is so wrapt up, as to beget a Curiosity as well as an Inclination to follow it.

Source: L'Estrange 109.
pater, filii et vinea

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