In 1711, one of the most popular literary forms in England was the fable. The fable may seem restricted to wise sayings and modern parodies, but authors wrote them to further their religious and literary causes and they also translated politics into a fabulous satirical menagerie. The fable, whatever its subject, was always didactic, and behind the wolves, foxes, rabbits, frogs, and bears was the moral. This appealed to a public that found pleasure in finding instruction in its literature, and explains in part the continued popularity of the most successful collection of English fables, the series by John Gay. -- from Preface