A man who broke with a friend who slandered his friends
A moral tale in prose; above, a sketch of a pair of rotating axles and a gear train
The greater part of the sheet is a prose fable about a man who stopped keeping company with a friend because that friend habitually spoke ill of his other friends. Asked the reason for abandoning so long a friendship, the man explains that by no longer being seen together their coolness will look like ordinary enmity, so the slander will be less damaging than betrayal between close friends. At the top left of the sheet is a small mechanical sketch of a pair of rotating axles with drums coupled by a shaft, beside a separate sketch of a toothed gear train.
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Why a man broke off a slandering friend
A man ceased to keep company with a friend who often spoke ill of his friends. Begged to explain his coldness, he answers that he remains fond of him but does not want others to conceive as bad an impression of the man as he himself has. Since they no longer go about together, their estrangement will pass for mere enmity, and the slander will be less blameworthy than if they were still close.
Pair of rotating axles and a gear train
At the upper left a small sketch shows two horizontal drums mounted on a stand and joined at the centre by a coupled shaft, forming a pair of rotating axles. To its right is a separate sketch of a toothed gear train. No transcription accompanies these devices beyond the sheet's descriptive title.