Phelps was likely referring to a frequently published fable titled “The Fox and the Bramble” in which a fox sought shelter from a pack of dogs in a thorny bramble. Making “a virtue of necessity,” the fox concluded that while the briars “will tear my skin a little, yet they keep off the dogs. For the sake of the good then, let me bear the evil with patience; each bitter has its sweets, and these brambles, though they wound my flesh, preserve my life from danger.” (Bussey, Fables, 325.)

Bussey, G. Moir. Fables, Original and Selected; by the Most Esteemed European and Oriental Authors: With an Introductory Dissertation on the History of Fable, Comprising Biographical Notices of the Most Eminent Fabulists. London: Willoughby, 1842.

Oliver Kimball was Heywood’s business partner and brother-in-law.