Sterne gives us a most affecting account of one which had the misfortune to die. “The ass,” the old owner told him, “he was assured loved him. They had been separated three days, during which time the ass had sought him as much as he had sought the ass: and they had scarce either eat or drank till they met.” This certainly could not have assisted much to improve the health of the donkey. I cannot better conclude my evidence of his shrewdness and capacity than with an anecdote which many authors combine in declaring:—
“De la peau du lion l’âne s’étant vêtu
Etoit craint partout à la ronde:
Et bien qu’animal sans vertu
Il faisoit trembler tout le monde.
Un petit bout d’oreille, echappé par malheur,
Decouvrit la fourbe et l’erreur.
Martin fit alors son office,” &c.
La Fontaine.
It is curious to see the same taste and the same peculiarities attached to the same family. As long as the ass was thought to be a lion, he was suffered to go on,—but when he is discovered to be an ass, forth steps Mr. Martin—then the task is his!
Now for the estimation in which they were held.
Shakspeare makes the fairy queen, the lovely Titania, fall in love with a gentleman who sported an ass’s head:—
“Methought I was enamour’d of an ass,”
said the lady waking—and she thought right, if love be
“All made of fantasy,
All adoration, duty, and observance.”