Creatures of every kind but ours
Well comprehend their natural powers,
While we, whom reason ought to sway,
Mistake our talents every day.
The Ass was never known so stupid,
To act the part of Tray or Cupid;
Nor leaps upon his master's lap,
There to be stroked, and fed with pap,
As AEsop would the world persuade;
He better understands his trade:
Nor comes whene'er his lady whistles,
But carries loads, and feeds on thistles.
Our author's meaning, I presume, is
A creature _bipes et implumis;_
Wherein the moralist design'd
A compliment on human kind;
For here he owns, that now and then
Beasts may degenerate into men.[4]
[Footnote 1: Wigs with long black tails, at that time very much in
fashion. It was very common also to call the wearers of them by the same
name.--_F_.]
[Footnote 2: The priest, his confessor.--_F_.]
[Footnote 3: A bill was brought into the House of Commons of England, in
March, 1733, for laying an excise on wines and tobacco, but so violent
was the outcry against the measure, that when it came on for the second
reading, 11th April, Walpole moved that it be postponed for two months,
and thus it was dropped.
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