The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-27 00:00:00

A FRENCH THILosorHEa uN THE ASS.

The spirit of iibscurantism, and of systematic re-
pulsion to new likes, is the passional dominant of the
dunk, y ; and he is very fond of boasting of it. But the
spirit et oteseurantition has never cunstituted wisdom—quite
the cstrsry. The donkey, who is the emblem of the
coarse peasant and of the conservative boundary post, spe-
cially Was thrones his alsegilmese of intellect. It to not so
much the love of ancient wags s and customs which retains
him in the wheel-nit of reunite, as the horror of new ones.
Our author is good enough to give cheerfully both to the tee
and to his image, the peasant, full credit for the virtues'
which they poseresillicontenen—foe their sobriety, their per-
severance in toil, and their resignation in indigence ; hut
he claw to Alike 'witting of their vices. "As I well
know," be continua, "that it is only through default of
elevetion of thought that the ass and the peasant support
so patiently the yoke cf tyranny, I will sot look Iroise their
pat cote as a merit. When their odious provincialism%
grate upon my ear, I tenant h sin a panegvrie upon the
sonorous energy of their mueslis" sweats. Erasmus, who
is unable to couceal his sympstlises with the ass, coutesses,
nevertheless, that • he crucikroas quadruped has very little
taste for music; but he tries to bring forward in f of
his pretest/I' the ev,•nuating cieciantstance, that if the ass,
dining his lifetime, but .lightly contributes to harmony, he
makes ample recompense after 1 is death, by furnishing
the beet leather is the woeld for drum-heady, and the
best hhins for earionets." A very slight knowledge of the
I &&&&& Re of animals, and a limited appreciation of rte
peculiar style of taih, is sufficient to show that three quar-
ters of the priori:nu of Sineho Penal were whispered in his
ear by the donkey he rode. No more complete identity
between beast and men exists than that between Don
Quisote's squire and hit steed. On both sines you find the
same coarse good sense, the same selfishness, tho same
absence of /Mono, the same propensity to jeer at just prin-
tipli sand generous ideas, the same contempt for .ight, and
the 'me revs et for fact. It would not take linger than
a week to draw up &complete treatise on morale and politics
without using an atom of any other material than the
donkey's most popular aphorisms. With practical men,
lhr gultotism is the proper word for devotion, delicacy,
and faithfulness. Bat let us not deceive ourselves. The
au, like the Ativergnat, is a great deal more cunning and
Leer ,ut than foolish, and history has made a large cellec-
tion of his incontrovertible sayings: notably this, "Our
enemy is our muter;" proving that the awkwerd•tem-
pered brute can speak plainly enough when he chooses.
The essential folly of the ass is,
silty with this opinion, but always to bestow his suffrage
on him who ill-uses him the most brutally. This Strange
contradiction between his bownsots and his Totes demon-
Metal that the ass's opposition is only an opposition of
temperament, which in moat sues goes no further than
epigram and restiveneu.—Diaene's " How, Add Words."