76 A Walk from 



going the way of other barbarisms. The gentleman to 

 whom I have referred, a member of Parliament, whose 

 means are as large as his benevolence, has taken the 

 first and decisive step towards raising the donkey to his 

 true place in society. He has offered a liberal prize 

 for the best conditioned one exhibited at the next 

 Agricultural Fair. Since this offer was made, a very 

 decided improvement has been noticed among the 

 donkeys of the London costermongers, as if the com- 

 petition for the first prize was to be a very large one. 

 It will be a kind of St. Crispin's Day to the whole of 

 the long-eared race a day of emancipation from forty 

 centuries of obloquy and oppression. Doubtless they 

 will be admitted hereafter to the Royal Agricultural 

 Society's exhibitions, to compete for honors with ani- 

 mals that have hitherto spurned such association with 

 contempt. 



