10 
ASS. 
out to those on foot to make way. They are regu- 
larly fed, rubbed down, and washed; which so 
greatly improves them that they grow to a large 
size, and are occasionally sold at a very high price. 
In this country, on the contrary, this useful animal 
is much neglected and abused. We educate the 
horse with the greatest care ; nothing is spared to 
render him beautiful ; he is dressed, attended, in- 
structed, and exercised ; while the poor ass is aban- 
doned to the brutality of the meanest servants, or to 
the malicious abuse of children. If he had not a 
great many good qualities, he would never be able 
to bear the hard usage he daily meets with, and 
which certainly makes him more stupid and in- 
docile than he otherwise would be. He is in the 
power of every rustic, and is frequently beaten with- 
out a cause, and loaded without mercy. We do not 
consider, that if the horse had no existence, the ass, 
both in himself, and with regard to us, would be the 
first and most distinguished animal in the creation. 
It is comparison alone that degrades him. 
The ass is temperate both as to the quantity and 
quality of his food. He eats contentedly the hard- 
est and most disagreeable herbage, which the horse 
and other animals pass by and disdain. He is par- 
ticularly nice with regard to water, and only drinks 
from the clearest brooks he can find. In drinking 
he is equally moderate as in eating. He never 
sinks his nose in the water, being afraid, as has 
been alleged, of the shadow of his ears. As no 
person ever takes the trouble to comb him, he often 
