Adopting this theory, we must regard the donkey
as the victim of an invidious and odious
comparison. But with all respect for Buffon and
Cuvier, I am inclined to think that there are
other causes for the contempt which attaches to
this animal. At the very outset of his career
he laboured under the great disadvantage of not
being "good looking." We all know how a
defect of this kind affects even the destiny of
man. Hunchbacks, and cripples, and misshapen
persons are not, as a rule, the special pets of
society, but rather the contrary. Natural
disposition, too, is a most important element in the
account. By nature the donkey is humble and
patient, susceptible of strong attachments, and
contented with the smallest of mercies, and for
this reason he is "put upon." It is the same
with the human animal. When a man is patient,
and humble, and contented with little, he is
almost invariably the butt and the drudge of
others. Every one is acquainted with some
big-headed, ungainly, meek, easy-tempered, human
donkey, who runs errands, lends money, amuses
children, hangs pictures, sees old maids home,
sleeps on the shake-down, goes outside the
omnibus in the rain to oblige a lady, and
generally does everything he is asked to do by his
sharper and more selfish neighbours. This is
pure good nature, but clever people who profit
by it call it, in the fulness or their gratitude,
stupidity. The meek and mild character always
invites contumely and ill usage. If the horse
commands more respect than the donkey, it is
not because his character is more amiable, but
because he inspires more fear. Thus the world
will always have a higher opinion of the ruthless
warrior who conquers with sword and flame,
than of the mild apostle of peace who goes
about quietly and unobtrusively seeking to do
good.

But the donkey has a physical defect—a
defect which is never forgiven in either man or
beast. He is little. To be meek of mind and short
of stature is a terrible combination of misfortunes.
It is a hard thing even for a great mind to
maintain its true importance and dignity in a
small body. The great Napoleon did not escape
the reproach of being little. If you want to
take him down a peg in your imagination, think
of him as the "Little Corporal," or even as the
little man in imperial robes, who pulled his
favourites' ears at Foutainebleau. We had a
remarkable illustration of the disadvantage of
short stature the other day, when a beardless
boy got up in the House of Commons, and
ridiculed a veteran minister whose name is
associated with the greatest reforms of modern
times, by merely reminding the intelligent audience
that he was barely five feet high.

I am sorry that my philosophy should have
led me to use a cabinet minister as an illustration
bearing upon the condition of the donkey
race; but the analogy was obvious, and truth
must be pursued sternly. I come, then, to the
conclusion, that the low regard in which the
donkey is held, and the insults and injuries which
are heaped upon him, are owing to three causes
—to his being meek, and patient, and easy
tempered; to his not being "good looking;" and
to his being little.

Considering how the ass has had, during his
history, to bear up against one or other of his
defects, it is really a marvel that the race has
managed to survive to this day. His career
from first to last has been a very chequered one
indeed. There were periods in. ancient times
when he was regarded with some favour, and
treated with some consideration; but at no
period does he appear to have been entirely exempt
from reproach. In Jerusalem he was the
favourite pony of the upper classes and the priests.
Deborah describes the greatest men in Israel as
those who rode upon white asses, and we are
told that Abdona, a judge of Israel, had forty
sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy
asses. Nevertheless, those Israelites, although
they were proud to ride on asses, considered
them unclean beasts; and to yoke an ass with
an ox in the same team was an offence against
the law of Moses. The Persians, the Tartars,
and the Romans, held the ass in high esteem, it
is true, but only when he was cooked. Olearius
affirms that he saw thirty-two wild asses slain
in one day by the Shah ot Persia and his court,
and that the bodies were sent to the royal
kitchen of Ispahan. Haunch of wild ass roasted
was a favourite dish with the Roman epicures;
but their maxim was, to say nothing good of an
ass unless he was dead. They had no regard
for him when alive, and thought it a very bad
omen to meet one on the road. The Egyptians
entertained a fierce hatred towards the ass, and
regarded it as a symbol of all kinds of misfortune.
They were the first to symbolise a stupid
person by the head and ears of an ass. When
the Romans sought to bring contempt upon the
Jewish religion they trumped up a story about
an ass's head having been found in the sanctuary
of the Temple. It was a wicked story in
every sense; but the Jews were greatly annoyed
at it. They would have forgiven anything but
a donkey's head. Thus in every age and in every
country the ass has been despised, and
consequently ill used, on one score or another; but
for no other real reason, I take it, than that he
is too patient and gentle of disposition, and too
insignificant in size to assert himself and
command respect. The condition of an animal
suffering from such undeserved misfortunes has
high claims upon the active humanity of the
present time; and it was therefore but a matter
of course that after the dogs and the horses,
the donkeys should have an opportunity of forming
themselves into a great exhibition at the
Agricultural Hall.

The recent mule and donkey show may be
regarded as the first competitive examination of
the pupils of the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals. Donkey-drivers, who had
for years been receiving lessons in humanity
from the officers of the society, came up to show
what progress they had made in the art of
persuading donkeys to do their work without the
argument of the stick. Prevention has, no doubt,