AN Old Man and a Little Boy were driving an Ass before them to the Next Market to Sell. Why have you no more Wit, (says one to the Man upon the Way,) than You and your Son to Trudge it afoot, and let the Ass go Light? So the Man set the Boy upon the Ass, and Footed it Himself. Why Sirrah, says Another after this, to the Boy, Ye Lazy Rogue you, must you Ride, and let your Antient Father go afoot? The Man upon this, took down his Boy; and got up Himself. D'ye see (says a Third) how the Lazy Old Knave Rides Himself, and the Poor Little Child has much ado to Creep after him! The Father, upon this, took up his Son Behind him. The next they met, ask'd the Old Man whether his Ass were his Own or no? He said Yes. Troth, there's little sign on't fays t'other, by your Loading him thus. Well says the Fellow to Himfelf, and what an I to do now? for I am Laugh'd at, if either the Ass be Empty, or if One of us Rides, or Both; and so in the Conclusion he Bound the Asses Legs together with a Cord, and they try’d to carry him to Market with a Pole upon their Shoulders betwixt them. This was Sport to every Body that saw it, insomuch that the Old Fellow in great Wrath threw down the Ass into a River, and so went his way Home again. The Good Man, in fine, was willing to Please Every body, but had the Ill Fortune to Please No body, and lost his Ass into the Bargain.
The Moral.
He that resolves not to go to Bed till all the World is Pleas'd, shall be troubled with the Head Ach.
REFLEXION.
So many Men, so many Minds; and this Diversity of Thought must necessarily be attended with Folly, Vanity, and Error: For Truth is one and the same for Ever, and the Sentence of Reason stands as Firm as the Foundations of the Earth. So that no Man can be either Happy or Secure that governs himself by the Humour and Opinion of the Common People. 'Tis a Thing utterly impossible to Please All, and none but a Mad Man will endeavour to Please those that are Divided among themselves, and can never Please ane another. A Wise, and an Honest Man lives by Rule, and Consults the Conscience of his Actions, without any Regard to Popular Applause. Did ever any Mortal yet in his Right Wits, Advise with the Mobile about the Government of his Life and Manners? (Or which is all one, with the Common and Professed Enemies of Reason and Virtue,) Did ever any Creature make a Friend or Confident of them? Why should we be sollicitous then to be thought well of by those that no Prudent Good Man ever thought well of? They are all Passion and Fancy, without either Judgment or Moderation: They neither understand what they do, nor why; but act with a kind of Impetus, that knows neither Consideration nor Conduct. So that it is in truth, a Scandal, and an Ill Sign to Please them; but a worse yet, for a Man to Value himself upon the Reputation of a Popular Favour. What are their Affections but Violent Transports that are carried on by Ignorance and Rage? What are their Thoughts of Things, but variety of Incorrigible Error? And what are they themselves in their own Nature, but a Herd rather than a Society? Their Humour is very Happily set forth in this Fable; and so is the Vanity of the Old Man's endeavouring to keep Fair with them; for they are still unsatisfied with the Present State of Things, and consequently never to be Pleased. Now if a Man had nothing else to do but to Fool away his Days in the Pursuit of Phantomes and Shadows, and then at last lye down in the Dust like a Brute, without any Fear or Danger of an after-Reckoning, the Care were taken; but for a Reasonable Soul to Post-pone the most Necessary Offices and Duties of Life, and to Hazzard the very loss even of Heaven it self, in favour of a Depraved Appetite? What has he to Answer for, that shall be found Guilty of so Impious a Madness? The very Dog's not worth the Hanging, that runs out at Check, and lets every Cackling Crow or Daw Divert him from his Game and Business. To Conclude; a due Consideration of the Vanities of the World, will Naturally bring us to the Contempt of it; and that Contempt of the World will as certainly bring us Home to our Selves, This was the Case of the Poor Man here, when he had Try'd this, and that, and other Experiment, he threw all his Care and Follies together with his Ass into the River: And then he was at Rest.
