Fab. CCXXIV.
An Aſs in a Lyon’s Skin.
THere was a Freak took an Aſs in the Head, to Scoure a broad upon the Ramble; and away he goes into the Woods, Maſquerading up and down in a Lyon's Skin. The World was his Own for a while, and wherever he went, Man and Beaſt Fled before him: But he had the Hap in the Concluſion, partly by his Voice, and partly by his Ears, to be Diſcover'd, and conſequently Uncas’d, well Laugh’d at, and well Cudgell’d for his Pains.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
Every Fool, or Fools Fellow, carries More or Leſs, in his Face, the Signature of his Manners, though the Character may be much more Legible in ſome, then in Others; As the Aſs was found out by his Voice and by his Ears. Let him keep his Words betwixt his Teeth, and he may paſs Muſter perhaps for a Man of ſome Senſe; but if he comes to Open once, he's Loſt: For Nature never put the Tongue of a Philoſopher into the Mouth of a Coxcomb: But however, let him be, in truth, what he Will he is yet ſo Conſcious of what he Ought to be, that he makes it his Buſineſs to paſs for what he is not: And in the Matter of Counterfeits, it is with Men, as it is with Falſe Mony: One Piece is more or leſs Paſſable then Another, as it happens to have more or leſs Senſe, or Sterling in the Mixture. One General Mark of an Impoſtor is This; That he Out-does the Original; As the Aſs here in the Lyon-skin, made Fifty times more Clutter then the Lyon would have done in his Own; And Himſelf Fifty times the more Ridiculous for the Diſguiſe.
If a Man turn his Thoughts now from This Fancy in the Forreſt, to the Sober Truth of Daily Experience in the World, he ſhall find Aſſes in the Skins of Men, Infinitely more Contemptible then This Aſs in the Skin of a Lyon. How many Terrible Aſſes have we ſeen in the Garb of Men of Honour! How many Inſipid, and Illiterate Fops, that take upon them to Retail Politiques, and ſit for the Picture of Men of State! Howmany
