Nature has Assign’d every Creature its Proper Place and Station: and
an _Ass_ in a _Bog_ is out of his Element, and out of his Province.
The Fable it self has not much in’t: but it may serve to Teach us in
the Moral, that it is a High Point of Honour, and Christianity, to
bear Misfortunes, with Resolution, and Constancy of Mind: And that
Steadiness, is a Point of Prudence, as well as of Courage; for People
are the Lighter, and the Easier for’t. But it was an _Ass_, we see, that
_Complain’d_, and (if a Body may play the Fool with him) he was but an
_Ass_ for _Complaining_: First, of what he could not Help; and Secondly,
to be never the Better for’t. ’Tis with a _Man_ in a _Jayle_, much at
the Rate as it was with this _Ass_ in the _Bog_. He’s Sullen and out of
Humour at his first coming In; the Pris’ners Gather about him, and there
He tells ’em his Case Over and Over I warrant ye. Some make Sport with
him; Others Pity him, and this is the Trade they drive for the First Four
or Five Days perhaps; but so soon as the Qualm is over, the Man comes to
himself again; makes merry with his Companions, and since he cannot be in
his Own House, he reckons Himself as good as at Home in the very Prison.
’Tis the same Thing with a _Bird_ in a _Cage_; when she has Flutter’d
her self a Weary, she sits down and Sings. This ’tis to be Wonted to a
Thing. And were it not a Scandal now, if Philosophy should not do as much
with us as Custom, without leaving it to Necessity to do the Office of
Vertue. It might be added to this Moral, that what’s Natural to One may
be Grievous to Another. The _Frogs_ would have been as much at a Loss in
the _Stable_, as the _Ass_ was in the _Bog_.