This Fable, according to _Abstemius_, and Others, Touches the Humour
of Those that Squander away their Money upon Vanity and Trifles: But
it seems to Me to look quite Another Way. With _Abstemius_’s Favour, I
should rather take This Fable to Strike at the Natural Consequences of
Evil Examples, when the Unreasonableness of One Act shall be made use of
as an Argument for Another, no less Unreasonable: for ’tis President,
Effectually that Governs the World. Why should not One Fool be Preferr’d
for Farting as well as Another? For in Cases of Competition, he that does
Best, e’en in an Ill, or in a Weak Thing, has a kind of Claim, and Right
to a Preference, and the Grosser the Foppery, or the Iniquity, the Fairer
the Pretence.
This _Ass_’s putting up for an Office, Taxes the Perverting of Policy
and Justice, in Conferring Those Honours, Charges, and Benefits, upon
Parasites, Drolls, Buffons, and other Servile Instruments of Lust and
Ambition, that are Due only to Men of Honour and Virtue. The Ministers
of Government, and of Pleasure, should be carefully Distinguish’d; for
it Corrupts both the Morals, and the Understandings of a Nation, when
they find the Precepts of Common Honesty, and the Practices of State, to
run so directly Counter, as to leave no Hope of Advancement, Credit, or
Security, but by living in a Defiance to Nature and Reason: That is to
say, by _Playing the Fool_, and _Farting_ for _Preferment_.