Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 2.djvu/249

Rh, in the dark, or by short-sighted eyes: so, in those junctures, it fared with Jack and his tatters, that they offered to the first view a ridiculous flaunting; which, assisting the resemblance in person and air, thwarted all his projects of separation, and left so near a similitude between them, as frequently deceived the very disciples and followers of both.************************Desunt non- ******nulla. **************

The old Sclavonian proverb said well, that it is with men, as with asses; whoever would keep them fast, must find a very good hold at their ears. Yet I think, we may affirm, that it has been verified by repeated experience, that,

It is good therefore to read the maxims of our ancestors, with great allowances to times and persons: for, if we look into primitive records, we shall find, that no revolutions have been so great, or so frequent, as those of human ears. In former days, there was a curious invention to catch and keep, them; which, I think, we may justly reckon among the artes perditæ: and how can it be otherwise, when, in the latter centuries, the very species is not only diminished to a very lamentable degree, but the poor remainder is also degenerated so far, as to mock our skilfullest tenure? For, if the only slitting of one ear in a stag, has been found sufficient to propagate the defect through a whole forest; why Rh