I had already
preserved the saying among other instances of foreign thought and
expression which I am collecting for your dignified amusement, as it
is very characteristic of the wisdom and humour of these Outer Lands.
The imagination is essentially barbaric. A horse--doubtless
well-groomed, richly-caparisoned, and as intellectual as the
circumstances will permit, but inevitably an animal of degraded
attributes and untraceable ancestry--a horse reclining before a
lavishly set-out table and considering well of what dish it shall next
partake! Could anything, it appears, be more diverting! Truly to our
more refined outlook the analogy is lacking both in delicacy of wit
and in exactitude of balance, but to the grosser barbarian conception
of what is gravity-removing it is irresistible.
I am, however, reminded of the saying by perceiving that I was on the
point of recording certain details of recent occurrence without first
unrolling to your mind the incidents from which it has arisen that the
person who is now communicating with you is no longer reposing in the
Capital, but spending a period profitably in observing the habits of
those who dwell in the more secluded recesses on the outskirts of the
Island. This reversal of the proper sequence of affairs would
doubtless strike those around as an instance of setting the banquet
before the horse. Without delay, then, to pursue the allusion to its
appropriate end, I will return, as it may be said, to my nosebag.
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