MULES. 173 



the Spanish monarchs while they held dominion in 

 that country. Fifty of them were brought to England 

 by the Duke of Cumberland, presented him by the 

 Empress Queen, and from their beautiful appearance, 

 engaged the attention of a few individuals ; but the 

 spirit soon subsided, notwithstanding those who bred 

 and used them were warm in praise of their utility. 



Among a voluminous mass of treatises on agricul- 

 ture and rural economy, published in that country for 

 near a centmy past, scarce a line can be found devoted 

 to the mule ; except by Dr. iVnderson, who, in his 

 " Recreations in Agriculture," has made a few judi- 

 cious remarks on the subject. 



In Sir George Staunton's account of Lord Macart- 

 ney's embassy to China, we are told that mules are 

 valued in that economical empire at a much higher 

 price than horses. In our own country, prior to the 

 war of the revolution, a few Jacks of an ordinary kind 

 were imported ; a small number of mules bred ; and 

 all exported to the West Ind»:es. I have reference to 

 New England, as I am not aware that any attention 

 was paid to the system in the middle, or Southern 

 States, though it is not improbable that some valuable 

 mules may have been raised by the farmers and plan- 

 ters for their own use. When peace took place, the 

 price of mules in the West Indies excited attention to 

 the breeding of them, which was principally confined 

 to Connecticut ; and several cargoes of the small 

 race of Jacks were imported from the Cape de Verd 

 Islands, and St. Michael's, one of the Azores. It 

 should be observed, that the exportation of Jacks from 

 Spam or any of her colonies, was strictly prohibited, 

 and continued to be until after the peninsular war. — 

 There might have been, however, a few smuggled, 



