308 
THE MULE. 
thou go, but no farther;” this is the extreme limit, the ne plus 
ultra , the unerring dictum of the great “ I AM,” from whose tribu- 
nal there is no appeal, and to which all human theories must be 
compared as to the small dust in the balance ; for here it is evident 
that the super-ruling power maintains its pre-eminence by the in- 
fallible obstacle of rendering the produce sterile. 
My first remarks shall be on the domestic mule, an animal well 
known in every part of the kingdom : I doubt, however, whether its 
usefulness is so duly appreciated as it merits, though those who do 
employ mules estimate their value. One valuable property they 
peculiarly possess not observable in the generality of mongrel 
breeds, which is that they far exceed the natural longevity of either 
of their parents, and frequently of both ; if we compute the age of the 
horse to be thirty-five, and the ass, forty. Many instances have 
been attested where the mule has attained the age of seventy and 
upwards; one, in particular, at the Iron- works at Colebrook-dale, 
where there were three or four known to have been employed on 
the works upwards of sixty years. This I was assured by one of 
the proprietors. 
Another valuable quality is, that they are less liable to disease 
and capable of much more bodily exertion than either the horse or 
the ass; and being nearly as abstemious as the ass, they are reckoned 
of much greater value than either of them, where power is wanted 
with economy. 
Of their capability of enduring bodily fatigue, I beg to adduce 
a few instances out of the numbers that have fallen under my no- 
tice. Messrs. Joliffe and Banks employ tw r o or three teams, of 
English-bred mules to draw their lime from Mersham, in Surry, 
into London, a distance that cannot be computed at less (taking the 
average of the places where they unload) than twenty-two miles, 
which is forty-four miles a-day, as they go six turns in the week, 
commencing at one o’clock on Monday morning, and ending about 
ten on the Saturday night; that is, working at least fourteen hours 
out of the twenty -four. The late William Cobbett, when living 
at Botley, sent his fat lambs and other farming produce to London 
in a caravan drawn by mules, the distance, at least, sixty-two 
miles. This, he assured me, they generally performed in ten hours, 
only baiting once for one hour. Now, I would query, where are 
horses to be met with that could do this] They, generally, during 
the season, went twice a-week, and worked on the farm during the 
intermediate days. 
A friend of mine (a partner in a London porter-brewery, Taylor 
and Co., Rotherhithe), some years ago, purchased six mules from 
his father’s iron- works, in Wales, neither of them exceeding four- 
teen hands. He employed them in their drays, three in each; and 
