First Entrepreneur by Edward G. Lengel

Author:Edward G. Lengel
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780306823480
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2015-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

MOUNT VERNON’S MOST WELCOME VISITOR wasn’t human. His name was Royal Gift, a magnificent Spanish jackass sent by King Charles III of Spain. Washington accepted him ecstatically. For many years he had been interested in breeding mules. A cross between donkeys and horses, mules were stronger, more durable, and longer-lived than most horses and made excellent draft animals. The best donkey stock was in Spain, but the king preempted Washington’s attempt to purchase them by sending two as an act of royal benevolence. One was lost at sea; the other was Royal Gift. Studying the animal and finding him well up to expectations, Washington set him to work making baby mules and donkeys. At times the jack, as befitted his race, was stubborn in the performance of his duties, prompting Washington to remark that “he follows what one may suppose to be the example of his late royal Master, who cannot, tho’ past his grand climacterick, perform seldomer, or with more Majestic solemnity, than he does. However, I am not without hope, that when he becomes a little better acquainted with republican enjoyments, he will amend his manners, and fall into a better & more expeditious mode of doing business.” In time, Royal Gift took to his duties with gusto sufficient for Washington to sell his services and send him on a breeding trip to South Carolina. Mount Vernon, meanwhile, became the residence of dozens of Royal Gift’s hard-working descendants.31

Other animals being bred for profit at Mount Vernon in the postwar period included sheep, hogs, cattle, and even deer. In 1785, Washington purchased a magnificent Arabian horse named Magnolio for £500. His hope was to profit by selling the stallion’s services at stud, but the earnings disappointed him. Enter the gullible Harry Lee. In 1788, after a dinner at Mount Vernon where the wine flowed freely, Washington and Lee struck up a deal exchanging the horse for 5,000 acres of Kentucky land that Lee had recently received as a bequest. Lee sent Magnolio to a relative in South Carolina, who promptly lost him at cards. Washington kept the lands, which were valued at £1,000 in the 1790s, in his possession and passed them on to his heirs.

He also passed on a boisterous kennel full of dogs of all varieties. In 1785 Lafayette sent him several French hounds by way of John Quincy Adams for breeding, even though “English dogs are so much in fashion Here that the King who likes to Ride fast Has no French Hounds, which, says He, are Very Slow.” Washington also possessed a greyhound appropriately named Cornwallis. Although an Irish friend supplied him with information about Irish wolfhounds and mastiffs, however, Washington decided they were too expensive. Instead he focused on domestic hounds, receiving in September 1787 a lovable shipment that included “Droner, a black & white dog with spots”; “Doxy—black or rather dark brown & white”; “Dutchess—mostly White & large”; “Dublin—a young dog brown & white”; and “Rover . . . with a black Spott on his Rump.

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