f black
cattle, three hundred and sixty sheep, and a large number of swine that
ran wild in the woods.

He was fond of improvements of every kind. The king of Spain hearing
that he was anxious to procure the best breed of asses in Europe, for
the propagation of mules on his estate, sent him a magnificent jack and
two jennies. With this jack, and another sent to him by Lafayette, at
about the same time, he raised some noble mules from his coach-mares. In
a few years the Mount Vernon estate became stocked with a very superior
breed, some of them rising to the height of sixteen hands.

From Arthur Young, an English agriculturist, Washington received many
precious seeds, improved implements, and good advice in the laying out
and management of farms. His early life habits were resumed--his early
rising, his frugal breakfast, his ride over his estate, and his exact
method in everything. He loved amusements still, but of a more quiet
kind than those of his younger days. The pleasures of the chase were
relinquished. His kennel was broken up, and his hounds, some of them a
present from Lafayette, were given away.

Washington was a most cheerful, companionable man at home, yet always
dignified. "General Washington is, I believe," said Mr. Lear, after two
years residence in his family, "almost the only man of an exalted
character, who does not lose some part of his respectability by an
intimate acquaintance. I have never found a single thing that could
lessen my respect for him. A complete knowledge of his honesty,
uprightness, and candor in all his private transactions, has sometimes
led me to think him more than a man."

In his family he was peculiarly kind and affectionate. Between himself
and Mrs. Washington the most perfect harmony existed. In all his
intercourse with his wife, he was most considerate. Mrs. Lewis (Nelly
Custis) said she had often seen Mrs. Washington, when she had something
to communicate, or a request to make, at a moment when the general's
mind was entirely abstracted from the present, seize him by the button
to command his attention, when he would look down upon her with a most
benignant smile, and, become at once attentive to her wishes, which were
never slighted.

Thus, in the management of his estate, the entertainment of his guests,
correspondence with his friends at home and abroad, and the
contemplation of years of peaceful life that lay before him,
Washington's hours glided away for a season.