It is reasonable to suppose, that the manners and customs of the chosen tribes underwent a change when the government became monarchical, and the fascinating pleasures of a court began to exert their usual influence; still, however, the ass kept his place in the service of the great. Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, rode on an ass; as did Ahithopel, the prime minister of David, and the greatest statesman of that age. Even so late as the reign of Jehoram the son of Ahab, the services of this animal were required by the wealthy Israelite; for the Shunamite, a person of high rank, saddled her ass, and rode to Carmel, the residence of Elisha, to announce the death of her son to the prophet, and to solicit his assistance, 2 Kings, iv. 8, 24.

But as the number of horses increased in Judea, and people of rank and fashion became fonder of pomp and show, the movements of the nobler and statelier animal were preferred to the rapid but less dignified motions of the ass. This change, it is reasonable to suppose, began to take place from the accession of Solomon to the throne of Israel; for that rich and splendid prince collected a very numerous stud of the finest horses that Egypt and Arabia could furnish. One thing is certain, viz. that after the Jews returned from their long captivity in Babylon, the great and fashionable, for the most part, rode the horse or the mule. The ass was resigned to the use of the lower orders, and it quickly became a mark of poverty and meanness to appear in public on that animal. It has been for want of attending to this change in the customs of the Jewish people, that some commentators of repute have ventured to oppose the obvious meaning of Matt. xxi. 4, 5, which describes our Saviour as riding into Jerusalem upon an ass; a circumstance which, both here and in the prophecy (Zech. ix. 9), is represented as a proof of his meek and lowly spirit. They, however, by refer ring to the usage in the early periods of the commonwealth, have considered the circumstance as reflecting, in the estimation of the people, high honor upon his character.

The ass being an unclean animal, whose flesh was prohibited by the Mosaic law, renders 2 Kings, vi. 25, somewhat perplexing:'And there was a great famine in Samaria, until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver.' The difficulty in understanding this passage, according to our translation, would not be so great, did we not know, that however lax the Jews were in points of morality, no kind or extent of suffering could induce them to violate the ceremonial precepts of the law, and more especially those which referred to meats. The late editor of Calmet has succeeded, we believe, in correctly interpreting the passage. In 1 Sam. xvi. 20, we read in our Bibles, And Jesse took an ass laden with bread;' where the words 'laden with,' are an addition to our translators, the original being ass bread, or, an ass of bread, meaning, as Mr. Taylor conjectures, not an animal, but a vessel, containing bread'; a stated measure, or a pile; the LXX. render a chomer of bread.'-So we find in the Greek poet Sosibus, 'He ate three times

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in the space of a single day, three great asses of bread,'—which Cassaubon understands of the lading of three asses; whereas it means the contents of three vases of the kind called an ass.* may also doubt, whether Abigail (1 Sam. xxv. 18,) really loaded asses-quadrupeds with her presents to David; for the original literally is, she took two hundred of bread, &c. and placed them on THE asses; which suggests something distinct from asses, aniimals; for then it would be, as it is in our version, 'she placed them on asses.' Besides, there is a passage (Ex. viii. 14,) where our translators themselves have rendered heaps, what in the original is asses asses; They gathered the frogs together, asses asses;' i. e. many of that quantity called an ass,; and so Samson says of his defeated enemies, 'a heap, heaps; ass asses.' Now, if we take our English word pile, to signify this quantity, without attempting to determine accurately, it will lead us to the idea, that Jesse sent to Saul a pile of bread; that a person ate three piles of bread in one day; that Abigail placed her bread, wine, corn, raisins, and figs in piles; that the Egyptians gathered the frogs in piles; that Samson's enemies laid in piles. In these renderings there is nothing strained or unnatural. Let this vindicate those Jews, then, who translate the passage which has given occasion to these observations, not 'the head of an ass,' but the head of measure;' for the letters are precisely the same in the original. But what must we do with the head?' inquires Mr. Taylor, to which he ingeniously adds, that the word rash, here rendered head, signifies the total, entirety; the whole, as Psalms, exxxix. 17; 'How precious also are thy thoughts to me, O God! How great is the head [sum] of them'-the totalthe entirety. Exod. xxx. 12; When thou takest the head [sum total-whole enumeration] of the children of Israel,' &c. These ideas combined will render the passage to this effect:-'The famine was so severe, that the whole of a pile,' i. e. of bread, or a complete pile of bread, sold for eighty pieces of silver.' It must not be concealed, however, that there is no mention of bread in the original; and therefore the quantity which the word pile is here used to signify, is so far indeterminate

In one part of the ritual, the Hebrews were forbidden to plough with an ox and an ass together.-See Deut. xxii. 10. It is generally thought, that mixtures of different sorts in seeds, breed, &c. were made for superstitious purposes by the heathen, and therefore prohibited by Moses. It is more likely, however, that there was a physical reason for this law. Two beasts of a different species cannot associate comfortably together; and on this ground, never pull pleasantly either in cart or plough: and every farmer knows, that it is of considerable consequence to the comfort of the cattle, to put those together that have an affection for each other. This may be

* M. Reland has shown, by a great number of authorities, that the heathen called a sort of bottle with two handles, asses; probably because they had two long handles, having some conformity to the ears of an ass. He judges this to be the reason why it was said by the ancients, that Silenus, the servant of Bacchus, was carried upon an ass.

frequently remarked in certain cattle, which on this account are termed true yoke-fellows. After all, says Dr. A. Clarke, following Le Clerc, it is very probable that the general design was, to prevent improper alliances in civil and religious life. And to this, Paul seems evidently to refer, 2 Cor. vi. 14; 'Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers ;' which is to be understood as prohibiting all intercourse between Christians and idolaters, in social, matrimonial, and religious life. To teach the Jews the propriety of this, a variety of precepts relative to improper and heterogeneous mixtures were interspersed through their law; so that in civil and domestic life, they might have them ever before their eyes.

There are several other references to this laborious and patient animal in the sacred scriptures; but it is not necessary that we should advert to them. We select the following from the excellent work of Professor Paxton.

The ass is not more remarkable for his power to sustain, than for his patience and tranquillity when oppressed by an unequal load. Like the camel, he quietly submits to the heaviest burden; he bears it peaceably till he can proceed no further; and when his strength fails him, instead of resisting, or endeavoring to throw off the oppressive weight, he contentedly lies down, and rests himself under it, recruits his vigor with the provender that may be offered to him, and then, at the call of his master, proceeds on his journey. To this trait in the character of that useful animal, the dying patriarch evidently refers, when, under the afflatus of inspiration, he predicts the future lot of Issachar and his descendants:

The meaning of the prophecy evidently is, that this tribe, naturally dull and stupid, should, like the creature by which they are characterized, readily submit to the vilest master and the meanest service. Although, like the ass, possessed of ability, if properly directed, to shake off the inglorious yoke of servitude, they would basely submit to the insults of the Phoenicians on the one hand, and of the Samaritans on the other. Issachar was a strong ass, 'able,' says a sprightly writer, 'to refuse a load as well as to bear it; but, like the passive drudge which symbolized him, he preferred inglorious ease to the gains of a just and well regulated freedom; and a yoke of bondage to the doubtful issues of war.'

The Oriental husbandman was not less indebted to this creature, for his services, than the statesman and the merchant. The ox and the ass labored together in the cultivation of the same field. To this Isaiah evidently refers, in the following prediction; The oxen likewise, and the young asses, that ear (or till) the ground, shall eat clean

provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.' Isaiah xxx. 24. In these words he foretels a season of great plenty, when the cattle shall be fed with corn better in quality, separated from the chaff, and (as the term rendered clean in our version properly signifies) acidulated, to render it more grateful to their taste. The evangelist clearly refers to the practice which was common in Palestine, of ploughing with the ass, when he calls him a creature subject to the yoke, Matt. xxi. 5.

In rice grounds, which require to be flooded, the ass was employed to prepare them for the seed, by treading them with his feet. It is to this method of preparing the ground that Chardin supposes the prophet to allude, when he says, 'Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass,' Isaiah xxxii. 20. They shall be blessed under the future reign of the promised Messiah. In times anterior to his appearing, their country was to be made a desolation; briers and thorns were to encumber their fields; their sumptuous dwellings were to be cast down; their cities and strong-holds were to be levelled with the dust. But when Messiah commences his reign, times of unequalled prosperity shall begin their career. The goodness of Jehovah shall descend in fertilizing showers, to invigorate their fields, and to swell the streams which the skill and industry of the husbandman conduct among his plantations, or with which he covers his ricegrounds. Secure from the ruinous incursions of aliens, and in the sure hope of an abundant harvest, he shall scatter his rice on the face of the superincumbent water, and tread it into the miry soil, with 'the feet of the ox and the ass.' Prosperous and happy himself, he will consider it his duty, and feel it his delight, 'to do good and communicate,'-to succor the widow and the fatherless, to open his doors to the stranger, to diffuse around him the light of truth, and to swell, by the diligent and prudent use of all the means that providence has brought within his reach, the sum of human enjoyment.

But the services of this useful animal were not sufficient, even in times of primitive simplicity, to save him from every kind of abuse. At one time he suffers from neglect, at another, from oppressive labor; and seldom experiences from ungrateful man the kindness and indulgence to which he is fairly entitled. From the watchful care of the Creator, however, he has not been excluded : even to his subsistence, comfort, and ease, the gracious attention of heaven has been directed. See Exod. xxiii. 12; Zec. xiii. 5; xiv. 5. The man of benevolence, who treats even his ass with kindness, shall not lose his reward: besides the approbation of God and his own conscience, he shall be attended with the affectionate attachment of the animal itself. Dull and stupid as he is, the ass, according to Buffon, sinells his master at a distance, searches the places and roads which he used to frequent, and easily distinguishes him from the rest of mankind. An equal degree of gratitude is not always to be found among rational beings towards their greatest and best Benefactor. The

ass, although destitute of reason, and even duller than many other animals; although commonly hard wrought and unkindly treated, -discovers an attachment to his master, which the people of Israel did not feel for the living God, who daily loaded them with his benefits. This trait in his character gives uncommon poignancy to the prophet's reproof: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib,'-he is not insensible to the kindness of his benefactors; but Israel doth not know' the God of his salvation; 'my people doth not consider' from whose hand they receive all their blessings, nor what return they owe to him for his unmerited kind

ness.

THE MULE.

THIS is an animal out of the ordinary course of nature, being bred from an union of the horse and the ass. In the preceding article, we have stated it to have been strictly forbidden in the Mosaic code, to unite either seeds or animals of divers natures, and thus destroy the marked distinction which God has formed between the several parts of his creation. Hence it does not appear that these animals were ever bred by the Hebrews, although they were certainly much used among them during the latter part of the commonwealth. The earliest mention which we find of the mule, in scripture, is in the reign of David,' (2 Sam. xiii. 29), unless, as some commentators have thought, they are spoken of in Gen. xxxvi. 24, -a passage which has given rise to much critical conjecture. Enumerating the children of Zibeon, the Horite, the sacred writer says of one of them: "This was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.'

The mule has been much employed for domestic purposes, both in ancient and modern times. In the reign of David they formed part of the state equipage, (1 Kings i. 33; 2 Sam. xiii. 29, &c.); they were presented among other costly gifts to Solomon, (1 Kings x. 25); and when the utmost expedition was required, they were employed by Mordecai and Esther to convey their despatches throughout the Persian empire, Esth. viii. 10. The Roman ladies had equipages drawn by mules, as appears from the medals of Julia and Agrippina; and at the present day, the coaches of the nobility in Spain are usually drawn by them.

For travelling over wild and mountainous tracts of country, the mule is said to be preferable to the horse, being much more surefooted. Their manner of going down the Alps, Andes, &c. is very extraordinary. In these passages, on one side are steep eminences, and on the other, frightful abysess; and as they generally follow the direction of the mountain, the road, instead of lying in a level,