Class I. SHEEP. 



granted to the weavers in London^ dlreded that if 

 any cloth was found made of a mixture of SpaniJJ? 

 wool, it Ihould be burnt by the mayor * : yet 

 fo little did the weaving bufinefs advance, that 

 Edward the third was obliged to permit the im- 

 portation of foreign cloth in the beginning of 

 his reign ; but foon after, by encouraging foreign 

 artificers to fettle in England^ and inftrud the 

 natives in their trade, the manufadure increafed 

 fo greatly as to enable him to prohibit the wear of 

 foreign cloth. Yet, to fhew the uncommercial ge- 

 nius of the people, the effeds of this prohibition 

 were checked by another law, as prejudicial to trade 

 as the former was falutary y this was an adl of the 

 fame reign, againft exporting woollen goods ma- 

 nufaftured at home, under heavy penalties ; while 

 the exportation of wool was not only allowed but 

 encouraged. This overfight was not foon redli- 

 fied, for it appears that, on the alliance that Ed- 

 ward the fourth made with the king of Arragon^ he 

 prefented the latter with fome ewes and rams of 

 the Cotefwold kind ; which is a proof of their ex- 

 cellency, fmce they were thought acceptable to a 

 monarch, whofe dominions were fo noted for the 

 finenefs of their fleeces +. 



In the firft year of Richard the third, and in the 

 two fuccecding reigns, our woollen manufadures 



• Stoiju 419. 

 f Rapin i, 605. in the' note. Sto<w*s Annales^ 696. 



received 



29 



