254 REVIEW.— WANSEY ON WOOL. 0^. 26'^ 



price ;'' but inftead of admitting, as a proof of thif, the flronc 

 laft Dr Andeifon adduced, viz. that certain Spanifti merchant- 

 claimed from the Court of Britain the price of fome wool tha; 

 had been takea by an Englifh privateer, in the year 1470, on 

 its way to the Netherlands; ftating in their memorial, that this 

 wool would have been woi-th in the Netherlands 4I. per fack, 

 loeighing one quintal Spanijh, which is equal to 9I. izs. per fack 

 of 364 libs. Englilh; while the beft Englilhwool Ibid then in tiie 

 Netherlands at 18 «■ 20I. per fack. He contends tliat the Spa- 

 niards did not know the weight of their own wool ; and that 

 inftead of a quintal as they fay tlieir facks contained, he main- 

 tains that this fame fack of theirs mufl: have weighed 364 

 pounds ; the Englilh fack being, according to his aflerlioDj 

 the univerfal meafure for wool over all the world !I! 



Again, Dr A. had Aated a faft on the authority of Rapin, 

 ■viz. that, anno 1338, 10,000 facks of Englifh wool had been 

 fold at 4oi. each. On tliis article Mr W. fays, "■it is eafilyproved 

 that Rapin (from whom he quotes) miftakes pounds weight 

 for pounds fterling." The beft anfwer to this affertion is to 

 ruote the paffage itfelf; which runs thus : " In November laft, 

 he (the King) fent the Bilhop of Lincoln^ and the Earls of 

 Kcrtkampton and SuffM^ with iO,oao facks of wool into Bra- 

 bant, to make retainers in High Germany, and there, at the 

 fame time, they fold all their wool, every fack for 40/. ivhich 

 amounted in all to 400,000/." If thefe words be not clear ancf 

 •xprefs, I know not where they will be found in any language. 

 It is indeed true that the King took, in kind, not 40 pounds 

 only of wool from each fack belonging to his fubjeds, 

 but much more at that time; and the wool he had 

 thus taken he made up into facks, which were afterwards 

 fold for the money there mentioned. A few other inftances of 

 this author's mode of reafoning Ihall be adduced, but fhorten- 

 ed as much as poifible, to avoid proving tirefome. 



Though he admits tliat Spanilh wool was fo much Inferior 

 to Britiih wool, that in the days of Henry II. a law was made, 

 ordering all Britifli cloth, in which Spanifli wool was mixed, 

 to be burnt. He is very unwilling to allow that any cloth of 

 value was mads of that yool in Britain, or that the wool it- 

 felf fold at a higher rate tl.an other wool, or was coveted by 

 other nations. He produces Hume ax\d Henry as authorities 

 to prove that fhsep were very rare in England during the 9th, 



