WOOL AND HIDES. 307 



the same estate, varies through other causes than those through 

 which the price of wool does, and except the evidence be 

 employed cautiously, it is apt to mislead 1 . 



It is not again always clear what the character of the wool 

 was, apart from the locality from which it was derived. It 

 might have been" a secondary or accidental product in one 

 case, and an end of husbandry in another. Thus when it 

 comes among the general produce of a farm (and nearly all the 

 entries in the first volumes, as well as the greater part in 

 these, is of such a character), it falls under the second head, 

 and is satisfactory as evidence. But it is not equally clear 

 what the quality of the article is when it is an outcome of a 

 monastery such as Sion, or a College like King's in Cambridge, 

 or Magdalen in Oxford. It might be the shearings of sheep 

 killed at all times of the year, or a clip taken of stock kept 

 for the consumption of the establishment, and maintained for 

 a time on the home farm. Still it will be found that most 

 of these entries fairly agree, all things considered, with the 

 schedule to which I have called attention at the commencement 

 of this chapter. 



Woolfells are as much an article of foreign trade and export 

 duties as wool was. They were made up it appears into packs 

 of 240, having been doubtlessly cleaned and dressed before 

 packing. They are dealt with very extensively. But here we 

 are met with new difficulties. Was the fell that of a healthy 

 sheep, killed in the ordinary course when , in condition, and 

 set aside for trading in ? Or was it that of a sheep which was 

 slaughtered because it was rotten, or scabbed, and therefore 

 in poor condition and worse coat? Or again, at what time 

 of the year was it killed? If after shearing time, the fell 

 was of little value, if full of wool, of considerable. When 

 the sales of woolfells proceed from a religious house or college, 

 they are described as shearling, morling, winter, and wool or 



1 Very heavy sales of fleeces, generally by the hundred, occur at Spitling in 1442, 3, 

 4 5> 6, 7, 9. Sometimes the account gives the number of fleeces as well as the weight 

 of the product. This important evidence will be commented on below. 



X 2 



