SHEEP. 



Hot but consider them as designed by the All-wise and 

 boinuHul Creator peculiarly for our use.. To examine 

 each ppedcs,by tollov.ing all its varieties, proceeding 

 from soil, clinia'e, and human management, would be 

 an endless, and, indeed, an useless task. My intention 

 is, only fee present to your view the great outlines of 

 nature, with which every ore ought to be acquainted, 

 that so you may be enabled to form a right judgment 

 <f thc'i* properties and use, and to conceive some faint 

 idea of the infinite goodness of the great Author of all 

 existence, in creating them for our benefit, as well as 

 of his power and wisdom in, giving them qualities so 

 perfectly adapted to that purpose. Our. views of these 

 subjects will still be enlarged, when we consider, that 

 of the sheep, as well as of the ox, there is scarcely 

 any production that is not useful to man. Of the 

 fleece we make our clothes ; the skin produces leather 

 suitable to a multiplicity of purposes ; and the very 

 entrails are formed into strings for violins and other 

 musical instruments. It must also be observed, that 

 the milk and butter, produced from sheep, constitute 

 in some countries no inconsiderable article of food : 

 and although inferior to the same productions of the 

 cow, might serve as a very good succcdaneum, if 

 Providence had not supplied us with that useful and 

 excellent quadruped, which affords another striking 

 instance of the prolific bounty of the Creator in at- 

 fording us such a variety of resources. 



One particular and very interesting circumstance, 

 relative to the animal now under consideration, must 

 not, my dear Sir, be forgotten. It merits your attend 

 tiqn and will furnish your mind -with a copious fund of 

 reflection, as it will enable you to comprehend the 

 great importance of our sheep as an object of national 

 advantage. In the reign of Edward the Third, when 

 the English wool was exported, ii brought in 150,0001. 

 per annum, a vast sum in that age. At this time, the 

 value of the wool, annually shorn in 1 England is esti- 

 mated at about five millions sterling, and when ma- 

 nufactured conjointly with the Spanish wool imported, 

 t* the annual amount of not more than six or seven 



