142 HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. 



the shepherd returns homeward at sunset with his sheep 

 following him, and seemingly pleased with the sound of 

 the pipe, which is blown with a reed, and resembles the 

 chanter of a bagpipe. In this manner, in those countries 

 that still continue poor, the Arcadian life is preserved in 

 all its former purity ; but in countries where a greater 

 inequality of condition prevails, the shepherd is generally 

 some poor wretch, who attends a flock from which he is 

 to derive no benefits, and only guards those luxuries which 

 he is not fated to share. 



It does not appear, from early writers, that the sheep 

 was bred in England, and it was not till several ages 

 after this animal was cultivated, that the woollen manu- 

 facture was established. That valuable branch of busi- 

 ness lay for a considerable time in foreign hands ; and we 

 were obliged to import the cloth manufactured from our 

 own materials. There were, notwithstanding, many una- 

 vailing efforts among the kings of Europe, to introduce and 

 preserve the manufacture at home. Henry the Second, 

 by a patent granted to the weavers in London, directed, 

 that if any cloth was found made of a mixture of Spanish 

 wool, it should be burned by the mayor. Such edicts at 

 length, although but slowly, operated towards the establish- 

 ing this trade among us. The Flemings, who at the revi- 

 val of arts possessed the art of cloth- working in a superior 

 degree, were invited to settle here ; and soon after foreign 

 cloth was prohibited from being worn in England. In the 

 times of Queen Elizabeth, this manufacture received every 

 encouragement; and many of the inhabitants of the Nether- 

 lands being then forced, by the tyranny of Spain, to take 

 refuge in this country, they improved us in those arts, in 

 which we at present excel the rest of the world. Every 

 art, however, has its rise, its meridian, and its decline; 

 and it is supposed by many, that the woollen manufacture 

 has, for some time, been decaying amongst us. The 



