2 74 History of the English Landed Intei^est. 



its mutton and of its wool. Though gentle and domesticated, 

 it was sufficientl}'' liardy and active to fill its belly with, rough 

 herbage between the hours of turning out and turning in 

 daily. During the winter the flock received hay, but v*'as 

 never taken off the downs, where its fold was situated. 

 Butchers found the meat of this sheep highly relished by the 

 upper classes, and the average weight of its quarter was 16 

 to 20 lbs. Little pains were taken to sort the wool, which, 

 notwithstanding, vied in price with that of the Herefordshire, 

 and often fetched 2.§. per lb. As, however, it only averaged 

 2 lb. per fleece, this did not greatly augment the flockmaster's 

 profits. 



Before we carry our readers to that part of the country 

 where the most advanced science with regard to the flock was 

 to be found, let us by way of contrast describe the economy in 

 a part where one might almost imagine men had advanced no 

 further than the patriarchal age. Up among the recesses of 

 Borrowdale, and amidst sheltered nooks of the Cumberland 

 fells, still flourished the " estates-men." These primitive shep- 

 herds lived and died among their flocks, handing down this 

 form of personal property from father to son from time imme- 

 morial. " The pride of descent," says Warner, after his visit 

 to this district at the beginning of the present century, "would 

 be put to the blush were it to be told that in a hallowed recess 

 of this kind a man is now living who enjoys exactly the same 

 property which his lineal ancestor possessed in the reign of 

 Edward the Confessor. These men never grew rich, because 

 periodical storms decimated their unsheltered flocks. They 

 dispensed to strangers the same generous hospitality and in 

 the same fashion as Abraham was wont to do." "Go," said an 

 estates-man to a friend of Warner's whom he had entertained 

 for some days in his house, " Go to the vale on the other side 

 of yon mountain, to the house of such an estates-man, and tell 

 him you came from me. I know him not, but he will receive 

 you kindly, for our sheep mingle upon the mountains." ^ 



Though the blood of the Leicester breed had penetrated the 



' A Tour through the Northern CoiDities of Eiujhuul, etc., Rev. E. 

 Warner, vol. ii. p. 104, 1802. 



