TVOOLLEX TRAUL.] AND Til K Hi V A li 1 O L S IWiEEDS. [woollkn tuaue. 



lived nortli of the Thames. Tlio iuhabitants 

 of Kent are described, by Strabo, as excelling 

 tbo Gauls in their nianufaeturod. Eumoniua, 

 in his euloj^iutn on tho Emperor Constantius, 

 in 310, says — " And fortunate Britain, now 

 the happiest country upon earth ; for thou 

 bast been the first to seo Constantino made 

 emperor. * ♦ * Thy woods contain no 

 savage beasts ; thy land no noxious serpents ; 

 but an innumerable multitude of tame cattle, 

 distended with milk, and loaded with Jlecccs.'" 



Mr. INLilburn tliinks that there cannot be a 

 doubt that, at the time of the invasion of 

 Ca"'sar, there were two kinds of wool produced 

 in this country, and two kinds of garments 

 manufactured by the polished Belgio, who 

 inhabited Kent. The one kind was thick and 

 rough, calculated to protect from the cold, and 

 common to northern countries ; the other, a 

 fine soft material, resembling the Highland 

 plaid. Doubtless the one symbolised the wool 

 of the Teeswater or the Cotswold, and the 

 other of the Southdown. That fine wool was 

 then known, amply appears by the quotation of 

 old Holinshed from Dionysius Alexandrianus, 

 who said — " The wool of Britain is often spun 

 so fine, that it is in a manner compared to a 

 spider's thread." The decay of the arts, con- 

 sequent on the irruption of the barbarians into 

 Home, does not appear to have extended to the 

 woollen manufacture, as clothing continued to 

 be made in most of the countries in which the 

 Eomans had established colonies. The wool 

 employed was, at first, the produce of their 

 onni country ; but they afterwards imported 

 wool from other countries, and carried on the 

 manufacture to such an extent, that the Low 

 Countries became, in a great measure, the 

 clothing district for Europe. Spain produced 

 cloth for herself, and, about the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, acquired considerable reputation for the 

 beauty of her fabrics. Consequently, we may 

 presume that the fine wool wliieh the Spanish 

 sheep have, for centuries, produced, is the best. 

 The Italians and Erench entered on this manu- 

 facture at a later period. In the time of William 

 the Conqueror, an inundation which occurred 

 in the Netherlands, drove many of the clothiers 

 into other countries ; and some of them came 

 to England. AVilliam of Malmesbury says, 

 that the king, glad of such an accession, placed 

 these Elemish clothiers first in Carlisle, and 



then in the western counties. From that 

 time the mention of clothiers is frequent in 

 the old chroniclers. London, 0.vford, Lincoln, 

 York, Huntingdon, Nottingham, and Win- 

 chester, aro enumerated as towns wherein llio 

 manufacture was carried on ; while, at other 

 towns, there were clolh-dealera who paid a 

 licence duty to the king lor tho privilege of 

 buying and selling dyed cloths. Although, 

 however, clothiers are frequently mentioned, it 

 was not until 1110 that any very definite or 

 distinct allusion is mado to the British woollen 

 trade by any historical document. In that 

 year a petition was presented to King Stephen, 

 soliciting tho power to enable them, by his 

 charter, to form themselves into corporations 

 or guilds. The object of this petition was to 

 possess, under the monarch, self-government ; 

 to have the power of appointing their own 

 members, and subjecting them to such orders, 

 laws, and regulations as they, from time to 

 time, saw expedient. 



The guild of Winchester, the old established 

 seat of woollen manufacture, paid one mark 

 (about forty shillings) for the power of self- 

 government; and an annual payment of £1G 

 is afterwards noted. The Loudon weavers 

 paid a similar sum ; while that of Oxford paid 

 forty shillings. Others paid even larger sums ; 

 which lead to the conclusion that these guilds 

 had arrived at a considerable degree of impor- 

 tance. The Worcester guild paid 100 shillings 

 for certain specific privileges ; and, in ten years' 

 time, the decaying Loudon guild paid £12 only. 

 In 1172, prohibitions against mixing Spanish 

 with English wool were issued, probably from 

 a desire to stimulate improvement in tho native 

 material. If this were really the intention, it 

 had the eflTect of throwing the British on their 

 own resources for the manufacture of broad- 

 cloth ; and from that day they acquired tho 

 power of manufacturing it independent of 

 Spain. 



Tho religious crusades of the middle ages 

 drained the country alike of its fanaticism 

 and its money. So impoverished was our 

 Eichard I., that when he was imprisoned by 

 the Duke of Austria, he had his heavy ransom 

 of £300,000 paid .by levies on the plate of tho 

 avaricious monks ; and when they had no 

 plate, they had to send one year's produce of 

 wool, Into their hands the best of the sheep 



725 



