50 BRITISH WOOL TBADE. 



former law for burying in woollen not being well ob- 

 served, it was repealed by an Act of Parliament, in the 

 thirtieth year of that king (cap. 3.), which enacted a 

 register to be kept in every parish, by the incumbent 

 or his substitute, that every thing about the corpse of 

 the deceased was made of sheep's wool, of which an 

 affidavit was to be made by the relation of the deceased, 

 and lodged with the incumbent, under the penalty of 

 £5, a moiety of which went to the poor of the parish ; 

 the rest to the informer. But this was a sorry check, 

 as vanity was so predominant among the rich, that they 

 paid the penalty rather than want the pleasure of 

 adorning their departed relatives with lace and linen. 



In 1667, France supplanted England in many fo- 

 reign markets, owing to the caje that Colbert at that 

 time took to bring the French woollens to perfection. 

 The English immediately turned their attention to 

 other manufdctures, in which, as in that of pai)er, they 

 quickly excelled, and thus compelled the French to 

 abandon markets, in which they had long remained 

 without a rival. 



In 1698, a problem was started concerning the manu- 

 factures of the country — whether or not a general linen 

 manufacture would prove beneficial to England ? A» 

 London at this time abounded with new projects and! 

 schemes, all promising as usual a hoard of wealth, the 

 question caused much excitement. It was at last de-^ 

 termined that a novelty of this kind would lead to the 

 sowing of a great quantity of flax in England, and the 

 neglect of the woollen manufacture, which would fol- 

 low, might probably lower the price of land ; for, as 

 they said at the time, " it requires about twenty acres 



