BRITISH WOOLLENS RIVALLED BY SWEDISH. 53 



amounted in value to £5,000,000 per annum, while 

 our yearly exports of the same were valued at 

 £•2,000,000. Many were at that time afraid of the 

 sinking of the woollen manufacture, because the ac- 

 counts of the fine draperies exported were larger than 

 usual ; but, says an anonymous essayist of the period, 

 " such do not contemplate, that, though the old may 

 be lessened, what is commonly called the new dra- 

 peries have increased, consisting in bays, serges, and 

 stuffs. So that upon the whole, infinitely more of 

 the material of wool has of late years been wrought 

 up for foreign use, than in former times ; and herein 

 our merchants have been only forced to follow the 

 modes and humours of those people with whom they 

 deal, and the course they have pursued has hitherto 

 not been detrimental to the public." * * * " 'Twere bet- 

 ter, indeed, that the call from abroad were only for the 

 fine draperies, because then we should be in a manner 

 without a rival ; no country, but England, and Ireland, 

 having a sward or turf that will rear sheep, producing 

 the wool of which most of our draperies are made. 'Tis 

 true the wool of Spain is fine above all others ; but 'tis 

 the wear only of the richer sort, and of Spanish cloths 

 not above nine thousand pieces are sent abroad, one 

 year with another." 



{55.) British Woollens rivalled by those of Sweden. 

 —Before the peace of Utrecht in 1713, we had no rival 

 in the woollen trade but the Dutch, over whom we had 

 many natural advantages, such as situation, goodness 

 of our ports, and excellence of the principal constitu- 

 ents of the manufacture. They were obliged to furnish 

 themselves with the materials at second-hand. When 



