44 Essm^ on Sheep, 



tish sheep have been imported into Spain, as it 

 appears by custom-house entries that English 

 wool was also exported to Spain, which was at 

 that time a manufacturing country, and sup- 

 plied England with cloth. For many of their 

 manufactories the long wool of England might 

 have been found useful, and it might also have 

 been thought desirable to propagate the breed 

 that bore it, without any intention of degrad- 

 ing the Merino breed. It is possible that the 

 long-woolled sheep of Spain, which are called 

 Choaroes, and are much larger than the Me- 

 rino, are the descendants of the English sheep, 

 mixed with the' common sheep of the country. 

 Had England possessed in the fifteenth century, 

 the fine race which is now the pride of Spain, 

 it is hardly possible to suppose that so shortly 

 after as the reign of Henry the eighth, the 

 breed should be so entirely lost as to induce that 

 prince to import, by permission of Charles the 

 fifth, three thousand Spanish sheep, and to dis- 

 perse them through his kingdom, placing them 

 under the care and superintendence of com* 

 missioners specially appointed for that purpose. 

 In fact, it was not till the reign of his father 

 that woollen cloths were manufactured in 

 England to any extent, and none 1 believe were 

 for many years after exported from thence. 



