250 The Poets Beasts. 



The value of our wool productions is, however, a fre- 

 quently recurring point in verse ; and though the Old 

 pastoral days are called (by Phillips), " the unluxurious 

 times of yore, when flocks and herds were no inglorious 

 store," the possession of flocks is usually spoken of as an 

 important factor in individual, local, and national wealth. 

 Says King, " the fleecy produce of the Cotswold field 

 shall equal what Peruvian mountains yield." The beauty 

 of the wool itself comes often also under admiration, its 

 whiteness and its softness exceeding indeed sometimes the 

 poets' stock of simile and comparison. More than one 

 even goes so far as to blame us for dyeing it, and to draw 

 a moral of voluptuous luxury therefrom. So Hammond, 

 for instance — 



" Unwise who first the charm of Nature lost 

 With Tyrian purple soiled the snowy fleece." 



A.S the sheep are, so are the shepherds ; creatures of a 

 " witless " innocence, a feeble simplicity. Thus Parnell's — 



" Gaping, tender, apt to weep, 

 Their nature's altered by their sheep." 



Or, again, in Spenser — 



" And meek he was, as meek might be, 

 Simple as simple sheep, 

 Humble and like in each degree 

 The flock which he did keep." 



Indeed, " the cheerful tendance of the flocks " would hardly 

 seem, from the poets' description of those who tend them, 

 to conduce to much dignity of thought or intellectual 

 occupation. They see them grazing, as Crabbe says, " with 

 what a pure and simple joy ! " 



" Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, 

 Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep." 



