and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sheep. 359 



fact, which seems to have arisen from a false interpretation of the Latin word Cyne- 

 gium, and of which there is, otherwise, no proof. It is, nevertheless, highly pro- 

 bable, that, during the continuance of our subjection to Rome, the more useful 

 improvements of that empire were gradually introduced among us, and, with others, 

 that of drapery, so conducive to the health and comfort of mankind. 



The means of supporting these arts seem, however, to have been lost, as our 

 country became harassed by the reiterated incursions of fierce and barbarous in- 

 vaders. Some time after the beginning of the 8th century, we find the laws of Ina 

 estimating a ewe with her lamb at one shilling from a fortnight after Easter, and 

 the fleece at two pence.* As, therefore, the pound then contained forty-eight shil- 

 lings, and the shilling five pence, the value of the ewe and lamb, relatively to that 

 of the fleece, was only as three to two. This is a most convincing proof of the 

 scarcity of wool at that early period of our history. 



In the reign of ^thelstan, some time between the years 925 and 940, an ox is 

 rated at a mancus, or thirty denarii or pence, a cow at twenty-pence, and a sheep 

 at a shilling, or five-pence. This proportion seems to shew that sheep were now 

 far from abounding t 



As sheep multiplied, the country must have begun to feel the evil arising from 

 the multitude of wolves which infested it ; in consequence of which, in the year 

 961, King Edgar employed means which greatly reduced their numbers. They 

 •were not, however, then wholly extirpated; for in the year 1281, Edward the First 

 issued a mandate to Peter Corbet for their destruction in the counties of Glouces- 

 ter, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and Stafford. J 



This was not the sole instance of attention shewn by Edgar to the culture of 

 wool. In 974 we find him regulating its price, and directing that a wey — an uncer- 

 tain quantiiy at this time — should be sold for half a pound of silver, or about thirty 

 shillings of our money. 



In the reign of Ethelred, A. D. looo, a cow was sold at four shillings andfour- 



* Ovis cum agno suo valeat Solido usque ad decimum quartum diem a Paschate. Leges IriE, 55. 

 Ovis vellus suutn retiiiere debet ad mediain astatem, vei solvat vellus duobus denariis. Leges 

 Inas, 69. 



f Et bos mancusa, et vacca viginti denariis— et ovis solido digna sit. Judicia. Civitatis 

 Luiidoniae. 



t Pennant's British Zoology, article Dog. 



