and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sheep. 3^3 



tation across the sea, and iis return in form of cloth. Thus a considerable propor- 

 tion of the inhabitants of England was, in those times, arrayed in the produce of 

 their own soil, manufactured in the Netherlands; just as, at this day, the Spaniard* 

 are clothed with their own wool manufactured in Great Britain. 



In 1296, Edward, in a treaty with the Flemings, gave them formal liberty to 

 buy and transport from his territories wool and other articles of merchandize;* 

 but, in order to supply the expences of his war with France, he, with the concur- 

 rence of the Commons, raised the custom on exported wool to forty shillings per 

 sack. A truce, however, taking place during the same year, he listened to the re- 

 monstrances of the commonalty, and reduced the custom to half a mark per sack,t 

 which it seems to have then for some time been, originally by grant of Parliament. 

 From this period, the custom of 6i'. %d. on each sack of exported wxjol was, through 

 several succeeding centuries, constandy claimed by the Crown as a right ; though 

 it afterwards suffered several modifications, either by the will of the sovereign, or 

 the voluntary grant of the people. 



It is, however, impossible that British wool could at this time have been in great 

 estimation among the Flemings, comparatively with that which they had been ac- 

 customed to use; for, in 1298, only two years afterwards, and the same distance of 

 time before the riots which caused many of their workmen to take refuge in Eng- 

 land, the demand for sheep was so small, that, while at Scarborough an ox was 

 valued at 6s. Sd. a sheep was one penny, or only an eightieth part of the price of 

 the ox. X 



The arrival of the Flemish manufacturers, who not only brought with them their 

 superior knowledge, but probably a part of their capital, seems to have restored 



* Anderson, anno citato. f History of the Exchequer, pages 536, 537. 



X Chronicon preciosum, page 82. It is curious that about this time, 12971 according to 

 Hume, the discontented barons should have complained to the king of his '•' violent seizure of 

 " wool, a commodity which they affirmed to be equal in value to half the lands of the kingdoin." 

 This hyperbolical language might serve well enough for the declamation of a high-spirited and 

 patriotic chieftain, but cannot be admitted as tiie basis of the cooler deductions of the politician. 

 The soil was certainly worth as much, as the sheep which it supported, and, for 600 years, the 

 fleece had never been worth half the slieep which produced it. Whence, also, were derived the 

 grain and other vegetable aliments of the horses, beeves, hogs, poultry, game, and human inha- 

 bitants of the land ? Whence its timber, medicinal and dying drugs, minerals, and a great variety 

 of other produce? 



3A 2 



