and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sheep. 365 



King, Lords, and Commons, soon after the Restoration of Charles the Second 

 in i66o. 



Notwithstanding the custom probably laid on imported cloths by the Charta 

 Mercatoria, we find our merchants, at the begi;ming of the fourteenth century, still 

 complaining that they were undersold by strangers.* 



The woollen manufactures of Flanders and Brabant had now reached to an 

 astonishing height; so that it seems as if they could with difficulty supply them- 

 selves witli the basis of their numerous and various fabrics. They very readily, 

 therefore, availed themselves of the vicinity of England to provide themselves with 

 a commodity, which was so essential to their own prosperity ; and from this time 

 we find those two countries out-bidding each other for the preference in our mar- 

 kets, which was occasionally granted to one or the other, as the temporary interest 

 of our people, or, sometimes, of our sovereign, appeared to dictate. 



In the year 1314, the 6th of Edward the Second, a corn-fattened cow was or- 

 dered, by royal mandate, to be sold at Oxford for twelve shillings; a corn-fattened 

 ox for twenty-four shillings; a fat corn-fbd mutton, unshorn, for twenty-pence, and 

 shorn, for fourteen-pence.t This decree was soon after confirmed by Parliament 

 for the whole island. Hence it appears, that the value of the fleece was three- 

 sevenths of that of the carcase. Either, therefore, sheep must have been extremely 

 plentiful, or wool in great request. 



The great and increasing prosperity of the Netherlands, arising from their ex- 

 tensive woollen manufacture, excited the envy and emulation of the neighbouring 

 states. The abundance of our raw materials naturally led us to be among the first 

 to enter into the competition. With this view, our kings, in subsequent periods of 

 our history, and more especially Edward the Third, took the greatest and most 

 laudable pains to invite from other countries persons most skilled in all the arts of 

 drapery. The success of these efforts was much promoted by the discontents among 

 the cl6thiers in the Netherlands, whom either the wantoimess of wealth, or the 

 tyranny of their rulers, prompted to frequent insurrections, or actual rebellions, 

 followed by battles and numerous emigrations. Edward, who labours under 

 some suspicion of having fomented such disturbances, received these emigrants 

 with open arms, and protected them against the animosity of our countrymenj^ 

 * Anderson, anno 1302. f Chronicon precidsum, page 89. 



