and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sheep. ^jg 



rate was fixed at the beginning of the year 1545, when the shilling was at i.s, i-frf. 

 of our present coin. This wool was therefore worth at least £5. 14s. yd. the sack 

 •of i8i-|-lbs. and £ a. gs. zd. the sack of 364 lbs. 



In 1560, the time of Guicciardini, Spanish wool in the Netherlands was at a 

 somewhat lower price. He tells us, " that they used formerly to send annually 

 " from Spain to Bruges more than 40,000 sacks ; but that in this year, the 

 *' Spaniards, having made more cloth at home, had sent only 25,000 sacks, at 25 

 " crowns each," " On souloit envoyer d'Espaigne a Bruges touts les ans plus dc 

 " quarantemille sacs de laine : mais depuis peu de temps en 9a comme Ics Espaig- 

 *' nols se soyent mis a faireplus de draperie que de coustume, on n'cnenvoye plus 

 " tant: de sorte que, I'an 1560, quej'escrivoy cecy, il n'en fut portc que vingl et 

 "cinq miile sacs; lesquels a raison de vingt cinq escus pour sac, moment six 

 *' centz vingt et cinq mille escus."* The crown being 4s. and the shilling 15^. o^rf. 

 of our money, this would be^'io. i5. id. the sack of 364lbs. The depreciation 

 seems, in truth, to have arisen from a diminished demand for this wool in the 

 Netherlands. 



We are now arrived at that period, when a just relation of facts would make it 

 impracticable for us any longer to conceal the true secret with regard to Spanish 

 wool. From what I have already stated, taken in connection with that which will 

 follow, it will appear, that, till about this time, England and the northern part of 

 the continent were so unskilful in the manufacture of cloth, that they could not 

 employ the softer and finer wools, without a considerable admixture of that which 

 was coarser and stronger. This is evidently the first use which was made of 

 Spanish wool among us and the northern nations; and even that application did 

 not commence till somewhat after this time, while that, which had been till then 

 employed in the Netherlands, was of a coarser kind, adapted to the mechanical 

 skill of those for whom it was destined. Of such wool a great exportation had 

 taken place from Spain, and continued, according to Ustariz, till it was prohibited 

 by Charles the Second of Spain in i699.t Many of the wools of England were 

 probably at that time, and still continue to be, superior to those of the native 

 breeds of the northern and middle parts of Europe; for which reason, in the state 

 of manufacture which then existed, they obtained a pre-eminence of reputation, 

 which their great abundance very widely disseminated. But the cloths which they 



* Guicciardini, 194, f Ustariz, II. 153, 



3C2 



