380 Dr. Parry's Essay on the Nature, Produce, Origin, 



produced being but of a middle quality, comparatively with those of Spain, were 

 not suited to the taste of that people, who, therefore, according to Guicciardini, 

 look very few of them, while they received immense numbers of the cheaper and 

 coarser cloths fabricated in the Netherlands, which were calculated for the con- 

 venience of the lower and poorer classes.* 



The superfine wools of Spain seem to have been first introduced among the 

 Italian states. Thus Damianus a G9es in 1541, after having specified the 40,000 

 sacks to Bruges as before-mentioned, adds, " and also to Italy and other cities of 

 " the Netherlands are annually sent about 20;000 sacks; of which those that are 

 " used in Italy, being of the choicest wool, are sold at from forty to fifty gold 

 *' ducats each." " In Italiam quoque ac in alias Galliae (Belgicse) civitates, viginti 

 " ferme millia sarcinarum vehuntur, quarum quae in Italia consumuntur, quod 

 *' selectioris lanaesint, quadraginta quinquaginta ducatis aureis singulEC venduntur." 



From this account we have a fair opportunity of drawing two important infer- 

 ences. The first is, that the Spanish wool which went to the Netherlands, was, as 

 I have before observed, of the coarser kind, being of only half the price of that 

 Tvhich was exported to Italy. Secondly, we can compare the value of the latter 

 with that of our English wool; the best of which, according to the act of parliament 

 in 1534 already quoted, did not, in England, exceed 5s. the stone of i4lbs, or 

 £6. 10s. the sack of 364 lbs. The shilling being however then equal to is. 4jd. 

 of our coin, increases the price of the sack to £8. iSs. gd. to which add custom 

 and subsidy £^. 135. 4^. or £"5. os. lod. and the result will be £"13. igs. ^d. The 

 additional charges of freight and merchants' profit wouid scarcely bring the whole 

 amount \.o £16. 16s. On the other hand, according to the testimony of<Damianus 

 a Goes, the Spanish sack of i8i|^lbs. was in 1541 worth £^14. 6s. ^\d. and the sack 

 of 364 lbs. £28. 145, 6c?. of our present money. If the author speaks only of the 

 value of this wool in Spain itself, then a farther addition must be made of freight, 

 merchant's profit, and probable duty to the crown. On the whole, this calculaiion 

 is sufficient to shew, in the strongest light, the superior price of superfine Spanish 

 wool, to that of the very best at diat time produced in Britain. 



Next in order of lime to the Italians, the manufacture of superfine wool seems 

 to have been adopted by the French, who, according to Guicciardini, in 1.560, sent 



* Nous kur envoyons draps tie plusicurs soitcs, ct en abondance de ceux que se font en ct 

 Pjvs, et principalement en Flandret ; ct quelques uns d'Angleterrc. Guicciardini, 19s. 



