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



exportation of which seemed, formerly, to have been limited merely by its great 

 demand for home consumption; yet, in the year 1622, a special commission was 

 issued by King James the First, to many lords and gentlemen, in which he states 

 " the general complaints of our subjects at home, as also by information from our 

 " ministers employed in parts beyond sea, that the cloth of this kingdom hath of 

 " late years wanted that estimation and vent in foreign parts which it formerly had; 

 " and that the wools of the kingdom are fallen much from their wonted values, 

 " Sic" for which, and many other weighty reasons, the king directs them to enquire, 

 " why wool is fallen in price ?" <fec.* Our trade had indeed so much declined, that 

 in 1623, as I have before shewn, the value of the imports exceeded that of the ex- 

 ports by £"298,878. 75. 2f/. 



Almost forty years had now elapsed, since the sacking of Antwerp by the Prince 

 of Parma had caused many of its richest and most skilful manufacturers to take 

 refuge in Holland. The people of that country, deprived oF the lucrative process 

 of finishing our cloths, soon entered on other branches of the manufacture ; so 

 that, in 1624, a certificate was given in to the British Parliament, of their having 

 in that year made 25,000 cloths.t This necessity probably led them to try the 

 qualities of various materials ; and a very few experiments on entire superfine 

 Spanish wool would naturally be followed by the disgrace, the contempt, and the 

 neglect of ours. 



A strong confirmation of the early use of the best Spanish wool, unmixed with 

 coarser, by the Italian States, is furnished by Richlieu's Political Testament, printed 

 in 1635, in which, speaking of the fine woollen manufactures of France, the author 

 says, " The Turks prefer the draps de sceau de Rouen to all others, next to those 

 " of Venice, which are made of Spanish wool.";]; And the author of " England's 

 " Safety in Trade's Increase," written in 1641, tells us, that " the greatest part of 

 " their (the Venetians') wools from Spain, and the rest from Constantinople, is 

 " commonly brought^in English shipping." J 



In 1646, Nicholas Cadcau and other Frenchmen had letters patent for twenty 

 years, for making at Sedan black and coloured cloths, like those of Holland, of the 

 finest Spanish wool. || 



Among Thurloe's State Papers there is one written in the year 1651, and 



• Focdcra, XVII. 40. i Smith, I. 116. J Anderson, 1635. 



§ Smith, I. 126. II Ibidem, II. 173, 



