398 



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



Upon the whole it may be saFely inferred, that as neither Columella, Pliny, nor 

 other Roman writers, expressly citing the sheep of Spain, notice any breed producing 

 wool fit for the manufacture of fine dressed cloths, such sheep could not possibly, 

 in their times, have existed in that country. 



The French Encyclopedist pursues his romance, and tells us, " that notwith- 

 " standing this ingenious project of Columella, which fell to the ground, as is usu- 

 " ally the case where the best designs do not meet with the support of government, 

 " thirteen ages elapsed before any one in Spain renewed his experiments. Don 

 " Pedro the Fourth, who mounted the throne of Castile in 1350, was the next who 

 " attempted to increase and meliorate the wools of his country. In order to secure 

 " the affection of the Casiilians, whose support he wished against the party of his 

 " bastard brothers,'and Eleanora their mother, he availed himself of the friendship 

 " of a Moorish prince to import from Barbary a large number of rams and ewes 

 " of a very beautiful kind, which, in that country, were very profitable to their 

 " owners. This project could not fail of success; and thus, in the 14th century, 

 " a numerous breed of sheep, abounding with the finest and most silky wool, was 

 " established in Spain. Cardinal Ximenes, first minister of that country in the 

 " reign of Charles V. at the beginning of the 16th century, marched in the same 

 " happy steps ; and taking advantage of some military success on the coast of 

 " Barbary, renewed the importaiion of the finest woolled rams and ewes, which he 

 " placed chiefly in the neighbourhood of Segovia."* 



To say nothing of the affected simplicity, but real inconsistency of this relation, 

 one might naturally expect that the history of events so important to Spain should 

 have been established by a reference to some contemporary or authentic records. 

 On this head, however, the author is wholly silent. I have looked with eager hopes 

 of better information, but with no greater success, into a memoir in the second 

 volume pf the Academy of Sciences at Brussels. Mons. Durondeau is merely a 

 retailer of the dreams of Messrs. the French Encyclopedists; and very gravely gives 

 Don Pedro die appellation oi fourth King of Castile. 



These writers possess a happy independence of narration. No Don Pedro, the 

 fourth of that name of Castile, nor any Don Pedro, fourth king of Castile, ever 

 existed. The kingdom of Castile saw but one sovereign of the name of Pedro, 

 who did indeed mount the throne in 1350, but, instead of being the fourth, 



* Folio Encyclopedic, article Laine. 



