20 RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. 



after the sheepe are washed then it did in a fortnight or three 

 weekes afore. Many say that the best way for washinge of a 

 sheepe is to bee two att a sheepe, and the one to take it by the 

 forelegges and the other by tlie hinder legges ; but one is suffi- 

 cient, if yow give them but charge to wriuge theire wooll well, 

 and then att the last ende to swill them well afore they goe from 

 them ; then, after that they are washed, yow are noe more to 

 folde them ; but to lay them a nights on some cleane leyes or 

 swarth-grownde, wheare they may not dirty theire woll. 



For Clippinge of Sheepe. 

 The usuaU time of yeare for clippinge of sheepe is, here- 

 aboutes, aboute the 10th or middle of June, accordingly as men 

 finde theire woll to bee risen, and the weather to bee sette att a 

 certaine ; foi' a man shoulde allwayes forebeare cUppinge of his 

 sheepe tiU such time as hee finde theire woll indifferently well 

 risen from the skinne, and that for devei-s reasons : — 



1. When woll is well risen from the skinne, the fleece is as it 

 weare walked togeather on the toppe, and underneath it is but 

 hghtly fastened to the under-growth ; and when a fleece is thus, 

 it is called a mattrice-coate. 



2. When wooU is thus risen there is noe wast, for it comes 

 wholly of without any bittes or lockes. 



3. Fleeces, when they are thus, are fan-e more easy to winde 

 uppe, and allsoe more ease for the cUppers, for a man may aU- 

 most pull them off without any clippinge at all ; iiowe if there 

 bee any sheepe that beginne to ragge and loose theire woU, 

 afore the rest bee fitte to clippe, yow are to make the sheap- 

 heard shiU them out, and to gette them brought hoame and 

 pull'd. 



4. Such sheepe as have theire wooll thus risen, have, ^vithout 

 question, a goode under-growth, wheai-by they will bee better 

 able to endm-e a stonne then these that have all taken away to 

 the very skinne. The countrey proverbe is, 



The man that is aboute to clippe his sheepe 



Must pray for two f aire daycs and one /aire weeke ; 



for a faire day the day before hee clippe, that the wooll may 

 bee dry ; a faire day when hee clippes ; and a weeke of faire 

 weather after hee hatli clipped, that the sheepe may Ix'e hard- 

 ened, and theire woll sometliiiige growne belV)re a storme come ; 

 yett they stand need of a fortnight's faire weatlier ; for if there 

 chance to come any stonne within a fortnight after they are 

 clipiK'd, yow are to sende to field, and to gette your sheepe 

 brought iioame ; and then, if the storm bee Ukely to bee gre«,te, 



