APPENDIX, No. IV. 37 



of gold from Florence for his own ufe *." Such was the 

 cftimation in which Englifh wool was held in Italy at this 

 time, as to be pi-eferred to any commodity, even to gold 

 itfelf, and fo great the demand for it, as to require the in- 

 tervention of crowned heads to obtain it for the merchants. 

 Neither ought it to pafs unobferved, that it was Englijh^ and 

 not SpainJJj wool thefe merchants coveted, which the fame 

 King could probably have obtained of his brother-in-law 

 with little trouble. 



During the long period above fpecified, I have not been 

 able to meet with a fingle fa£l that tends to fhow that Spa- 

 nijh wool was, in any cafe, reckoned equally fine with Eng- 

 lifii wool. Lewis Guicclardln^ a native of Italy, who wrote 

 thehiftory of the Low Countries about the year 1470, when 

 the Flemifh States were in their higheft glory, takes notice, 

 on feveral occalions, of the great fupplies of wool which 

 thefe States obtained from Spa'm^ as well as England. And 

 though he no where, that I can find, draws an exprefs com- 

 parifon between them, yet, on every occafion where he men- 

 tions them incidentally together, he gives thej^r/? place to 

 that of England, as deferving to be preferred to the other. 

 In one cafe, he calls Englifh wool " lane finijfime" and Spa- 

 nifh wool he calls " lane honijfime f , by which it would feem 

 that finenefs was the diftinguilhing peculiarity of Engliflx 

 wool at that time, when compared with that of Spain. In 

 another place, however, he incidentally draws a fort of pa- 

 rallel between them, in which the fuperiority of Englifli 

 wool is ftill more clearly exprefTed. His words are : " Le 

 ** lane del paefe fono groflete, et non ha che fare di bonta 

 " con quella di Spagna, et maneo con quelle d' Inghilierra^J' 

 That is, the wool of the country . is coarfe, and cannot be 

 compared with that of Spain, and far lefs with that of Eng- 

 land. Here the fuperior finenefs of Englifh wool is very 



diftlnftly 

 * Hift. of Com. vol. 1. p. 463. 



t Cnicc. di.fcr. dc Psefe bsffi. Annverfa 1577, p. laa. § lb. p. 10 



