334 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



the middle of the fourteenth century the government con- 

 stantly endeavoured to introduce the manufacturers of 

 woollens into this realm ; and that the gradual success of 

 these measures was chiefly owing to the turbulence of the 

 weavers, and afterwards to the religious wars of the Ne- 

 therlands, which brought them partly as exiles, partly as 

 emigrants, to the British shores. The value of wool, ex- 

 ported in the reign of Edward III., amounted to 150,000/. 

 per annum ; at present the annual value of wool shorn in 

 England, and no longer exported, is estimated at 5,000,000/. 

 sterling, which, together with about 600,000/. of Spanish 

 wool and some Saxon imported, is worth above 20,000,000/. 

 per annum. 



No history, ancient or modern, shews an equal instance 

 of such persevering attention bestowed upon improving the 

 breeds of domestic animals in general, and of sheep in 

 particular, as Great Britain presents. The affluent leisure 

 of the great, emulating the practical science of the farmer, 

 is alike engaged in a pursuit, which the Sovereign himself 

 has not disdained to support, and science has forwarded with 

 all its means. When the attention of an enlightened and 

 powerful nation is thus concentrated upon objects of real 

 and practical utility, the result is invariably commensurate 

 with the effort ; and hence, not only horses and oxen, but 

 sheep, and even swine, have arrived at a very high standard 

 of improvement, some, perhaps, at the highest attainable 

 consistent with the climate and circumstances of the case. 

 With regard to sheep, it appears that the chief aim of im- 

 provement consists in combining the production of the best 

 wool with the most delicate flesh, upon the least possible 

 quantity of bone, at the smallest expense, and without in- 

 juring the vigour and hardiness of the animal. Experience 

 proves that these objects are not effected but by selecting, 



proved of more benefit to Spain, and more detriment to England, 

 than could at first have been imagined." Chron. fol. 206. This 

 must have been about 1466. 



