ox. Class I. 



crown our happiness, are almost equally dif- 

 fused thro' all its parts : this general fertility is 

 owing to those clouded skies, which foreigners 

 mistakenly urge as a reproach on our country ; 

 but let us chearfully endure a temporary gloom, 

 which cloaths not only our meadows but our 

 hills with the richest verdure. To this we owe 

 the number, variety, and excellence of our cat- 

 tle, the richness of our dairies, and innumerable 

 other advantages. CcEsar (the earliest writer 

 ■who describes this island of Great Britahi) 

 speaks of the numbers of our cattle, and adds 

 that we neglected tillage, but lived on milk and 

 flesh.* Straho takes notice of our plenty of 

 milk, but says we were ignorant of the art of 

 making cheese. 'j" Mela informs us, that the 

 wealth of the Britons consisted in cattle, and in 

 his account of Ireland reports that such was the 

 richness of the pastures in that kingdom, that 

 the cattle would even burst if they were suffered 

 to feed in them long at a time.:}: 



This preference of pasturage to tillage was 



* L'll. 5. t Lib. 4. 



J Adeo luxuriosa herbis non laetis modo sed etiam dulcibus, 

 ut se exigua parte diei pecora impleant, ut nisi pabulo prohi- 

 beantur, diutius pasta dissiliant. Lib. iii. c. 6. 



Hollinshed says, (but we know not on what authority,) that 

 the Romans preferred the British cattle to those of Liguria, 

 Desc. Br, I OQ, 



