OX. Class L 



them. This was owing partly to the continued 

 attachment of the people to grazing,* partly to 

 the preference that the English at all times gave 

 to animal food. The quantity of cattle that 

 appear from the last calculation to have been 

 consumed in our metropolis, is a sufficient argu- 

 ment of the vast plenty of these times ; particu- 

 larly when we consider the great advancement 

 of tillage, and the numberless variety of provi- 

 sions, unknown to past ages, that are now intro- 

 duced into these kingdoms from all parts of the 

 world, f 



Our breed of horned cattle has in general 

 been so much improved by a foreign mixture, 



* Polyd. Virgil Hist. Angl. vol. i. 5. who wrote in the time 

 of Henry the VIII. says, Angli plures pecuarii quam aratores. 



f That inquisitive and accurate historian Maitland furnishes 

 us with this table of the quantity of cattle that were consumed 

 in London in the year 1725, when that city was far less popu- 

 lous than it is at present. 



Beeves 98,244. Pigs 52,000. 



Calves 194,760. Sheep and ") 



Hogs 186,932. Lambs j ' •■ 



The number of cattle sold in Smithfield in I8O9 is stated to 



have been, 



Beeves 110,000 Pigs 60,000 



Calves 210,000 Sheep and ") ' 



Hogs 200,000 Lambs j 77M ° 



Middleton, in his agricultural survey of Middlesex, gives the 



following comparative statement of the number of cattle and 



sheep sold at the same market from the year 1750 to 1794 :— 



