Class I. SHEEP. 35 



rectified, for it appears that, on the alliance 

 that Edward IV. made with the king of Ar- 

 ragon, he presented the latter with some ewes 

 and rams of the Coteswold kind ; a proof of 

 their excellency, since they were thought ac- , 

 ceptable to a monarch, whose dominions were 

 so noted for the fineness of their fleeces.* 



In the first year of Richard III, and in the 

 two succeeding reigns, our woollen manufac- 

 ture received some improvements ;f but the 

 grand rise of all its prosperity is to be dated 

 from the reign of queen Elizabeth, when the 

 tyranny of the duke of Alva in the Netherlands 

 drove numbers of artificers to seek refuge into this 

 country, who were the founders of that immense 

 manufacture we carry on at present. We have 

 strong inducements to be more particular on the 

 modern state of our woollen manufactures, but 

 desist, from a fear of digressing too far; our 

 enquiries must be limited to points that have 

 a more immediate reference to the study of 

 Zoology. 



No country is better supplied with materials, 

 and those adapted to every species of the cloth- 



* Rapin t. 605. in the note. Stoivs Annales, 696. 



f In that of Richard, two-yard cloths were first made. In 

 that of Henry the VIII. an Italian taught us the use of the dis- 

 taff. Kerseys were also first macje in England about that time. 



D 1 



