i6 O X. Clafal. 



,ijdvantages. C^far (the earliefi: writer who deicribes 

 this ifland o^ Great- Britain) ipeaks of the numbers of 

 cur cattle, and adds that we neglected tillage, but 

 lived on milk and fieih *. Straho takes notice of our 

 plenty of milk, but fays we were ignorant of the art 

 of making cheefe -f. Mela informs us, that the 

 wealth of the Britains confided in cattle : and in his 

 account of Ireland reports that fuch was the richnefs 

 cf the paftures in that kingdom, that the cattle would 

 even burft if they were fuffered to feed in them long 

 at a time J. 



This preference of pauurage to tillage was deli- 

 verec down fromj our Britifb anceilors to much later 

 times; and continued equally prevalent during the 

 whole period of our feodal government : the chief- 

 tain, whcfe power and fafety depended on the prompt- 

 nefs cf his vafials to execute his commands, found 

 it his intereft to encourage thofe employments that 

 favoured that difpofition ; the vafTal, who made ic 

 his glory to fly at the firft call to the flandar J of his 

 chieftain, was fure to prefer that employ, v/hich 

 might be tranfadted by his family with equal fuccefs 

 during his abfence. Tillage would require an atten- 

 dance incompatible with the fervices he owed the 

 baron, while the former occupation not only gave 

 leifuie for thofe duties, but furniflied the hofpitable 

 board of his lord with ample provifion, of which the 

 vaflal was equal partaker. The reliques of the larder- 

 of the eider Spencer are evident proofs of the plenty 



* Lih. 5. -f lib. 4. 



^ Adeo luxuriofa Verbis non las'Is modo fed etiam dulcibus, ut ' 

 fe exigua parte diei pecora impleant, ut nin pabulo prohibeantur, 

 diuiius pafta diffilianc. Lib. m. c. 6. 



of 



