By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 



157 



carried out of the kingdom. Such exportation of the raw material 

 was freely permitted during the reign of Elizabeth. From this 

 time the merchants of the staple cease to be a distinctive class and 

 are merged in the merchant adventurers or in the clothiers. For 

 instance, it is no uncommon thing in Aubrey's manuscripts to meet 

 with the names of distinguished " Clothiers " spoken of as also 

 " Merchants of the Staple." The influence of those who were 

 specially interested in the home manufactures, after leading, in 

 1552, to the dissolution of the company of the Easterlings of the 

 Still-yard, procured afterwards a series of enactments in their own 

 favor, to the detriment of those who were the exporters of the raw 

 material. For a little time cloths were sent white to Holland to 

 be dyed, but even this foreign trade was stopped at the beginning 

 of the 17th century, when men well skilled in that art were brought 

 from that country into England. 



The manufacturers still complained, and, supported by the 

 Merchant Adventurers, obtained, in 1660, an Act by which the 

 exportation of English wool was strictly forbidden, and this Act 

 retained its place in the Statute book for no less than 165 years. 

 So great an accumulation of wool was the unavoidable consequence 

 of this Statute, that within 30 years of its coming into operation, 

 another Act was passed, with the view of forcing a consumption of 

 it, by which it was ordained that all persons should be buried in 

 woollen shrouds. And this last Act was not repealed till the year 

 1825 ! Inserted carefully among Aubrey's MSS. in the Ashmolean 

 at Oxford you will find a pamphlet on the subject of " wool," in 

 the course of which the expediency of this same Act of Parliament 

 is fully discussed. John Aubrey though, with that penetration 

 which despite of his puerilities he undoubtedly had, he puts forth 

 a query, " Whether it would not be better to export wool to the 

 staple as in olden times ; " nevertheless pays evident deference to 

 the opinions of the author of this little treatise. A short extract 

 or two will shew you the nature of its argument : — " I shall now " 

 says its author, " wind up with that Act of Parliament made some 

 years since for the burying in woollen : and he that will but read 

 that Act may very well satisfy himself that the Parliament were ' 



