28 REINHOLD PAULI, 



distroyedd howsis and howsholdes and labouvs and levyngs of a 1000 

 or 12 00 or 1400 peple, and, after the erth in villages so putt to idulnes 

 and pasture, hath hadd no shepe of that bredyng therupon to have fe- 

 dyng-, but to ete the gresse. 



To encrease wolle hath ahvey usid to bye the shepe [from]^) alle 

 he^Ty corse leyrs in Walys and other owtbredyng and bryng theym to 

 the good leyrs , wher ther corse wolle chaungith to staplewolle , but not 

 so pure fyne wolle, like as in old tyme it was receyvid by werks of 

 housbondry. Forasmoch as the speciall gift therof is in the erthe, ther- 

 for the shepe to receyve that gift of fynes and godnes therof must nedes 

 fede of the leyres of the erthe, like as in old tyme the erth was wrought 

 and openyd by tillage, that the shepe myght fede of the inward leyre 

 of the erth and therupon nyghtly lay and was foldydd. Than receyvid 

 the shep ther naturall fedyng of the leyre of fyne staple wolle , evyn 

 like Godd first gaff it. So as than was it pure fyne woU oon pownd 

 worth two now, because the erthe is now put to idulnes to bryng forth 

 rank foggye wild gresse, wherupon the shepe of the hyghest of the gresse 

 receyvith ther fedyng, so receyve they rank wild heyry wolle, in that 

 they cannot come to the leyr of therthe , owt therof to receyve the gift 

 of Godd. 



So is the gift of fyne wolle yerly lost to the great hurt and sclander 

 of the reame, that is the cause, that now of late years peple comonly 

 reportith: Spaynysh woU is almost as good as English woll, which may 

 well be soo, by that Spayn hath housbondid ther wolle frome wurse to 

 better, and England from better to w^urse, which must nedes cause theym 

 the nygher to accorde to oon godnes. Yitt can they not be lyke by 

 Goddes ordinaunce. English wolle hath staple and Spaynysh wolle hath 

 no staple. So as Spayn hath assayed all the meanes to cause ther wolle 

 to have staple, washyng ther woll upon the shepe before sheryng, and 

 washyng it after sheryng, can have no staple by Goddes own ordinaunce, 

 albeit Spayn hath bettrid ther wolle by shiftyng of leirs and by hous- 



1) fehlt in der Handschrift. 



