38 
THE SHEEP. 
THE MERINO BREED. 
that yet superior to it was the red wool of Boetica, that is, of the countries of the Boetis, now the Guadalquiver, forming the modern 
Andalusia, and part of Estremadura. The red wool of Boetica still remains, and is probably the same as that distinguished by the 
ancients under the name Milesian, brought from Asia. It is stated by Martialis, himself a native of Spain, to he of the colour 
of wine. It is long and very soft, differing entirely from the wool of Spain, now so celebrated, termed Merino. 
The Roman power in Spain terminated in the year of our Lord 456, and was supplanted by that of the Northern Barbarians. 
In the year 409 the Vandals, Suevi, and Allani, having forced the passes of the Pyrenees, carried rapine and desolation throughout 
the tranquil and happy land. The Roman legions, few in number, and fallen off in discipline, and the inhabitants become unwar¬ 
like from disuse of arms, were unable to make head against these cruel enemies, who did not, however, long enjoy their bloody 
triumphs. A nation of Goths, who had become the allies of the sinking empire, drew their swords for the recovery of Spain, and, 
after a series of murderous conflicts, succeeded in restoring it nominally to its ancient masters. The Goths were worsted in their 
turn; but at length their king Theodoric, by one decisive battle, established a Gothic monarchy in Spain, an event which 
introduced the feudal system in its rigour, shook the whole framework of society, and has influenced the fortunes, character, and 
institutions, of the Spanish people up to the times in which we live. The term Hidalgo, or son of a Goth, became a title of 
distinction, and those privileged classes were established which have been the bane of the country ever since. During the long 
dominion of these Gothic princes, upwards of 250 years, civil and religious wars desolated the country, and nothing can be recorded 
favourable to industry and the arts except that, towards the termination of this period, the enslaved country began again to enjoy 
something like repose. 
The Gothic dominion was doomed in its turn to a terrible overthrow. In the year 712 the Arabs, then termed Saracens, 
having overrun the whole of Mauritania except the little fortress of Ceuta, landed a tumultuary army on the shores of Anda¬ 
lusia, and in one great battle, fought at Xeres, decided the fate of Spain. They defeated the Christian army of a hundred 
thousand men, and, pursuing their victory, reduced in an incredibly short space of time nearly all Spain to the dominion of the 
Caliphs, leaving the vanquished in possession of their laws and religion, under payment of the tribute prescribed by the stern 
tenets of the Koran. A remnant of the Goths, under their leader Pelagius, retired to the mountains of the Asturias, whence 
they were afterwards able to roll back the tide of conquest on the invaders of their country. 
The Moors, as the mixed races of Arabian and African conquerers were termed by the Spaniards, brought with them the 
arts of the East to their new country, and cultivated them with success during their long dominion. Although their possessions 
were at length divided into separate states often at war with one another, and almost always with the Christians in contact with 
them, they brought the subject country to a high degree of prosperity and civilization. No people ever underwent so sudden a 
change of character and habits as the wild and fiery Arabs in the delicious country which they had rendered their own. They 
cultivated agriculture, and brought the art of irrigation especially, to great perfection. They were skilled in the useful mechanical 
arts, and established looms, forges glass-houses, dye-works, and manufactures of silk, cotton, paper, leather, and the like, in all 
their principal cities. They even cultivated letters and the fine arts, when all the rest of Europe was sunk in darkness. Their 
aqueducts, bridges, mosques, and other edifices, remain to this hour the monuments of a taste, industry, and skill, which their suc¬ 
cessors have never been able to equal. But that of all their arts which the most interests us with relation to our present subject, is 
their woollen manufacture. They fabricated cloths, carpets, serges, and the other lighter tissues suited to the warmer countries. 
In the city of Seville alone were many thousand looms constantly at work, and others of their cities are scarcely less distinguished 
for the same class of manufactures. The woollen tissues of Spain were then the finest of the world, and not only supplied the 
demands of luxury at home, but were carried to other parts of Europe, to Africa, and all the countries of the Levant. 
But the splendid dominion of the Moors in Spain had early begun to be circumscribed by warlike enemies, and at length, in 
the course of ages, passed away. The Christians, under their Gothic leaders, emerging from their northern fastnesses, wrested 
back by slow degrees kingdom after kingdom; and after the lapse of 780 years of heroic struggles, unexampled in the history of 
mankind, Granada alone remained to the Moslem conquerors of all their rich dominions. This, too, fell after a gallant defence; 
the inhabitants being left by treaty in possession of their property and the exercise of their religion. The fall of Granada took 
place in 1492, by which time all the separate kingdoms of Spain had been united by conquest or inheritance in the persons of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, so that Spain once more became a kingdom; and the discovery of the New World, with its boundless 
treasures, seemed to render it at once the most powerful in Europe. 
But the seeds of decay had been sown along with the Christian triumphs. As one kingdom after another was wrested from 
the Moors, they were partitioned among the great seigniors, and the system of feudal vassalage was established in its worst form. 
The powers conferred on these warlike feudatories were alike in opposition to the rights of the people and the prerogatives of the 
executive power. The laws were disregarded by subjects so powerful, and tumults and conflicting jurisdictions destroyed the peace 
