56 
THE SHEEP. 
WOOL. 
tenth sheaf of all the corn of their demesnes, and the tenth fleece of wool, and the tenth lamb of their own stores, to be paid within two 
years. The clergy sometimes assisted him, as, on one occasion, by raising for him 20,000 sacks. When these woollen subsidies were 
to be levied, care likewise was used that the king’s market was not interfered with. Proclamation was sometimes made, “ that no 
person buy any wools before the king be served, whereunto all customers shall have an eye."* On one occasion, the king having 
resolved to export 20,000 sacks on his own account, his ready Parliament enacted that no man before that time should pass over 
any wool on pain of treble loss, life and member ! 
Such was the protection afforded to the woollen trade on the part of our earlier governments. By the increasing power of 
the people, the exactions of the prince were better resisted in the following reigns ; but yet we recognise little of just and liberal 
principles in the legislation of the times. Guilds and corporations with exclusive privileges were multiplied, and thus monopoly 
crept into all the departments of the woollen trade; foreigners were treated with jealousy and injustice; and restrictions were 
extended to every branch of the manufacture. Still, the woollen manufactures of the country continued to extend; but it 
was not until the more settled times of Heney VII. that cloth began to be exported in any quantity. But how little of this 
advancement was due to the wisdom of the laws, may be seen from the statutes, which were before and afterwards enacted. Cer¬ 
tain towns and districts were frequently allowed the exclusive privilege of manufacturing and selling certain kinds of goods. An 
act of Heney VIII. declares, that worsted yarn is the “ private commoditie” of the city of Norwich, and county of Norfolk ; and 
therefore enacts “ that none shall be transported, nor shipped to be transported, nor bought, nor caused to be bought, by any but 
weavers in the said city or county.” Another act recites, that “ the city of York afore this time hath been upholden principally by 
making and weaving coverlets, and that the same have not been made elsewhere in the said county till of late, that this manufac¬ 
ture had spread itself into other parts of the county, and was thereby debased and discredited;” and therefore ordains, “ That none 
shall make coverlets in Yorkshire but inhabitants of the city of York.” An act of the same prince revives certain older laws 
against enclosures, and another limits the number of Sheep which any one shall keep, on account, it is stated, of the rise in the 
price of victual and clothing. By an act of William and Maey, it is ordained that no clothier out of a burgh, market town, 
or corporate town, shall have above one loom ; that no weaver dwelling out of a city shall have above two looms ; that no weaver 
shall be either tucker, fuller, or dyer ; that no fuller or tucker shall keep a loom; that no person shall cause any white broad woollen 
cloths to be made but in a city, or where such cloths have been made for the space of ten years before; that no weaver dwelling 
out of a city shall have above two apprentices at one time; and that none shall set up weaving unless he have been apprentice to, 
or have exercised the same seven years, and so forth. Absurd as are these, and many more of the laws of the times, the woollen 
trade and manufacture had been continually extending; and, in the glorious reign of Elizabeth, became one of the main sources 
of national opulence and power. 
With the progressive increase, during the preceding reigns, of the foreign export trade in manufactured goods, the exporta¬ 
tion of raw wool had been gradually declining, and became continually less a means of supplying the wants of needy princes. 
Elizabeth, with a provident sagacity, did not prohibit the exportation of the raw material; and thus, while she supported the 
manufacturer, she encouraged the growth of native wool by suffering the growers to send their produce to the most suitable mar¬ 
kets. This wise policy had a happy effect; while events arose, in connexion with the melancholy history of other countries, 
which gave a new vigour to the manufacturing industry of England. 
Chaeles V. had succeeded, together with his other fair dominions, to the sovereignty of the Low Countries, then including 
the Dutch provinces. The doctrines of the Deformation, so well suited to the genius of a frugal and calculating people, 
had early made a silent progress in the country; but here, as elsewhere, the strength of authority was put forth to repress 
the spreading heresy. Civil grievances were added to religious quarrels. Chaeles lived to witness and deplore the growing 
discontent of his once faithful people; but it was reserved for his son and successor Philip II. to fan the embers of rebellion into 
flame, and complete the ruin of his rich and peaceful provinces. The people, who had been termed in contempt Geux, or beggars, 
by the minions of the Court, assumed, with bitter irony, the wallet and the staff as the ensign of their confederacy, and every 
where made head against their oppressors. A civil war ensued, rendered horrible by the merciless severity with which it was carried 
on; by the sacking of rich towns, and other excesses of mercenary soldiers; by confiscations and judicial murders. After a time, 
ten of the provinces remained subjugated, but seven achieved their independence, and became, under the name of the Seven United 
Provinces, or Republic of Holland, one of the most powerful nations of Europe. On the death of Philip in 1598, the subdued 
* Smith’s Memoirs of Wool. 
