The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 285
circumstance, that Constantine had been recently declared Em-
«!• pcror at York on the death of his father
O fortimate Britain, now the happiest country upon earth ; for thou hast been
the first to see Constantine made Emperor. It was fit that on thee Nature should
bestow every blessing of climate and of soil. Suffering neither from the excessive
severity of winter, nor the heat of sunmier, tliy harvests are so fruitful as to sup-
ply all the gifts both of Ceres and of Bacchus ; thy woods contain no savage
beasts, thy land no noxious serpents, but an iimmnerablo miUtitude of tame cattle,
distended with milk, and loaded with fleeces*.
The improvements in sheep-breeding which were first intro-
duced into England by the Belgians, appear to have been ad-
vanced still further by the Saxons.
The only country, which now remains to be sur^'eyed in re-
lation to the production of sheep's wool, is Spain ; and, as this
kingdom retains its pre-eminence at the present dayt, so we
find none, in which sheep-breeding was carried to a greater ex-
tent in ancient times.
Of all the countries in Europe, says Mr. Low, Spain has
been the longest distinguished for the excellence of its wool.
This fine country, more varied in its surface and natural pro-
ductions than any other region of the like extent in Europe,
produces a great variety of breeds of sheep, from the larger animals
of the richer plains, to the smaller races of the higher moun-
tains and arid country. Besides the difference produced in the
sheep of Spain by varieties of climate and natural productions
the diversity of character in the animals may be supposed to
have been increased by the different races introduced into it :
first, from Asia, by the early Phoenician colonies ; secondly,
from Africa by the Carthaginians, during their brief possession
thirdl}', from Italy by the Romans, during then dominion of
six hundred years ; and fourthly, again from Africa, by tho
Moors, who maintained a footing in the country for nearly eighl
centuries. The large sheep of the plains have long wool, often
» Panegyric! Veteres, ed. Cellarii, Hate Magd. 1703. pp. 147, 148.
+ For accounts of the state of sheep-breeding in modem Spain, including tho
annual migration of the flocks, which is conducted there as in Italy, the reader
is referred to " Travels through Portugal and Spain in 1772, 1773, by R. Twiss,'*
pp. 72-82 ; and to De la Borde's View of Spain, vol. iv. pp 45-61, English
Translation. London, 1809.
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