Page:Omniana 2.djvu/118

 reason for supposing that the breed of English sheep has deteriorated in this country since they were introduced into Spain, and therefore inferring that the merino is now, what the original stock was then, for the breed seems to have been more attended to by our ancestors than is generally supposed. R. B. the well-known compiler of little books for the people at the end of the 17th century, says, "the best and biggest bodied sheep in England are in the vale of Aylesbury, where it is nothing to give ten pounds or more for a breed-ram; so that should a foreigner hear the price thereof, he would guess that ram to be rather some Roman engine of batteryr [sic] than the creature commonly so called."

Can there possibly be any truth in the remark of Yepes, (T. 7, ff. 134,) who says, "daily experience shews us that if a lamb is suckled by a goat the wool becomes hard and hairy; and on the contrary, if a kid is suckled by a ewe the hair becomes soft."