Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/323

 circumstance, that Constantine had been recently declared Emperor at York on the death of his father:

O fortunate 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 summer, thy harvests are so fruitful as to supply all the gifts both of Ceres and of Bacchus; thy woods contain no savage beasts, thy land no noxious serpents, but an innumerable multitude of tame cattle, distended with milk, and loaded with fleeces.

The improvements in sheep-breeding which were first introduced into England by the Belgians, appear to have been advanced still further by the Saxons.

The only country, which now remains to be surveyed in relation to the production of sheep's wool, is Spain; and, as this kingdom retains its pre-eminence at the present day, so we find none, in which sheep-breeding was carried to a greater extent 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 productions 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 mountains 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 Phœnician colonies; secondly, from Africa by the Carthaginians, during their brief possession; thirdly, from Italy by the Romans, during their dominion of six hundred years; and fourthly, again from Africa, by the Moors, who maintained a footing in the country for nearly eight centuries. The large sheep of the plains have long wool, often