that there was neuer white sheepe bred in those Countries In Gortynis their Sheepe are red and haue foure hornes In the fortunate Islands of the red-sea all their Sheepe are white and none of them haue crooked hornes In Beotia there are foure Riuers which worke strange effects vpon Sheepe after they drinke of them namely Melas Cephisus Penius and Xanthus The Sheep drinking of Melas and Penius grow black of Cephisus white and yet Pliny saith that this Riuer commeth forth from the same fountaine that Melas doth They which drinke of Xanthus grow red I might adde hereunto another speciall obseruation of difference betwixt the Sheepe of Pontus and Naxus for in Pontus they haue no gaule and in Naxus they haue two gaules In some parts of India their Sheepe and Goates are as big as Asses and bring forth 4. Lambes at a time but neuer lesse then three both Sheepe and Goates The length of their tailes reacheth downe to their hinder Legs and therefore the shepheardes cut them off by the secrets to the intent that they may better suffer copulation and out of them being so cut off they expresse certaine oile also they cut asunder the tailes of the Rams the ends whereof do afterwards close so nearely and naturally together that there appeareth not any scar or note of the section In Syria and India the tailes of their Sheepe are a cubit broad There are two kinde of sheepe in Arabia which are distinguished by the length and breadth of their tailes the one sort haue tailes three cubits long by reason whereof they are not suffered to draw them on the ground for feare of wounding and therefore the shephards deuise certaine engins of wood to support them the other kind of sheep haue tailes like the Syrian sheepe Al sheepe that liue in hot and dry regions haue larger tailes and harsher wooll but those that liue in the moyst regions and fault places haue softer wooll and shorter tailes There were two of the Arabian Sheepe brought into England about the yeare 1560. whose pictures were taken by Docter Cay and therefore I haue expressed them in the page following with their description The Arabian sheepe with a broad taile The Arabian sheepe with a long taile The description of the Arabian sheepe THis Arabian sheep said he is a little bigger then our vulgar sheepe in Enland but of the same wooll figure of body and colour onely the shins forepart of their face are a litle red the broad tail in the top was one cubit but lower it was narrower and like the end of a vulgar sheepes tayle They being brought on ship-board into England were taught thorough famine and hunger to eat not onely grasse and hay but flesh fish bread cheese and butter Heroditus saith that such kind of sheepe are no where found but in Arabia the longe-tailed sheepe he calleth Macrokercos and the broad tailed sheepe Plateukercos yet Leo Afer saith that these are of the Affrican sheepe for thus he writeth His arietibus nullū ab alijs discrimien est praeter quam in cauda quā latissimā circū ferunt quae cuique quo opinior est crassior obtigit ad eo vt nonnullis libras decem aut vigintipendat cū sua sponte impinguantur There is no difference betwixt these Rams and other except in their broad tail which euermore as it growes in fatnes groweth in bredth for if they fat of their owne accord it hath bin found that the taile of one of these sheepe haue weighed ten or twenty pound and not onely there but also in Egypt where they cram and feede theyr sheepe with Barly Corne and Bran by which meanes they growe so fatte that they are notable to stirre themselues so that their keepers are forced to deuise little engines like childrens cares whereupon they lay their tailes when they remoue their beasts and the same Leo Afer affirmeth that he saw in Egypt in a towne called Asiota standing vpon Nilus a hundred and fifty mile from Alcair a taile of one of these sheepe that weyghed fourscore pound and whilst he wondred at it scarcely beleeuing that which his eies saw there were some present that affirmed it to be an ordinary thing for they said according as he writeth Se vidisse quae semi ducentes libras expendissent That is they had seene some of them waigh a hundred pounds and except in the kingdome of Tunis in Africk and Egypt there are none such to be found in all the world and by it it appeareth that all the fatte of their bodies goeth into their tailes Among the Garamants their sheepe eate flesh and milke and it is not to be forgotten which Aristotle Dionisius Afer and Varro doe write namely that all sheepe were once wild and that the tame sheepe which now we haue are deriued from those wild sheepe as our tame goats from wild goats and therefore Varro saith Flockes of wilde sheepe that in his daies in Phrigia there were flockes of wild sheepe whereof as out of Africk the Region of the Gadits there were annually brought to Rome both males and females of strange and admirable colours and that his great Vncle bought diuers of them and made them tame But it appeareth that these wilde sheepe or Rams were Musmons of which we shall discourse afterwards For wild sheepe are greater then the tame sheep being swifter to run stronger to fight hauing more croked and piked hornes therefore many times fight with wilde Boares and kill them The Subus doth also appeare to be a kind of wild sheepe Oppianus for after that Oppianus had discoursed of the sheep of Creete he falleth to make mention of the Subus which he saith is of a very bright yellow colour like the sheepe of Creete but the wooll thereof is not so rough it hath two large hornes vpon the forehead liuing both on the water and on the land eating fish which in admiration of it in the water gather about it are deuoured as we shall shew afterwards in his due place The Colus also spoken of before called Snake seemeth to be of this kind for it is in quantity betwixt a sheep and a Hart. It hath no wooll and when it is hunted the hunters vse neither dogs nor other beasts to take it but terrifie it with ringing of little bels at the sound whereof it runneth to and fro distracted and so is taken And thus much I thought good to expresse before the generall nature of sheepe of the diuers and strange kinds in other nations that so the studious Reader may admire the wonderfull workes of God as in all beasts so in this to whom in holy Scripture he hath compared both his Sonne his Saints and for as much as their story to be mingled with the others would haue been exorbitant and farre different from the common nature of vulgar sheepe and so to haue beene mixed amongest them might haue confounded the Reader It was much
but naturally through their food or their drinke or the operation of the aire The Lauoditian wooll is also celebrated not onely for the softnesse of it but for the colour for that it is as blacke as any Rauen and yet there are some there of other colours and for this cause the Spanish wooll is commended especially Turditania and Coraxi as Strabo writeth for hee saith the glasse of the wooll was not onely beautifull for the purity of the blacke but also it will spin out into so thin a thread as was admirable and therefore in his time they sold a ram of that countrey for a tallent I may speake also of the wooll of Parma and Altinum whereof Martiall made this disticon Velleribus primis apulia Parma secundis Nobilis altinum tertia laudat ouis We may also read how for the ornament of wooll there haue bin diuers colours inuented by art and the colours haue giuen names to the wool as Simatulis lana wooll of Sea-water-colour some colour taken from an Amethist stone some from brightnesse or clearnesse some from Saffron some from Roses from Mirtles from Nuts from Almonds from Waxe from the Crow as Colorcoraxicus and from the purple fish as from the Colassiue or the Tyrean whereof Virgill writeth thus Hae quoque non cura nobis leuiore tuendae Nec minor vsus erit quamuis Milesia magno Vellera mutentur tyries in cocta rubores From hence commeth the chalke colour the Lettice colour the Loote-tree-root the red colour the Azure colour and the star-colour There is an Hearb called Fullers-herb which doth soften wooll and make it apt to take colour and whereas generally there are but two colours black and white that are simple the ancients not knoing how to die wool did paint it on the outside for the triumphing garments in Homer wore painted garments The Phrigian garments were colours wrought with needle-worke and there was one Attalus a King in Asia which did first of all inuent the weauing of wooll and gold together whereupon came the name of Vestis Attalica for a garment of cloath of gold The Babilonians and the Alexandrians loued diuersity of colours in their garments also and therefore Mettellus Scipto made a law of death against all such as should buy a Babilonish garment that was carpets or beddes to eate vpon for eight hundered Cesterses The shearing of cloth or garments made of shorne cloth did first of all begin in the daies of S. Augustine as Fenistella writeth The garments like poppies had the original before the time of Lucilius the Poet as he maketh mention in Tarquatus There was a fashion in ancient time among the Romans that adistaffe with wooll vpon it The lasting of wooll was carried after virgins when they were going to be married the reason therof was this as Varro writeth for that there was one Tanaquilis or Cayea cecilia whose distaffe and wooll had endured in the Temple of Sangi many hundered yeares and that Seruius Tullus made him a cloke of that wooll which he neuer vsed but in the temple of Fortune and that that garment afterwards continued fiue 500 60. years being neither consumed by moaths nor yet growing thread-bare to the great admiration of all which either saw it or heard of it And thus much I thought good to adde in this place concerning the diuersity of wooll distinguished naturally according to seuerall regions or else artificially after sundry tinctures Likewise of the mixing and mingling of Wooll one with another and diuersities of garmentes and lastly of the lasting and enduring of wooll and garments for it ought to be no wonder vnto a reasonable man that a wollen garment not eaten by mothes nor worne out by vse should last many hundered yeares for seeing it is not of any cold or earthly nature but hot and dry there is good cause why it should remaine long without putrification and thus much instead of many things for the wooll of sheepe As we haue heard of the manifold vse of the Wooll of Sheepe so may we say very much of the skins of Sheep for garments and other vses and therefore when the wool is detracted and pulled off from them The vsâ— of â—â—â—ep-skins they are applyed to Buskins Brest-plates Shooes Gloues Stomachers and other vses for they are also dyed and changed by tincture into other colours also when the wool is taken off from them they dresse them very smooth and stretch them verye thin whereof is made writing parchment such as is commonly vsed at this day in England and I haue knowne it practised at Tocetour called once Tripontium in the county of Northampton and if any part of it will not stretch but remaine stiffe and thicke thereof they make writing tables whereon they write with a pensil of iron or Brasse and afterward deface and race it out againe with a spunge or linnen cloath Here of also I mean the skins of sheep commeth the coueringes of bookes and if at any time they be hard stubborne and stiffe then they soften it with the sheepes-sewet or tallow The bones of Sheep haue also their vse and employment for the hafting of knifes The Rhaetians of the vrine of sheep do make a kind of counterfeit of Nitre And Russius saith that if a man would change any part of his Horses haire as on the forehead take away the black haires and put them into white let him take a linnen cloth and wet it in boyling milk of sheep and put it so whot vpon the place that he would haue changed so oftentimes together til the haire come off with a little rubbing afterward let him wet the same cloth in cold sheeps milke and lay it to the place two or three daies together and the haire will arise very white thus saith he and there are certain flyes or mothes which are very hurtfull to gardens if a man hang vp the panch of a sheepe and leaue for them a passage or hole into it they will all forsake the flowers and hearbs and gather into that ventrickle which being done two or three times together make a quit riddance of all their hurts if you please to make an end of them Ruellius The Swallowes take off from the backes of Sheepe flockes of Wooll wherewithal the prouident Birds do make their nestes to lodge their young ones after they bee hatched With the dung of Sheepe they compasse and fat the earth Of the dung of sheepe it beeing excellent and aboue all other dung necessary for the benifit and encrease of Corne except Pigeons and Hens dung which is whotter and the sandy land is fittest be amended with Sheeps dung also piants and trees if you mingle therewith ashes Now we are to proceed to the gentle disposition of Sheep and to expresse their inward quallities and morall vses The inward qualities of sheepe and their moral vses Hermolaus and first of all considering the innocency of this beast I maruaile
of conies standing betwixt corsica and Sardinia For their seueral parts they are most like vnto a Hare except in their head and taile which is shorter and their colour which is alway brighter Agricola Aelianus The vse of their skinnes crescennensis and lesse browne and sandy or else sometimes conies are white black gryseld tauny blewish yellow-spotted ash-coloured and such like And Alysius saith that in some places they are also greene and their skinnes are of great vse through the world especially in all the North and East for garments facings and linings The gray and yellowish are the worst but the white and blacke are more pretious especially of the English if the blacke be aspersed with some white or siluer haires and in their vse the Buckes are most durable yet heauier and harsher The belly is most soft gentle easie therfore more set by The vse of their flesh Pliny although of lesse continuance Their flesh is very white and sweet especially of the young ones being about fourteen or twenty daies olde and some haue deuised a cruell delicate meat which is to cut the yong ones out of the dams belly and so to dresse and eat them but I trust there is no man among christians so inhumanely gluttonous as once to deuise or approue the sweetnes of so foule a dish but the tame ones are not so good for in Spaine they will not eat of a tame cony because euery creature doth partake in tast of the ayre wherein he liueth and therfore tame conies which are kept in a close and vnsweet ayre by reason of their owne excrementes cannot tast so well or be so wholesome as those which run wilde in the mountaines and fields free from all infection of euill ayre They loue aboue all places the rockes and make Dennes in the earth The places of their abod and whereas it is said Psal 104. that the stony rocks are for the cony it is not to be vnderstood as though the feet of the cony could pierce into the rocke as into the earth and that she diggeth hir hole therein as in looser ground but that finding among the rocks holes already framed to her hand or else some light earth mingled therewith she more willingly entreth thereinto as being more free from raine floods then in lower and softer ground for this cause they loue also the hils and lower grounds and woods where are no rocks as in England which is not a rocky countrey but wheresoeuer she is forced to liue there she diggeth hit-holes wherein for the daytime she abideth but morning euening commeth out from thence and sitteth at the mouth thereof In their copulation they engender like Elephants Tigres and Linxes that is Their copulation and procreation Tho. Gypson the male leapeth on the backe of the female their priuy parts being so framed to meet one another behind because the females do render their vrine backward their secrets and the seed of the male are very small They begin to breed in some countryes being but sixe moneths old but in England at a yeare old and so continue bearing euery moneth at the least seuen times in one yeare if they litter in March but in the winter they do not engender at al and therefore the authors say of these and Hares that they abound in procreation by reason whereof a little store wil serue to encrease a great borough Their young being littered are blind and see not til they be 9. dayes old and their dam hath no suck for them til she hath bene six or seauen houres with the male Tho. Gypson at the least for sixe houres after she cannot suckle them greatly desiring to go to the Bucke and if she be not permitted presently shee is so farre displeased that she wil not be so inclined againe for 14. daies after I haue bin also credibly informed by one that kept tame conies that he had Does which littered three at a time and within fourteene daies after they littered foure more Their ordinary number in one litter is fiue and sometimes nine but neuer aboue and I haue seene that when a Doe hath had nine in her belly two or three of them haue perished and bene oppressed in the wombe by suffocation The males will kill the young ones if they come at them like as the Bore-cats and therefore the female doth also auoid it carefully The cruelty of the males and of some females couering the nest or litter with grauell or earth that so they may not be discouered there are also some of their females very vnnaturall not caring for their yong ones but suffer them to perish both because they neuer prouide a warme littour or nest for them as also because they forsake them being littered or else deuoure them For the remedy of this euill he that loueth to keepe them for his profit must take them before they be deliuered and pull off the haire or flesh vnderneath their belly and so put it vpon their nest that when the young one commeth forth it may not perish for cold and so the dam will be taught by experience of paine to do the like herselfe Thus farre Thomas Gypson an English physitian For Conies you may giue them Vine-leaues Fruits Herbes Grasse Bran Their meat and food Oatmell Mallowes the parings of Apples likewise Cabadges Apples themselues and Lettuce and I my selfe gaue to a cony blew wolfe-baine which she did presently eat with out hurt but Gallingale and blind Nettle they will not eat In the winter they wil eat hay the danger in their meat drinke oats and chaffe being giuen to them thrice a day when they eat greenes they must not drinke at all for if they do it is hazzard but they will incurre the Dropsie and at other times they must for the same cause drink but litle and that little must be alway fresh It is also dangerous to handle their yong ones in the absence of the dam for hir iealousie will easily perceiue it which causeth her so to disdain thē that either she biteth forsaketh or killeth them Foxes wil of their own acord hunt both Hares conies to kil and eat them Albertus the medicins in a Cony Touching their medicinall properties it is to be obserued that the brain of conies hath bin eaten for a good Antidot against poyson so also the Hart which is hard to be disgested hath the same operation that is in triacle There is also an approued medicine for the Squinancy or Quinsie take a liue cony burn her in an earthen pot to pouder then take a spoonful of that pouder in a draught of wine and drink the most part thereof and rubbe your throat with the residue and it shal cure with speed and ease as Marcellus saith The fat is good against the stopping of the bladder and difficulty of vrine being anointed at a fire vpon the hairy place of the
to the right hand or yealding toward the left In making mencion of fowles my meaning is of the Patridge and the Qâ—aile when he hath found the bird he keepeth sure and fast silence he stâ—ieth his steps and wil proceede no further and with a close couert watching eie layeth his belly to the ground and so creepeth forward like a worme When he approcheth neere to the place where the bird is he lies him down and with a marke of his pawes betrayeth the place of the birds last abode wherby it is supposed that this kind of dog is called Index Setter being indeede a name most consonant agreeable to his quality The place being knowne by the meanes of the Dog the fowler immediatly openeth and spreedeth his net intending to take them which being done the dog at the customed becke or vsuall signe of his Maister riseth vp by and by and draweth neerer to the fowle that by his presence they might be the authors of their own insnaring and be ready intangled in the prepared net which cunning and artificiall indeuor in a dog being a creature domesticall or houshold seruant brought vp at home with offals of the â—rencher and fragments of victuals is not so much to be marueiled at seeing that a Hare being a wild and skippish beast was seene in England to the astonishment of the beholders in the yeare of our Lorde God 1564. not only dauncing in measure but playing with his former feete vpon a tabberet and obseruing iust number of strokes as a practitioner in that Art besides that nipping and pinching a dog with his teeth and clawes and cruelly thumping him with the force of his feete This is no trumpery tale nor trifle toy as I imagine and therefore not vnworthy to be reported for I recken it a requital of my trauaile not to drowne in the seas of silence any speciall thing wherein the prouidence and effectuall working of nature is to be pondered Of the Dog called the water Spaniell or finder in Latine Aquaticus seu Inquisitor THat kind of dog whose seruice is required in fowling vpon the water partly through a naturall towardnes and partly by diligent teaching is indued with that property This sorte is somewhat big and of a measurable greatnes hauing long rough and curled haire not obtained by extraordinary trades but giuen by natures appointment yet neuerthelesse friend Gesner I haue described and set him out in this manner namely powled and notted from the shoulders to the hindermost legs and to the end of his taile which I did for vse and customs cause that being as it were made somewhat bare and naked by shearing off such superfluity of haire they might atchiue the more lightnesse and swiftnes and be lesse hindred in swimming so troublesome and needelesse a burthen being shaken off This kind of dog is properly called Aquaticus a water spaniel because he frequenteth and hath vsuall recourse to the water where al his game lyeth namely water fowles which are taken by the help and seruice of them in their kind And principally ducks and drakes whereupon he is likewise named a dog for the duck because in that quality he is excellent With these Dogs also we fetch out of the water such fowle as be stounge to death by any venemous Worme we vse them also to bring vs our boultes and arrowes out of the Water missing our marke whereat we directed our leuell which otherwise we should hardly recouer and oftentimes they restore to vs our shaftes which wee thought neuer to see touch or handle againe after they were lost for which circumstaunces they are called Inquisâ—tores searchers and finders Although the Ducke otherwhiles notably deceiueth both the Dog and the Maister by dyuing vnder the Water and also by naturall subtilty for iâ— any man shall approch to the place where they builde breede and sit the hennes goe out of their neasts offering themselues voluntarily to the handes as it were of such as drawe neere their neastes And a certaine weakenesse of their Wings pretended and infirmity of their feet dissembled they goe slowly and so leasurely that to a mans thinking it were no maisteries to take them By which deceiptfull tricke they doe as it were entise and allure men to follow them til they be drawn a long distance from their nestes which being compassed by their prouident cunning or cunning prouidence they cutte of all inconueniences which might grow of their returne by vsing many careful and curious caueats least their often hunting bewray the place where the young duklings be hatched Great therefore is their desire and earnest is their study to take heede not only to their brood but also to themselus For when they haue an inkling that they are espied they hide themselues vnder turfes or sedges wherewith they couer and shroud themselues so closely and so craftely that notwithstanding the place where they lurk be found and prefectly perceiued there they will harbor without harme except the water spaniel by quick smelling discouer their deceiptes Of the Dogge called the Fisher in Latine Canis Piscator THe Dog called the fisher whereof Hector Boethus writeth which seeketh for fish by smelling among rockes and stones assuredly I know none of that kind in England neither haue I receiued by report that there is any such albeit I haue beene diligent and busie in demaunding the question as well of fishermen as also of hunts-men in that behalfe being carefull and earnest to learne and vnderstand of them if any such were except you hold opinion that the Beauer or Otter is a fish as many haue beleeued and according to their beleefe affirmed as the bird Pupine is thought to be a fish and so accounted But that kinde of Dog which followeth the fish to apprehend and take it if there be any of that disposition and property whether they do this thing for the game of hunting or for the heate of hunger as other Dogs doe which rather then they will be famished for want of foode couet the carcases of carrion and putrified flesh When I am fully resolued and disburthened of this doubt I will send you certificate in writing In the meane season I am not ignorant of that both Aelianus and Aelius call the Beauer kunapotamion a water dog or a Dog-fish I know likewise thus much more that the Beauer doth participate this propertie with the dog namely that when fishes be scarce they leaue the water and range vp and downe the land making an insatiable slaughter of young lambes vntill their paunches be replenished and when they haue fed themselues full of flesh then returne they to the water from whence they came But albeit so much be granted that this Beauer is a Dog yet it is to be noted that we recken it not in the beadrow of English Dogs as we haue done the rest The sea Calfe in like manner which our contry men for breuity sake cal a Seele other more largely name a Sea
Vele maketh a spoile of fishes betweene rockes and banckes but it is not accounted in the catalogue or number of our English Dogs notwithstanding we call it by the name of a sea Dog or a sea-Calfe And thus much for our Dogs of the second sort called in Latine Aucupatorij seruing to take fowle either by land or water Of the delicate neate and pretty kind of dogges called the Spaniell gentle or the comforter in Latine Melitaeus or Fotor THere is besides those which wee haue already deliuered another sort of gentle dogs in this our English soile but exempted from the order of the residue the Dogs of this kind doth Callimachus call Melitaeos of the Iseland Melita in the sea of Sicily which at this day is named Malta an Iseland indeede famous and renowned with couragious and puisaunt souldiers valliantly fighting vnder the banner of Christ their vnconquerable captaine where this kind of dogs had their principall beginning These dogs are little pretty proper and fine and sought for to satifie the delicatenes of dainty dames and wanton womens wils instruments of folly for them to playe and dally withall to tryfle away the treasure of time withdraw their mindes from more commendable exercises and to content their corrupted concupiscences with vaine disport A selly shift to shunne yrkesome idlenesse These puppies the smaller they be the more pleasure they prouoke as more meete play-fellowes for minsing mistrisses to beare in their bosomes to keepe company withal in their chambers to succour with sleep in bed and nourish with meate at bourde to lay in their lappes and licke their lips as they ride in their Waggons and good reason it should be so for coursenesse with finenesse hath no fellowship but featnesse with neatnesse hath neighbourhood enough That plauâ—ible prouerbe verified vpon a Tyrant namely that he loued his Sow better then his son may well be applyed to these kind of people who delight more in Dogs that are depriued of all possibility of reason then they do in children that be capeable of wisedome and iudgment But this abuse peraduenture raigneth where there hath beene long lacke of issue or else where barrennes is the best blossom of beauty The vertue which remaineth in the Spaniel gentle otherwise called the comforter NOtwithstanding many make much of those pritty puppies called Spanyels gentle yet if the question were demaunded what property in them they spye which should make them so acceptable and precious in their sight I doubt their answer would belong a coyning But seeing it was our intent to trauaile in this treatise so that the reader might reape some benefit by his reading we will communicate vnto such coniectures as are grounded vpon reason And though some suppose that such dogs are fit for no seruice I dare say by their leaues they be in a wrong boxe Among all other qualities therefore of nature which be knowne for some conditions are couered with continuall and thick clouds that the eie of our capacities cannot pearse through theÌ„ we find that these litle dogs are good to asâ—wage the sicknes of the stomack being oftentimes thereunto applied as a plaster preseruatiue or borne in the bosom of the diseased and weake person which effect is performed by their moderate heat Moreouer the disease and sicknes changeth his place and entreth though it be not precisely marked into the dog which to bee truth experience can testifie for these kind of dogs sometime fall sicke and sometime die without any harme outwardly inforced which is an argument that the disease of the gentleman or gentlewoman or owner whatsoeuer entreth into the dog by the operation of heare intermingled and infected And thus haue I hetherto handled dogs of a gentle kind whom I haue comprehended in a triple diuision Now it remaineth that I annex in due order such dogs as be of a more homely kind Dogges of a course kind seruing for many necessary vses called in Latine Canis rustici and first of the Shepherds dog called in Latine Canis Pastoralis THe first kind namely the shepherds hound is very necessary and profitable for the auoyding of harmes and inconueniences which may come to men by the meanes of beastes The second sort serue to succour against the snares and attemptes of mischieuous men Our shepherds dog is not huge vaste and big but of an indifferent stature and growth because it hath not to deale with the blood thirsty wolfe sythence there be none in England which happy and fortunate benefit is to be ascribed to the puisaunt Prince Edgar who to the intent that the whole countrey might be euacuated and quite cleered from wolfes charged and commaunded the Welshmen who were pestered with these butcherly beasts aboue measure to pay him yearely tribute which was note the wisedome of the king three hundred Wolfes Some there be which write that Ludwall Prince of Wales paid yeerely to king Edgar three hundred wolfes in the name of an exaction as we haue said before And that by the meanes hereof within the compasse and tearme of foure years none of those noysome and pestilent beastes were left in the coastes of England and Wales This Edgar wore the crowne royall and bare the Scepter imperiall of this kingdome about the yeare of our Lord nine hundred fifty nine Since which time we reade that no Wolfe hath beene seene in England bred within the bounds and borders of this country mary there haue beene diuers brought ouer from beyond the seas for greedines of gaine and to make money for gasing and gaping staring and standing to see them being a strange beast rare and seldome seene in England But to returne to our shepherds Dog This dog either at the hearing of his maisters voice or at the wagging and whisteling in his fist or at his sâ—rill and horse hissing bringeth the wandering weathers and straying sheepe into the selfe same place where his maisters will and wish is to haue them wherby the shepherd reapeth this benefit namely that with little labour and no toyle or mouing of his feete he may rule and guide his flock according to his own desire either to haue them go forward or to stand still or to draw backward or to turne this way or take that way For it is not in England as it is in France as it is in Flaunders as it is in Syria as it is in Tartaria where the sheepe follow the shepherd for heere in our Countrey the shepherd followeth the sheepe And sometimes the straying sheepe when no Dog runneth before them nor goeth about and beside them gather themselues together in a flock when they heere the shepherd whistle in his fist for feare of the dog as I imagine remembring this if vnreasonable creatures may be reported to haue memory that the Dog commonly runneth out at his maisters warrant which is his whistle This haue we oftentimes diligently marked in taking our iourney from towne to towne when we haue hard a shepherd whistle we
better in my opinion to expresse them altogether so to proceede to the particular nature of vulgar sheepe And first of all the description of their outward parts The seuerall parts of sheep the sheepe ought to be of a large body that so their wooll may be the more which ought to be soft deepe and rough especially about the necke shoulders and belly and those that were not so the auntient Graetians called Apokoi the Latins Apicae that is peild sheepe for want of wooll which alwaies they did reiect as vnprofitable for their flockes for there is no better signe as Pliny saith of an acceptable breede of sheepe Quam crurium breuitas ventris vestitus The shortnesse of the legs and a belly well cloathed with wooll The female is to be admitted to the male after two yeares old Till they are fiue yeare old they are acounted young and after seuen vnprofitable for breed In your choise of sheep euermore take those which are rough with wooll euen to their eies without any baulde place vpon them and those females which beare not at two yeare olde vtterly refuse auoid likewise party colored or spotted sheep but choose them that haue great eies large tails strong legs let them be yong also of breed Nam melior est ea aetas quā sequitur spes quā ea quā sequitur mors probata est progenies si agnos solent procreare formosos saith Petrus Crescen that is that age is better which hope followeth then that which death followeth and it is a good breed of sheepe which bringeth forth beautiful Lambs And concerning their wooll it is to be obserued that the soft wool is not alwaies the best except it be thicke withal for Hares haue soft but thin wool and in sheepe it ought to be contrary and therefore the most fearefull haue the softest haire the sheepe of Scythia in the cold countries haue soft wooll but in Sauromatia they haue hard wool Florentinus prescribeth that the fine wool of a sheepe is not curled but standeth vpright for hee saith that curled wooll is easily corrupted or falsified The head of the sheepe is very weake and his braine not fat the hornes of the female are weake if they haue any at al for in many places they haue none like Hinds and in England there are both males and females that want hornes And againe the Rams of England haue greater hornes then any other Rams in the worlde and sometimes they haue foure or six hornes on their head as hath bin often seene In Affricke their male-sheepe or Rams are yeaned with hornes and also their females and in Pontus neither males nor females haue euer any hornes Their eies ought to be great and of a waterish colour and all beasts that want handes haue their eies standing farre distant on their heads especially sheepe because they had neede to looke on both sides and because they are of a simple and harmelesse disposition as we shall shew afterwards for the little eie such as is in Lyons and Panthers betoken craft and cruelty but the great eie simplicity and innocency Their teeth stand in one continued row or bone as in a horse but in the vper chap there are no foreteeth the male hauing more teeth then the female There be some that write that Virgill calleth sheepe Bidentes because they haue but two teeth but they doe it ignorantly for we may read in Seruius Nigidius and Nonius that Boares are called Bidentes and al beasts of two years old for they were first of all called Bidennes quasi Biennes by interposition of the letter D. according to other words as we do not say reire but redire nor reamare but redamare nor reargure but redargure and so Bidennis for Biennis because sacrifices were woont to bee made of sheepe when they were two yeares old If euer it happen that a sheepe hath but two teeth it is helde for a monster and therefore a sheep is called Ambidens and Bidens because he hath teeth both aboue and beneath The belly of a sheepe is like the bellie of a beast that chew the cud The milke proceedeth from the ventricle or maw The stones hang downe to the hinder legs The females haue their vdders betwixt their thighes like to Goats and Cowes some of them haue galles according to the ordinary custome of nature and some of them haue none at al for in Pontus where by reason they eat worme-wood they haue no gal Likewise in Calsis some we haue shewd haue two gals and the Scithian sheep haue gals at one time and not at another as Aelianus writeth for he saith in the verie cold Countries when snow and winter covereth the earth there sheepe haue no gals because they keepe within dores and vse no change of meat but in the summer when they go abroad againe to feed in the fields they are replenished with gals There is a Region in Asia called Scepsis wherein they say their sheepe haue little or no melts The raines of a sheepe are equal and there is no beast that hath them couered with fat like vnto it Sheepe are also apt to grow exceeding fat for in the yeare 1547. there was a fat sheepe giuen to the king of France in Pickardy whereof the inward hooues or cloues of his forefeet were growne to be as long as 8. fingers are broad the toppes whereof were recurued backward like the hornes of a wilde goat Concerning their tailes we haue spoken already for the vulgar sheep haue hairy tailes like Foxes and wolues And thus much shall suffice to haue spoken of their seuerall parts In the next place we are to consider the food and diet of sheepe and then their inclination The food of sheepe and institution of shepheardes and the vtility that ariseth by them and lastly the seueral diseases with their medicins and cures It is therefore to be remembred that the auncients appointed Sheapheardes to attend their flockes and there was none of great account but they were called sheapheardes or Neat-heardes or Goat-heardes that is Bucolisi Opiliones and Aepoli as we haue shewd already in the story of Goats and the Gentiles do report that the knowledge of feeding of Oxen and sheepe came first of all from the Nimphes who taught Aristaeus in the Island of Co. The Graecians therefore call a shepheard Poimem that is a feeder of Poimanaime to feed and the poets also vse Poimantor for a shepherd and the shepheards Dogs that keepe the flocke from the wolfe Pominitay kunes for the sheep being not kept well be ouercome by the Wolues according to the saying of Virgill Nam lupus insidias exptorat ouillia circum And Ouid likewise saith Incustoditum captat ouile Lupus The whole care therefore of the shepheard must be first for their foode secondly for their folde and thirdly for their health that so he may raise a profitable gaine either to himselfe or to him that oweth the
two or three together for the disease is not so powerfull in a few as in a multitude and be well assured that this remouing of the aire and feeding is the best phisicke Some do prescribe three-leaued-grasse the hardest roots of reeds Sand of the Mountaine and such other Hearbs for the remedy of this but herein I can promise nothing certain only the sheapheard ought oftentimes to giue this vnto his sheepe when they are sound I wil conclude therefore this discourse of the pestilence with the description of Virgil Balatu pecorum crebris mugitibus amnes Arentesque sonant ripae collesque supini Iamque cateruatim dat stragem atque aggerat ipsis In stabulis turpi dilapsa cadauera tabo Donec humo tegere ac foueis abscondere discunt Nam neque erat corijs vsus nec viscera quisquam Aut vndis abolere potest aut vincere stamma Nec tondere quidem morbo illuvieque peresa Vellera nectelas possunt attingere putres Verum etiam inuisos si quis tentarat amictus Ardentes papulae atque immundus olentia sudor Membra sequebatur nec longo deinde moranti Tempore contactos artus sacer ignis edebat It is reported by Iohn Stowe that in the third yeare of Edward the first and in Anno 1275. there was a rich man of Fraunce that brought a sheepe out of Spaine that was as great as a calfe of two yeare olde into Northumberland and that the same sheepe fell rotten or to be infected with the Pestilence which afterward infected almost all the sheepe of England and before that time the pestilence or rottennesse was not knowne in England but then it tooke such hold and wrought such effects as it neuer was cleare since and that first Pestilence gaue good occasion to be remembred for it continued for twentie and sixe yeares together And thus much for this disease of the Pestilence caused in England for the most part in moist and wet yeares Of Lice and Tikes IF either Lice or Tikes doe molest sheepe take the roote of a Maple tree beate the same into powder and seeth it in water afterwards clip off the wooll from the backe of the sheepe and poure the said water vpon the backe vntill it hath compassed the whole body some vse for this purpose the roote of Mandragora and some the rootes of Cypresse and I find by good Authors that all of them are equiuolent to rid the sheep from these anoyances to conclude therfore the discourse of sheeps diseases it is good to plant neare the sheepe-coates and pastures of sheepe the hearbe Alysson or wilde gallow-grasse for it is very wholesome for Goates and sheepe likewise the flowers of worme-wood dryed and beaten to powder giuen vnto sheep with salt doth asswage all inward diseases and paines and also purge them throughly The Iuice of Centorie is very profitable for the inward diseases of sheepe likewise the flowers of Iuey the hoome tree hath foure kinds of fruite two proper the nut and the grraine two improper the line and hiphear this hipheare is very profiâ—able for sheep and it is nothing else but a confection made out of the barks of the hoome-tree the word itselfe is an Arcadian word signifying no other thing then viscus and stelis Sheep also delight in the braunches of maiden-haire and generally the wooll of sheepe burned to powder and giuen them to drinke is very profitable for al their inward diseâ—ses And thus much shall suffice to haue spoken of the seuerall infirmities and sicknesses of sheepe which I desire the English Reader to take in good part wondering very much at the many fold wits and stirring pens of these daies wherein I thinke our times may be compared to the most flourishing times that euer were since the worlds beginning yet none haue aduentured to apply their times and wits for the explication of the seuerall sickenesses of sheepe and cattell I know there are many Noble men Knights and Gentlemen of the land and those also which are very learned that are great masters of sheepe and cattell and I may say of them as the Prophet Dauid saith Their Oxen are strong to labor and their sheepe bringeth forth thousands and ten thousands in their fieldes Whereby they are greatly inritched and yet not one of them haue had so much commisseration either towards the poore cattell in whose garments they are warmed or charitie to the world For the better direction to maintaine the health of these creatures as to publish any thing in writing for the benefite of Adams children but such knowledge must rest in the brests of siâ—ly Shepheards and for the masters either they know nothing or els in strange visitation and mortalitie of their cattell they ascribe that to witchcraft and the diuell which is peculiar to the worke of nature Horses Dogs and almost euery creature haue gotten fauour in Gentlemens wits to haue their natures described but the silly sheepe better euery way then they and more necessary for life could neuer attaine such kindnesse as once to get one page written or indighted for the safegard of their natures I do therfore by these presence from my soule and spirit inuite all Gentlmen and men of learning not onely to giue their mindes to know the defects of this beast but also to inuent the best remedies that nature can afford for it is a token of highest mercy vnto bruite beasts to feede them when they are hungry and to recouer them when they are sicke Columella and Varro two great Romanes and such as had attained to some of the greatest place of the Common-wealth being men of excellent wits and capacitie yet had their names been forgotten they neuer remembred if they had not written of rustick and countrey matters and it is no little honor vnto them to haue left that behind them in Print or writing which themselues had obserued from following the plough Therefore it shal be no disgrace for any man of what worth soeuer to bestow his wits vpon the sheep for certainely it is no lesse worthy of his wit then it is of his teeth and how necessarie it is for the nourishment of man we all know to this daye and besides there is nothing that so magnifyeth our English Nation as the price of our Wooll in all the kingdomes of the World But what account the auncients made of Sheepe I will now tell you for their greatest men both Kings and Lordes were Sheapheardes and therefore you which succeede in their places shall bestow much lesse labour in writing of sheepe then they did in keeping with the picture of a Sheepe they stamped their auncient mony and it is reported of Mandrabulus that hauing found a great treasure in the earth in token of his blind thankefulnesse to God did dedicate three pictures of Sheepe to Iuno one of Gold another of Syluer and a third of Brasse and besides the ancient Romans made the penalties of the lawes
which vntill his time was there sincerely preserued Now concerning the times and seasons of the yeare for the shearing of sheepe it is not onely hard but also an impossible thing to set downe any general rule to hold in al places The best that euer I read is that of Didimus Nec frigido ad huc nec iam aestiuo tempore sed medio vere Oues tondendae sunt That is sheepe must neither bee shoarne in extreame colde Weather nor yet in the extreame heate of Summer but in the middle of the spring In some hot countries they sheere their sheepe in Aprill in temperate countries they sheere them in Maie but in the cold countries in Iune and Iuly and generally the best time is betwixt the vernall equinoctium the summers solstice that is before the longest day and after the daies nights be of equall length there be some that sheere their sheep twice in a yeare not for any necessitie to disburden the beast of the fleece but for opinion that the often shearing causeth the finer wooll to arise euen as the often mowing of grasse maketh it the sweeter Columella In the hot countries the same day that they sheere their sheepe they also annoint them ouer with oyle the leeze of old wine and the water wherein hops are sod and if they be neere the sea side three daies after they drench them ouer head and eares in water Palladius Celsus but if they be not neere the sea side then they wash them with raine water sod with salt and hereby there commeth a double profit to the sheepe First for that it will kill in them all the cause of scabs for that yeare so as they shall liue safe from that infection and secondly the sheepe doe thereby grow to beare the longer and the softer wooll Some do sheare them within doores and some in the open sunne abroad and then they chuse the hottest and the calmest daies and these are the things or the necessary obseruations which I can learne out of the writings of the auncients about the shearing of sheepe Sharing time in England Now concerning the manner of our English nation and the customes obserued by vs about this businesse although it be needlesse for me to expresse yet I can not containe my self from relating the same considering that we differ from other nations First therefore the common time whereat we sheare sheepe is in Iune and lambes in Iuly and first of all we wash our sheepe cleane in running sweete waters afterward letting them dry for a day or two for by such washing all the wooll is made the better and cleaner then after two daies we sheare them taking heede to their flesh that it be no maner of way clipped with the sheares but if it be then doth the shearer put vpon it liquid pitch commonly called Tarre whereby it is easily cured and kept safely from the flies The quantitie of wooll vpon our sheep is more then in any other countrey of the world for euen the least among vs such as are in hard grounds as in Norfolke the vpper most part of Kent Hertfort-shier and other places haue better and weightier fleeces then the greatest in other nations and for this cause the forraine and Latine Authors doe neuer make mention of any quantitie of wooll they sheare from their Sheep but of the quallitie The quantitie in the least is a pound except the sheep haue lost his wooll in the middle sort of sheepe two pounds or three pounds as is vulgar in Buckingham Northampton and Leicester shieres But the greatest of all in some of those places and also in Rumney marsh in Kent foure or fiue pounds and it is the manner of the Shepheards and sheepe masters to wet their Rams and so to keepe their wooll two or three years together growing vpon their backs and I haue credibly heard of a Sheepe in Buckingham-shiere in the flocke of the L.P. that had shorne from it at one time one and twentie pound of wooll After the shearing of our sheepe we doe not vse either to annoint or wash them as they doe in other nations but turne them foorth without their fleeces leauing them like meadowes new mowen with expectation of another fleece the next yeare The whole course of the handling of our sheepe is thus described by the flower of our English-Gentlemen husbands master Thomas Tusser Wash Sheepe for the better where water doth runne And let him goe clanely and dry in the Sunne Then sheare him and spare not at two daies an end The sooner the better his corps will amend Reward not thy Sheepe when yee take off his coate With twitches and flashes as broad as a groat Let not such vngentlenesse happen to thine Lest flie with her gentles doe make him to pine Let Lambes goe vnclipped till Iune be halfe worne The better the fleeces will grow to be shorne The Pye will discharge thee for pulling the rest The lighter the Sheepe is then feedeth it best And in another place of the husbandry of sheepe he writeth thus Good farme and well stored good housing and dry Good corne and good dairy good market and nigh Good Sheapheard good till man good Iack and good Gill Makes husband and huswife their coffers to fill Let pasture be stored and fenced about And tillage set forward as needeth without Before you do open your purse to begin With any thing doing for fancy within No storing of pasture with baggagely tit With ragged and aged as euill as it Let carren and barren be shifted away For best is the best whatsoeuer you pay And in another place speaking of the time of the yeare for gelding Rams and selling of wooll which he admonisheth should be after Michelmas he writeth thus Now geld with the gelder the Ram and the Bull Sew ponds amend dams and sell Webster the wool But of the milking of sheepe he writeth thus Put Lambe fro Ewe to milk a few Be not to bold to milke and fold Fiue Ewes alow the euery Cow Sheepe wrigling taile hath mads without faile And thus far Tusser The value of English wool and the vse thereof besides whom I find little discourse about the husbandry of Sheepe in any English Poet. And for the conclusion or rather farther demonstration of this part concerning the quallity of our English wooll I can vse no better testimony then that of worthy M. Camden in his Brittania for writing of Buckinghamshire he vseth these words Hac tota fere campestris est solo item argillacos tenaci foecundo Papulosis pratis innumeros ouium greges pascit quarum mollia tenuissima vellera ab Asiaticis vsque gentibus expetuntur That is to say The whole county of Buckingham is of a clammy champaigne fertile soile feeding innumerable flocks of sheep with his rich and well growen pastures or meddowes whose soft and fine fleeces of wooll are desired of the people of Asia For we know
that such is the trade of Marchandise and transportation of English cloath the rare finenesse and smoothnesse thereof is admired in Asia namely in Palestina and other kingdomes of the Turke and therefore they haue English houses of Marchants both at Aleppo Tripoli and other places Againe speaking of Lemster ore or Lemster wooll in Herfordshire he writeth thus Sed ei precipua hodie gloria est a lana in circum vicinis agris Lemster ore vocant cui excepta Apula Tarentina palmam deferunt Europoei omnes The greatest glory of that soile is in their wool which ariseth from sheep feeding in the fildes and pastures adioyning thereunto which wooll they call Lemster ore and all Christendome yealdeth praise and price vnto it next after the Apulian and Tarentinian wooll And indeed so sweet is the gaine that commeth by sheep that in many partes of the land there is a decay of tillage and people for their maintenance and therefore the saide M. Camden saith most worthily euen like himselfe that is honest and vnpartiall in all his writings for in the beginning of his description of Northamtonshire where I thinke aboue all parts depopulation and destroying of townes is most plentiful so that for Christians now you haue sheepe and for a multitude of good house-holders you shall haue one poore Sheapheard swaine and his Dogge lyuing vppon forty shillinges a yeare or little more hee writeth in the wordes of Hythodaeus after the commendation of the Sheep and Wooll of that Country Ouibus oppleta quasi obsessa quae vt Hythodaeus ille dixit tam miles esse tamque exigno ali solebant nunc vtifertur tam educes atque indomita esse corperunt vt homines deuorent ipsos agros domos oppida vascent ac depopulentur which words I canot better english then in the words of an Epigrammatarian in our ages for to this effect according to my remembrance he writeth Sheepe haue eate vp our pastures our meddowes and our downes Our Mountaines our men our villages and Townes Till now I thought the common prouerb did but iest That saies a blacke sheepe is a biting beast Concerning the goodnesse of english wool and the difference of it from others the reason is well giuen by Gesner and Cardan Lanae earum molles crispae sunt ideoque nunc vt olim milesia celebratur nec mirum cum nullum animal venenatum mittat Anglia sine luporum metu pecus vagetur nulli enim in Anglia hodie lupi reperiuntur Rore caeli sitim sedant greges ab omni alio potu arcentur quod aquae ibi ouibus sint exitiales That is to say The wool of English sheep is soft and curâ—ed and therefore it is now commended as highly as euer was the Meletian wooll in ancient time and not without iust cause for they are neither anoid with the feare of any venemous beast nor yet troubled with Wolues and therefore the strength of their nature and peaceable quiet wherin they liue doth breed in them the better wooll and besides they neuer drinke but quench their thirst with the dew of heauen And thus much for the discourse of English wooll The wool of â—ther countries I am neuer able sufficiently to describe the infinite commodities that come vnto men by wooll both for gardens for hangings for couerings for hats and diuers such other things and therfore it shal not be vnpleasant I trust vnto the reader to be troubled a little with a farther discourse heereof if I blot some paper in describing the quality of the best wooll in other nations First of al therefore we are to remember these two things that the best wooll is soft and curled and that the wool of the old sheep is thicker and thinner then the wooll of the younger and the wooll of the ram followeth the same nature of whom we will speake more in his story Onely in this place our purpose is to expresse the examination of wooll as we finde it related by Authors according to their seuerall countries Therfore as we haue said already out of M. Chambdens report the Tarentinian and Apuleian wooll must haue the first place because the sheep of those countries liue for the most part within doores and besides that are couered with other skins In Spaine they make greatest account of the blacke wooll and it appeareth by good History both in our English chronicle and others that the sheepe of Spaine were of no reckoning til they were stored with the breed of England There is a little country called Pollentia neare the Alpes of the wooll whereof Martial maketh mention as also of the Canucine red wooll and therefore Ouis Canucina was an Emblem for pretious wooll his verses are these Non tantum pullo lugentes vellere lanas Roma magis fussis vestitur gallia ruffis Canucinatus nostro syrus assere sudet We haue spoken already of the wooll of Istria and Liburnia which if it were not for the spinning in Portugall and the web-sters Art thereupon it were no better for cloth then haire Strabo writeth that the wooll of Mutina whereby he meaneth all the country that lyeth vpon the riuer Seutana is very soft and gentle and the best of Italy but that of Liguria and Myllain is good for no other vse but for the garments of seruants About Paduâ— their wooll is of a meane price yet they make of it most pretious workes of Tapistry and Carpets for tables for that which was rough and thicke in ancient time was vsed for this purpose and also to make garments hauing the shags thereof hanging by it like râ—gs There is a citty called Feltrum and the wooll thereof by the Marchants is called Feltriolana felt-wooll they were wont to make garmentes hereof neither wouen nor sewed but baked together at the fire like hats and caps whereof Pliny writeth thus Lanae per se coactae vestem faciunt si addatur acetum etiam ferro resistunt imo vero etiam ignibus nouissimo sui purgamento quippe ahenis coquentium extracte indumentis vsu veniunt gaâ—â—earum vt arbitror inuento certe gallicis hodie nominibus discernuntur Wooll hath this property that if it be forced together it will make a garment of it selfe and if vineger bee put vnto it it will beare off the blow of a sword dressed at the fire and purged to the last for it being taken off from the brazen coffer whereon is was dressed it serued for clothing being as hee thought an inuention of the Gals because it was knowne by French names and from hence we must see the beginning of our felt-hats The Betican wooll is celebrated by Iuuenall when he speaketh how Catullis fearing shipwrack was about to cast him out into the water Infecit natura pecus sed egregius fons Viribus occultis Boeticus adiuuat aer For the colour of Wooll in that country groweth mixed not by any art Of the colors of wooll