in zoology. See Ovis and Wool.

Amongst the various animals with which Divine Providence has stored the world for the use of man, none is to be found more innocent, more useful, or more valuable, than the sheep. The sheep supplies us with food and clothing, and finds ample employment for our poor at all times and seasons of the year, whereby a variety of manufactures of woollen cloth is carried on without interruption to domestic comfort and loss to friendly society or injury to health, as is the case with many other occupations. Every lock of wool that grows on its back becomes the means of support to staplers, dyers, pickers, scourers, scriblers, carders, combers, spinners, spoolers, warpers, queelers, weavers, fullers, tuckers, butlers, shearmen, pressers, clothiers, and packers, who, one after another, tumble and toss, and twist, and bake, and boil, this raw material, till they have each extracted a livelihood out of it; and then comes the merchant, who, in his turn, ships it (in its highest state of improvement) to all quarters of the globe, from whence he brings back every kind of riches to his country, in return for this valuable commodity which the sheep affords.

Besides this, the useful animal, after being deprived of his coat, produces another against the next year; and when we are hungry, and kill him for food, he gives us his skin to employ the fell-mongers and parchment-makers, who supply us with a durable material for securing our estates, rights, and possessions; and if our enemies take the field against us, supplies us with a powerful instrument for rousing our courage to repel their attacks. When the parchment-maker has taken as much of the skin as he can use, the glue-maker comes after and picks up every morsel that is left, and therewith supplies a material for the carpenter and cabinet-maker, which they cannot do without, and which is essentially necessary before we can have elegant furniture in our houses; tables, chairs, looking-glasses, and a hundred other articles of convenience; and when the winter nights come on, while we are deprived of the cheering light of the sun, the sheep supplies us with an artificial mode of light, whereby we preserve every pleasure of domestic society, and with whose affluence we can continue our work, or write or read, and improve our minds, or enjoy the social mirth of our tables. Another part of the slaughtered animal supplies us with an ingredient necessary for making good common soap, a useful store for producing cleanliness in every family, rich or poor. Neither need the horns be thrown away; for they are converted by the button-makers and turners into a cheap kind of buttons, tips for bows, and many useful ornaments. From the very trotters an oil is extracted useful for many purposes, and they afford good food when baked in an oven.

Even the bones are useful also; for by a late invention of Dr Higgins, they are found, when reduced to ashes, to be an useful and essential ingredient in the composition of the finest artificial stone in ornamental work for chimney-pieces, cornices of rooms, houses, &c., which renders the composition more durable by effectually preventing its cracking (A).

If it is objected to the meek inoffensive creature, that

(a) Any curious person would be much entertained to see the manufacture of bone-ash, now carried on by Mr Minth of Whitechapel, New Road, wherein the bones of sheep and cows undergo many ingenious processes. 1. There is a mill to break them; 2. A cauldron to extract their oil, marrow, and fat; 3. A reverberatory to heat them red-hot; 4. An oven for those bones to moulder to ashes; 5. A kiln to collect the fumes of the burnt bones. he is expensive while living, in eating up our grass, &c. it may be answered that it is quite the contrary; for he can feed where every other animal has been before him and grazed all they could find; and that if he takes a little grass on our downs or in our fields, he amply repays us for every blade of grass in the richness of the manure which he leaves behind him. He protects the hands from the cold wintry blast, by providing them with the softest leather gloves. Every gentleman's library is also indebted to him for the neat binding of his books, for the sheath of his sword, and for cases for his instruments; in short, not to be tedious in mentioning the various uses of leather, there is hardly any furniture or utensil of life but the sheep contributes to render either more useful, convenient, or ornamental.

As the sheep is so valuable an animal, every piece of information concerning the proper method of managing it must be of importance. It will not therefore be useless nor uninteresting to give some account of the manner of managing sheep in Spain, a country famous for producing the best wool in the world.

In Spain there are two kinds of sheep: the coarse-wooled sheep, which always remain in their native country, and are housed every night in winter; and the fine-wooled sheep, which are always in the open air, and travel every summer from the cool mountains of the northern parts of Spain, to feed in winter on the southern warm plains of Andalusia, Mancha, and Extremadura. Of these latter, it appears from accurate computations, that there are about five millions (a); and that the wool and flesh of a flock of 10,000 sheep produce yearly about 24 reals a-head, or about the value of 12 English sixpences, one of which belongs to the owner, three to the king, and the other eight are allowed for the expenses of pasture, tithes, shepherds, dogs, salt, shearing, &c. Ten thousand sheep form a flock, which is divided into ten tribes, under the management of one person, who has absolute dominion over fifty shepherds and fifty dogs.

M. Bourgoanne, a French gentleman, who resided many years in Spain, and directed his inquiries chiefly to the civil government, trade, and manufactures, of that country, gives the following account of the wandering sheep of Segovia. "It is (says he) in the neighbouring mountains that a part of the wandering sheep feed during the fine season. They leave them in the month of October, pass over those which separate the two Castiles, cross New Castile, and disperse themselves in the plains of Extremadura and Andalusia. For some years past those of the two Castiles, which are within reach of the Sierra-Morena, go thither to pass the winter; which, in that part of Spain, is more mild: the length of their day's journey is in proportion to the pasture they meet with. They travel in flocks from 1000 to 1200 in number, under the conduct of two shepherds; one of whom is called the Mayorol, the other the Zagal. When arrived at the place of their destination, they are distributed in the pastures previously assigned them. They return in the month of April; and whether it be habit or natural instinct that draws them towards the climate, which at this season becomes most proper for them, the inquietude which they manifest might, in case of need, serve as an almanac to their conductors."

Mr Arthur Young, in that patriotic work which he conducted with great industry and judgment, the Annals of Agriculture, gives us a very accurate and interesting account of the Pyrenean or Catalonian sheep.

"On the northern ridge, bearing to the west, are of course the pastures of the Spanish flocks. This ridge is not, however, the whole; there are two other mountains, quite in a different situation, and the sheep travel from one to another as the pasturage is short or plentiful. I p. 195 examined the soil of these mountain pastures, and found it in general stony; what in the west of England would be called a stone braid, with some mixture of loam, and in a few places a little peaty. The plants are many of them untouched by the sheep; many ferns, narcissus, violets, &c. but burnet (poterium sanguisorba) and the narrow-leaved plantain (plantago lanceolata) were eaten, as may be supposed, clove. I looked for trefoil, but found scarcely any: it was very apparent that soil and peculiarity of herbage had little to do in rendering these heights proper for sheep. In the northern parts of Europe, the tops of mountains half the height of the hills (for we were above snow in July) are bogs, all are so which I have seen in our islands, or at least the proportion of dry land is very trifling to that which is extremely wet: Here they are in general very dry. Now a great range of dry land, let the plants be what they may, will in every country suit sheep. The flock is brought every night to one spot, which is situated at the end of the valley on the river I have mentioned, and near the port or passage of Picada: it is a level spot sheltered from all winds. The soil is 8 or 9 inches deep of old dung, not at all inclosed: from the freedom from wood all around, it seems to be chosen partly for safety against wolves and bears. Near it is a very large stone, or rather rock, fallen from the mountain. This the shepherds have taken for a shelter, and have built a hut against it; their beds are sheep skins, and their door so small that they crawl in. I saw no place for fire; but they have it, since they dress here the flesh of their sheep, and

(b) In the 16th century the travelling sheep were estimated at seven millions: under Philip III. the number was diminished to two millions and a half. Ustariz, who wrote at the beginning of this century, made it amount to four millions. The general opinion is, that at present it does not exceed five millions. If to this number the eight millions of stationary sheep be added, it will make nearly thirteen millions of animals, all managed contrary to the true interests of Spain, for the advantage of a few individuals. For the proprietors of stationary flocks also have privileges which greatly resemble those of the members of the Mesta. According to Arriquiebar, Spain contains eight millions of fine-wooled sheep, ten millions of coarse-wooled, and five hundred thousand bulls, oxen, and cows. and in the night sometimes keep off the bears, by whirling firebrands; four of them belonging to the flock mentioned above lie here. I viewed their flock very carefully, and by means of our guide and interpreter, made some inquiries of the shepherds, which they answered readily, and very civilly. A Spaniard at Venafque, a city in the Pyrenees, gives 600 livres French (the livre is 10½d. English) a-year for the pasturage of this flock of 2000 sheep. In the winter he sends them into the lower parts of Catalonia, a journey of 12 or 13 days, and when the snow is melted in the spring, they are conducted back again. They are the whole year kept in motion, and moving from spot to spot, which is owing to the great range they everywhere have of pasture. They are always in the open air, never housed or under cover, and never taste of any food but what they can find on the hills.

"Four shepherds, and from four to six large Spanish dogs, have the care of this flock: the latter are in France called of the Pyrenees breed; they are black and white, of the size of a large wolf, a large head and neck, armed with collars stuck with iron spikes. No wolf can stand against them; but bears are more potent adversaries: if a bear can reach a tree, he is safe; he rises on his hind legs, with his back to the tree, and sets the dogs at defiance. In the night the shepherds rely entirely on their dogs; but on hearing them bark are ready with fire-arms, as the dogs rarely bark if a bear is not at hand. I was surprized to find that they are fed only with bread and milk. The head shepherd is paid 120 livres a-year wages and bread; the others 80 livres and bread. But they are allowed to keep goats, of which they have many which they milk every day. Their food is milk and bread, except the flesh of such sheep or lambs as accidents give them. The head shepherd keeps on the mountain top, or an elevated spot, from whence he can the better see around while the flock traverses the declivities. In doing this the sheep are exposed to great danger in places that are stony; for by walking among the rocks, and especially the goats, they move the stones, which, rolling down the hills, acquire an accelerated force enough to knock a man down, and sheep are often killed by them; yet we saw how alert they were to avoid such stones, and cautiously on their guard against them. I examined the sheep attentively. They are in general polled, but some have horns; which in the rams turn backwards behind the ears and project half a circle forward; the ewes' horns turn also behind the ears, but do not project; the legs white or reddish; speckled faces, some white, some reddish; they would weigh fat, I reckon, on an average, from 15 lb. to 18 lb. a quarter. Some tails short, some left long. A few black sheep among them; some with a very little tuft of wool on their foreheads. On the whole they resemble those on the South Downs; their legs are as short as those of that breed; a point which merits observation, as they travel so much and so well. Their shape is very good; round ribs and flat straight backs; and would with us be reckoned handsome sheep; all in good order and flesh. In order to be still better acquainted with them, I desired one of the shepherds to catch a ram for me to feel, and examine the wool, which I found very thick and good of the carding sort, as may be supposed. I took a specimen of it, and also of a hoggit, or lamb of last year. In regard to the mellow softness under the skin, which, in Mr Bakewell's opinion, is a strong indication of a good breed, with a disposition to fatten, he had it in a much superior degree to many of our English breeds, to the full as much as the South Downs, which are for that point the best short-wooled sheep which I know in England. The fleece was on his back, and weighed, as I guessed, about 8 lb. English; but the average, they say, of the flock is from four to five, as I calculated by reducing the Catalonian pound of 12 oz. to ours of 16, and is sold to the French at 30s. the lb. French. This ram had the wool of the back part of his neck tied close, and the upper tuft tied a second knot by way of ornament; nor do they ever shear this part of the fleece for that reason: we saw several in the flock with this species of decoration. They said that this ram would sell in Catalonia for 20 livres. A circumstance which cannot be too much commended, and deserves universal imitation, is the extreme docility they accustom them to. When I desired the shepherd to catch one of his rams, I supposed he would do it with his crook, or probably not be able to do it at all; but he walked into the flock, and fingling out a ram and a goat, bid them follow him, which they did immediately; and he talked to them while they were obeying him, holding out his hand as if to give them something. By this method he brought me the ram, which I caught, and held without difficulty."

The best sort of sheep for fine wool are those bred What sheep in Herefordshire, Devonshire, and Worcestershire; but produce they are small, and black-faced, and bear but a small best wool quantity. Warwick, Leicestershire, Buckingham, and Northamptonshire, breed a large boned sheep, of the best shape and deepest wool we have. The marshes of Lincolnshire breed a very large kind of sheep, but their wool is not good, unless the breed be mended by bringing in sheep of other counties among them, which is a scheme of late very profitably followed there. In this county, it is no uncommon thing to give fifty guineas for a ram, and a guinea for the admission of an ewe to one of these valuable males, or twenty guineas for the use of it for a certain number of ewes during one season. Suffolk also breeds a very valuable kind of sheep. The northern counties in general breed sheep with long but hairy wool: however, the wool which is taken from the neck and shoulders of the Yorkshire sheep is used for mixing with Spanish wool in some of their finest cloths.

Wales bears a small hardy kind of sheep, which has the best tasted flesh, but the worst wool of all. Nevertheless it is of more extensive use than the finest Segovian fleeces; for the benefit of the flannel manufacture is universally known. The sheep of Ireland vary like those of Great Britain: those of the south and east being large and their flesh rank; those of the north and the mountainous parts small and their flesh sweet. The fleeces in the same manner differ in degrees of value. Scotland breeds a small kind, and their fleeces are coarse.

But the new Leicestershire breed is the most fashionable, and of course the most profitable breed in the island: Joseph Altom of Clifton, who raised himself from a plough-boy, was the first who distinguished him- self in the midland counties of England for a superior breed of sheep. How he improved his breed is not known; but it was customary for eminent farmers in his time to go to Clifton in summer to choose and purchase ram-lambs, for which they paid two or three guineas. This man was succeeded by Mr Bakewell; and it may reasonably be supposed that the breed, by means of Alton's stock, had passed the first stage of improvement before Mr Bakewell's time. Still, however, it must be acknowledged, that the Leicestershire breed of sheep owes its present high state of improvement to the ability and care of Mr Bakewell.

"The manner in which Mr Bakewell raised his sheep to the degree of celebrity in which they deservedly stand, is notwithstanding the recentness of the improvement, and its being done in the day of thousands now living, a thing in dispute; even among men high in the profession, and living in the very district in which the improvement has been carried on!

"Some are of opinion that he effected it by a cross with the Wiltshire breed; an improbable idea, as their form altogether contradicts it: others, that the Ryeland breed were used for this purpose; and with some show of probability. If any cross whatever was used, the Ryeland breed, whether we view the form, the size, the wool, the flesh, or the fatting quality, is the most probable instrument of improvement.

"These ideas, however, are registered merely as matters of opinion. It is more than probable that Mr Bakewell alone is in possession of the several minutes of improvement; and the public can only hope that at a proper time the facts may be communicated for the direction of future improvers.

"Whenever this shall take place, it will most probably come out that no cross with any alien breed whatever has been used; but that the improvement has been effected by selecting individuals from kindred breeds; from the several breeds or varieties of long-woolled sheep, with which Mr Bakewell was surrounded on almost every side, and by breeding, inandin (c), with this selection: solicitously seizing the superior accidental varieties produced; associating these varieties; and still continuing to select, with judgment, the superior individuals.

"It now remains to give a description of the superior class of individuals of this breed, especially ewes and wethers, in full condition, but not immoderately fat. The rams will require to be distinguished afterwards.

"The head is long, small, and hornless, with ears somewhat long, and standing backward, and with the nose shooting forward. The neck thin, and clean toward the head; but taking a conical form; standing low, and enlarging every way at the base; the fore-end altogether short. The bosom broad, with the shoulders, ribs, and chine extraordinary full. The loin broad, and the back level. The haunches comparatively full toward the hips, but light downward; being altogether small in proportion to the fore-parts. The legs, at present, of a moderate length; with the bone extremely fine. The bone throughout remarkably light. The carcase, when fully fat, takes a remarkable form; much wider than it is deep, and almost as broad as it is long. Full on the shoulder, widest on the ribs, narrowing with a regular curve towards the tail; approaching the form of the turtle nearer perhaps than any other animal. The pelt is thin, and the tail small. The wool is shorter than long wools in general, but much longer than the middle wools; the ordinary length of staple five to seven inches, varying much in fineness and weight."

This breed surpasses every other in beauty of form; fatness; they are full and weighty in the fore quarters; and are remarkably remarkable for thinness of bone. Mr Marshall, who has well been of so much benefit to agriculture and his country by his publications, informs us, in his Rural Economy of the Midland Counties, that he has seen a rib of a sheep of this breed contrasted with one of a Norfolk sheep: the disparity was striking; the latter nearly twice the size; while the meat which covered the former was three times the thickness: consequently the proportion of meat to bone was in the one incomparably greater than in the other. Therefore, in this point of view, the improved breed has a decided preference: for surely while mankind continue to eat flesh and throw away bone, the former must be, to the consumer at least, the more valuable.

The criterions of good and bad flesh while the animal is alive differ in different species, and are not properly settled in the same species. One superior breeder is of opinion, that if the flesh is not loose, it is of course good; holding, that the flesh of sheep is never found in a state of hardness, like that of ill-fed cattle: while others make a fourfold distinction of the flesh of sheep; as looseness, mellowness, firmness, hardness: considering the first and the last equally exceptionable, and the second and third equally desirable; a happy mixture of the two being deemed the point of perfection.

The flesh of sheep, when slaughtered, is well known to be of various qualities. Some is composed of large coarse grains, interspersed with wide empty pores like a sponge; others, of large grains, with wide pores filled with fat; others, of fine close grains, with smaller pores filled with fat; and a fourth, of close grains, without any intermixture of fatness.

The flesh of sheep, when dressed, is equally well known to possess a variety of qualities: some mutton is coarse, dry, and insipid; a dry sponge, affording little or no gravy of any colour. Another sort is somewhat firmer, imparting a light-coloured gravy only. A third plump, short, and palatable; affording a mixture of white and red gravy. A fourth likewise plump and well-flavoured, but discharging red gravy, and this in various quantities.

It is likewise observable, that some mutton, when dressed, appears covered with a thick, tough, parchment-like integument; others with a membrane comparatively fine and flexible. But these, and some of the other qualities of mutton, may not be wholly owing to breed, but in part to the age and the state of animals at the time of slaughter. Examined in this light, whether

(c) Inandin is a term used in the midland counties of England to express breeding from the same family. ther we consider the degree of fatness, or their natural propensity to a state of fatness, even at an early age; the improved breed of Leicestershire sheep appear with many superior advantages.

The degree of fatness to which the individuals of this breed are capable of being raised, will perhaps appear incredible to those who have not had an opportunity of being convinced by their own observation. "I have seen wedders (says Mr Marshall) of only two shear (two to three years old) so loaded with fat as to be scarcely able to make a run; and whose fat lay so much without the bone, it seemed ready to be shaken from the ribs on the smallest agitation.

"It is common for the sheep of this breed to have such a projection of fat upon the ribs, immediately behind the shoulder, that it may be easily gathered up in the hand, as the flank of a fat bullock. Hence it has gained, in technical language, the name of the fore-flank; a point which a modern breeder never fails to touch in judging of the quality of this breed of sheep.

"What is, perhaps, still more extraordinary, it is not rare for the rams, at least of this breed, to be 'cracked on the back,' that is, to be cloven along the top of the chine, in the manner fat sheep generally are upon the rump. This mark is considered as an evidence of the best blood.

"Extraordinary, however, as are these appearances while the animals are living, the facts are still more striking after they are slaughtered. At Litchfield, in February 1785, I saw a fore quarter of mutton, fattened by Mr Princep of Croxall, and which measured upon the ribs four inches of fat. It must be acknowledged, however, that the Leicestershire breed do not produce so much wool as most other long-wooled sheep."

As the practice of letting rams by the season is now become profitable, it may be useful to mention the method of rearing them.

"The principal ram-breeders save annually twenty, thirty, or perhaps forty ram lambs; castration being seldom applied, in the first instance, to the produce of a valuable ram. For in the choice of these lambs they are led more by blood, or parentage, than by form; on which, at an early age, little dependence can be placed. Their treatment from the time they are weaned, in July or August, until the time of shearing, the first week in June, consists in giving them every indulgence, of keep, in order to push them forward for the show; it being the common practice to let such as are fit to be let the first season, while they are yet yearlings—provincially 'sharhogs.'

"Their first pasture, after weaning, is pretty generally, I believe, clover that has been mown early, and has got a second time into head; the heads of clover being considered as a most forcing food of sheep. After this goes off, turnips, cabbages, colewort, with hay, and (report says) with corn. But the use of this the breeders generally deny, though collectively they may be liable to the charge.

"Be this as it may, something considerable depends on the art of making up, not lambs only, but rams of all ages. Fat, like charity, covers a multitude of faults; and besides, is the best evidence of their fattening quality which their owners can produce (i.e., their natural propensity to a state of fatness), while in the fatness of the sharhogs is seen their degree of inclination to fat at an early age.

"Fattening quality being the one thing needful in grazing stock, and being found, in some considerable degree at least, to be hereditary, the fattest rams are of course the best; though other attachments, well or ill-placed, as to form or fashionable points, will perhaps have equal or greater weight in the minds of some men, even in this enlightened age. Such shearlings as will not make up sufficiently as to form and fatness, are either kept on to another year to give them a fair chance, or are castrated, or butchered while sharhogs."

From the first letting, about 40 years ago, to the Whatsums year 1780, the prices kept gradually rising from fifteen Mr Bakewillings to a guinea, and from one to ten. In 1789 Mr Bakewell let several at ten guineas each; and, what's let for, is rather inexplicable, Mr Parkinson of Quarndon let them, one the same year for twenty-five guineas; a price which then astonished the whole country.

From that time to 1786 Mr Bakewell's stock rose rapidly from ten to a hundred guineas; and that year he let two thirds of one ram (referring one third of the usual number of ewes to himself) to two principal breeders, for a hundred guineas each, the entire breeders of the ram being rated at three hundred guineas! Mr Bakewell making that year, by letting twenty rams only, more than a thousand pounds!

Since that time the prices have been still rising. Four hundred guineas have been repeatedly given. Mr Bakewell, this year (1789) makes, says Mr Marshall, twelve hundred guineas by three rams (brothers, we believe); two thousand of seven; and of his whole letting, full three thousand guineas!

Beside this extraordinary sum made by Mr Bakewell, there are six or seven other breeders who make from five hundred to a thousand guineas each. The whole amount of money produced that year in the Midland Counties, by letting rams of the modern breed for one season only, is estimated, by those who are adequate to the subject, at the almost incredible sum of ten thousand pounds.

Rams previous to the season are reduced from the treat-cumbersome fat state in which they are shown. The usualment of time of feeding them out is the middle of September, and choice They are conveyed in carriages of two wheels with of the springs, or hung in flings, 20 or 30 miles a-day, fomc-ewes, times to the distance of 200 or 300 miles. They are not turned loose among the ewes, but kept apart in a small inclosure, where a couple of ewes only are admitted at once. When the season is over every care is taken to make the rams look as fat and handsome as possible.

In the choice of ewes the breeder is led by the same criterions as in the choice of rams. Breed is the first object of consideration. Excellency, in any species or variety of live-stock, cannot be attained with any degree of certainty, let the male be ever so excellent, unless the females employed likewise inherit a large proportion of the genuine blood, be the species or variety what it may. Hence no prudent man ventures to give the higher prices for the Dithley rams, unless his ewes are deeply tinctured with the Dithley blood. Next to breed is flesh, fat, form, and wool.

After the lambs are weaned, the ewes are kept in common feeding places, without any alteration of pa-

Vol. XVII. Part I. Sheep.

In winter they are kept on grass, hay, turnips, and cabbages. As the heads of the modern breed are much finer than most others, the ewes lamb with less difficulty.

The female lambs, on being weaned, are put to good keep, but have not such high indulgence shown them as the males, the prevailing practice being to keep them from the ram the first autumn.

At weaning time, or previously to the admixture of the ram, the ewes are culled, to make room for the thaves or shearlings, whose superior blood and fashion intitle them to a place in the breeding flock. In the work of culling, the ram-breeder and the mere grazier go by somewhat different guides. The grazier's guide is principally age, seldom giving his ewes the ram after they are four shear. The ram-breeder, on the contrary, goes chiefly by merit; an ewe that has brought him a good ram or two is continued in the flock so long as she will breed. There are instances of ewes having been prolific to the tenth or twelfth year; but in general the ewes of this breed go off at six or seven shear.

In the practice of some of the principal ram-breeders, the culling ewes are never suffered to go out of their hands until after they are slaughtered, the breeders not only fattening them, but having them butchered, on their premises. There are others, however, who sell them; and sometimes at extraordinary prices. Three, four, and even so high as ten, guineas each have been given for these outcasts.

There are in the flocks of several breeders ewes that would fetch at auction twenty guineas each. Mr Bakewell is in possession of ewes which, if they were now put up to be sold to the best bidder, would, it is estimated, fetch no less than fifty each, and perhaps, through the present spirit of contention, much higher prices.

The following instructions for purchasing sheep, we hope, will be acceptable to our country readers.—The farmer should always buy his sheep from a worse land than his own, and they should be big-boned, and have a long greasy wool, curling close and well. These sheep always breed the finest wool, and are also the most approved of by the butcher for sale in the market.

For the choice of sheep to breed, the ram must be young, and his skin of the same colour with his wool, for the lambs will be of the same colour with his skin. He should have a large long body; a broad forehead, round, and well rising; large eyes; and straight and short nostrils. The polled sheep, that is, those which have no horns, are found to be the best breeders. The ewe should have a broad back; a large bending neck; small, but short, clean, and nimble legs; and a thick, deep wool covering her all over.

To know whether they be found or not, the farmer should examine the wool that none of it be wanting, and see that the gums be red, the teeth white and even, and the brisket-skin red, the wool firm, the breath sweet, and the feet not hot. Two years old is the best time for beginning to breed; and their first lambs should not be kept too long, to weaken them by suckling, but be sold as soon as conveniently may be. They will breed advantageously till they are seven years old. The farmers have a method of knowing the age of a sheep, as a horse's is known, by the mouth. When a sheep is one shear, as they express it, it has two broad teeth before; when it is two shear, it will have four; when three, six; and when four, eight. After this their mouths begin to break.

The difference of land makes a very great difference in the sheep. The fat pastures breed straight tall sheep, and the barren hills and downs breed square short ones; woods and mountains breed tall and slender sheep; but the best of all are those bred upon new-ploughed land and dry grounds. On the contrary, all wet and moist lands are bad for sheep, especially such as are subject to be overflowed, and to have sand and dirt left on them. The falt marshes are, however, an exception to this general rule, for their saltiness makes amends for their moisture; salt, by reason of its drying quality, being of great advantage to sheep.

As to the time of putting the rams to the ewes, the farmer must consider at what time of the spring his grass ought to will he fit to maintain them and their lambs, and whether he has turnips to do it till the grass comes; for very often both the ewes and lambs are destroyed by the want of food; or if this does not happen, if the lambs are only stinted in their growth by it, it is an accident that they never recover. The ewe goes 20 weeks with lamb, and according to this it is easy to calculate the proper time. The best time for them to year is in April, unless the owner has very forward grass or turnips, or the sheep are field sheep. Where you have not inclosures to keep them in, then it may be proper they should year in January, that the lambs may be strong by May-day, and be able to follow the dam over the fallows and water-furrows; but then the lambs that come to early must have a great deal of care taken of them, and so indeed should all other lambs at their first fallings, else while they are weak the crows and magpies will pick their eyes out.

When the sheep are turned into fields of wheat or rye to feed, it must not be too rank at first, for if it be, it generally throws them into scurings. Ewes that are big should be kept but bare, for it is very dangerous to them to be fat at the time of their bringing forth their young. They may be well fed, indeed, like cows, a fortnight beforehand, to put them in heart. Mortimer's Husbandry, p. 243.

The feeding sheep with turnips is one great advantage to the farmers. When they are made to eat turnips they soon fatten, but there is some difficulty in bringing this about. The old ones always refuse them at first, and will sometimes fast three or four days, till almost famished; but the young lambs fall to at once. The common way, in some places, of turning a flock of sheep at large into a field of turnips, is very disadvantageous, for they will thus destroy as many in a fortnight as would keep them a whole winter. There are three other ways of feeding them on this food, all of which have their several advantages.

The first way is to divide the land by hurdles, and allow the sheep to come upon such a portion only at a time as they can eat in one day, and so advance the feeding hurdles farther into the ground daily till all be eaten. This is infinitely better than the former random method; but they never eat them clean even this way, but leave the bottoms and outsides scooped in the ground; the people pull up these indeed with iron crooks, and lay them before the sheep again, but they are commonly ly so fouled with the creature's dung and urine, and with the dirt from their feet, that they do not care for them; they eat but little of them, and what they do eat does not nourish them like the fresh roots.

The second way is by inclosing the sheep in hurdles, as in the former; but in this they pull up all the turnips which they suppose the sheep can eat in one day, and daily remove the hurdles over the ground whence they have pulled up the turnips: by this means there is no waste, and less expense, for a person may in two hours pull up all those turnips; the remaining shells of which would have employed three or four labourers a-day to get up with their crooks out of the ground trodden hard by the feet of the sheep; and the worst is, that as in the method of pulling up first, the turnips are eaten up clean; in this way, by the hook, they are wasted, the sheep do not eat any great part of them, and when the ground comes to be tilled afterwards for a crop of corn, the fragments of the turnips are seen in such quantities on the surface, that half the crop at least seems to have been wasted.

The third manner is to pull up the turnips, and remove them in a cart or waggon to some other place, spreading them on a fresh place every day; by this method the sheep will eat them up clean, both root and leaves. The great advantage of this method is, when there is a piece land not far off which wants dung more than that where the turnips grew, which perhaps is also too wet for the sheep in winter, and then the turnips will, by the too great moisture and dirt of the soil, sometimes spoil the sheep, and give them the rot. Yet such ground will often bring forth more and larger turnips than dry land, and when they are carried off, and eaten by the sheep on ploughed land, in dry weather, and on green sward in wet weather, the sheep will succeed much better; and the moist soil where the turnips grew not being trodden by the sheep, will be much fitter for a crop of corn than if they had been fed with turnips on it. The expense of hurdles, and the trouble of moving them, are saved in this case, which will counterbalance at least the expense of pulling the turnips and carrying them to the places where they are to be eaten. They must always be carried off for oxen.

The diseases to which sheep are subject are theft, rot, red-water, foot-rot and hooving, scab, dunt, rickets, fly-struck, flux, and bursting. Of each of these we shall give the best description in our power, with the most approved remedies.

The rot, which is a very pernicious disease, has of late engaged the attention of scientific farmers. But neither its nature nor its cause has yet been fully ascertained. Some valuable and judicious observations have, however, been made upon it, which ought to be circulated, as they may perhaps, in many cases, furnish an antidote for this malignant distemper, or be the means of leading others to some more efficacious remedy. Some have supposed the rot owing to the quick growth of grass or herbs that grow in wet places. Without premising, that all-bounteous Providence has given to every animal its peculiar taste, by which it distinguishes the food proper for its preservation and support, if not vitiated by fortuitous circumstances, it seems very difficult to discover on philosophical principles why the quick growth of grass should render it noxious, or why any herb should at one season produce fatal effects, by the admission of pure water only into its component parts, which at other times is perfectly innocent, although brought to its utmost strength and maturity by the genial influence of the sun. Besides, the constant practice of most farmers in the kingdom, who with the greatest security feed their meadows in the spring, when the grass shoots quick and is full of juices, militates directly against this opinion.

Mr Arthur Young, to whom agriculture is much indebted, ascribes this disease to moisture. In confirmation of this opinion, which has been generally adopted, we are informed, in the Bath Society papers*, by a correspondent, that there was a paddock adjoining to his park which had for several years caused the rot in most of the sheep which were put into it. In 1769 he drained it, and from that time his sheep were free from this malady. But there are facts which render it doubtful that moisture is the sole cause. We are told, the dry limed land in Derbyshire will produce the rot as well as water meadows and stagnant marshes; and that in some wet grounds sheep sustain no injury for many weeks.

Without attempting to enumerate other hypotheses its cause, which the ingenious have formed on this subject, we shall pursue a different method in order to discover the cause. On dissecting sheep that die of this disorder, a great number of insects called flukes (see Fasciola) are found in the liver. That these flukes are the cause of the rot, therefore, is evident; but to explain how they come into the liver is not so easy. It is probable that they are swallowed by the sheep along with their food while in the egg state. The eggs deposited in the tender germ are conveyed with the food into the stomach and intestines of the animals, whence they are received into the lacteal vessels, carried off in the chyle, and pass into the blood; nor do they meet with any obstruction until they arrive at the capillary vessels of the liver. Here, as the blood filtrates through the extreme branches, answering to those of the vena porta in the human body, the fecerning vessels are too minute to admit the impregnated ova, which, adhering to the membrane, produce those animalcula that feed upon the liver and destroy the sheep. They much resemble the flat fish called plaice, are sometimes as large as a silver two-pence, and are found both in the liver and in the pipe (answering to that of the vena cava) which conveys the blood from the liver to the heart.

The common and most obvious objection to that opinion is, that this insect is never found but in the liver, or in some parts of the viscera, of sheep that are diseased more or less; and that they must therefore be bred there. But this objection will lose its force, when we consider that many insects undergo several changes, and exist under forms extremely different from each other. Some of them may therefore appear and be well known under one shape, and not known to be the same under a second or third. The fluke may be the last state of some aquatic animal which we at present very well know under one or other of its previous forms.

If this be admitted, it is easy to conceive that sheep may, on wet ground especially, take multitudes of these ova or eggs in with their food; and that the stomach and viscera of the sheep being a proper nidus for them, they of course hatch, and appearing in their fluke or last state, feed on the liver of the animal, and occasion this disorder.

It is a singular fact, "that no ewe ever has the rot while she has a lamb by her side." The reason of this may be, that the impregnated ovum passes into the milk, and never arrives at the liver. The rot is fatal to sheep, hares, and rabbits, and sometimes to calves; but never infects animals of a larger size.

Miller says that parsley is a good remedy for the rot in sheep. Perhaps a strong decoction of this plant, or the oil extracted from its seeds, might be of service. Salt is also a useful remedy. It seems to be an acknowledged fact that salt marl does not produce the rot. Salt indeed is pernicious to most insects. Common salt and water expel worms from the human body; and sea-weed, if laid in a garden, will drive away insects; but if the salt is separated by steeping it in the purest spring-water for a few days, it abounds with animalculæ of various species.

Lisle, in his book of husbandry, informs us of a farmer who cured his whole flock of the rot by giving each sheep a handful of Spanish salt for five or six mornings successively. The hint was probably taken from the Spaniards, who frequently give their sheep salt to keep them healthy. On some farms perhaps the utmost caution cannot always prevent this disorder. In wet and warm seasons the prudent farmer will remove his sheep from the lands liable to rot. Those who have it not in their power to do this may give each sheep a spoonful of common salt, with the same quantity of flour, in a quarter of a pint of water, once or twice a-week. When the rot is recently taken, the same remedy given four or five mornings successively will in all probability effect a cure. The addition of the flour and water (in the opinion of Mr Price of Salisbury, to whose excellent paper in the Bath Society's Transactions we own ourselves much indebted) will not only abate the pungency of the salt, but dispose it to mix with the chyle in a more gentle and efficacious manner.

A farmer of considerable lordship in Bohemia visiting the hot-wells of Carlsbad, related how he preferred his flocks of sheep from the mortal distemper which raged in the wet year 1769, of which so many perished. His preservative was very simple and very cheap: "He fed them every night, when turned under a shed, cover, or stables, with hashed fodder straw; and, by eating it greedily, they all escaped."

"Red-water" is a disorder most prevalent on wet grounds. I have heard (says Mr Arthur Young) that it has sometimes been cured by tapping, as for a dropfly. This operation is done on one side of the belly towards the flank, just below the wool.

"The foot-rot and bowing, which is very common on low fenny grounds, is cured by keeping the part clean, and lying at rest in a dry pasture."

The scab is a cutaneous disease owing to an impurity of the blood, and is most prevalent in wet lands or in rainy seasons. It is cured by tobacco-water, brimstone, and alum, boiled together, and then rubbed over the sheep. If only partial, tar and grease may be sufficient. But the simplest and most efficacious remedy for this disease was communicated to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., by Sir Joseph Banks.

"Take one pound of quicksilver, half a pound of Venice turpentine, half a pint of oil of turpentine, and compound four pounds of hogs lard (c). Let them be rubbed in a mortar till the quicksilver is thoroughly incorporated with the other ingredients; for the proper mode of doing which, it may be proper to take the advice, or even the assistance, of some apothecary or other person fitted to make such mixtures.

"The method of using the ointment is this: Beginning at the head of the sheep, and proceeding from between the ears along the back to the end of the tail, the wool is to be divided in a furrow till the skin can be touched; and as the furrow is made, the finger slightly dipped in the ointment is to be drawn along the bottom of it, where it will leave a blue stain on the skin and adjoining wool: from this furrow similar ones must be drawn down the shoulders and thighs to the legs, as far as they are woolly; and if the animal is much infected, two more should be drawn along each side parallel to that on the back, and one down each side between the fore and hind legs.

"Immediately after being dressed, it is usual to turn the sheep among other stock, without any fear of the infection being communicated; and there is scarcely an instance of a sheep suffering any injury from the application. In a few days the blotches dry up, the itching ceases, and the animal is completely cured: it is generally, however, thought proper not to delay the operation beyond Michaelmas.

"The hippoidea ovina, called in Lincolnshire sheep fagg, an animal well known to all shepherds, which lives among the wool, and is hurtful to the thriving of sheep both by the pain its bite occasions and the blood it sucks, is destroyed by this application, and the wool is not at all injured. Our wool-buyers purchase the fleeces on which the stain of the ointment is visible, rather in preference to others, from an opinion that the use of it having preserved the animal from being vexed either with the fleab or fagg, the wool is less liable to the defects of joints or knots; a fault observed to proceed from every sudden stop in the thriving of the animal, either from want of food or from disease.

"This mode of curing was brought into that part of Lincolnshire where my property is situated about 12 years ago, by Mr Stephenson of Mareham, and is now so generally received, that the scab, which used to be the terror of the farmers, and which frequently deterred the more careful of them from taking the advantage of pasturing their sheep in the fertile and extensive commons with which that district abounds, is no longer regarded with any apprehension: by far the most of them have their flock anointed in autumn, when they return from the common, whether they show any symptoms of scab or not; and having done so, conclude them

(c) By some unaccountable mistake the last ingredient, the four pounds of hogs lard, is omitted in the receipt published in the Transactions of the Society; a circumstance that might be productive of bad effects.—The leaf which contained the receipt has since been cancelled, and a new one printed. them safe for some time from either giving or receiving infection. There are people who employ themselves in the busines, and contract to anoint our large sheep at five shillings a score, insuring for that price the success of the operation; that is, agreeing, in case many of the sheep break out afresh, to repeat the operation gratis even some months afterwards.

The dumb is a distemper caused by a bladder of water gathering in the head. No cure for this has yet been discovered.

The rickets is a hereditary disease for which no antidote is known. The first symptom is a kind of light-headedness, which makes the affected sheep appear wilder than usual when the shepherd or any person approaches him. He bounces up suddenly from his lair, and runs to a distance, as though he were pursued by dogs. In the second stage the principal symptom is the sheep's rubbing himself against trees, &c., with such fury as to pull off his wool and tear away his flesh. "The dittoed animal has now a violent itching in his skin, the effect of an highly inflamed blood; but it does not appear that there is ever any cutaneous eruption or salutary critical discharge. In short, from all circumstances, the fever appears now to be at its height."—The last stage of this disease seems only to be the progress of dissolution, after an unfavourable crisis. The poor animal, as condemned by Nature, appears stupid, walks irregularly (whence probably the name rickets), generally lies, and eats little; these symptoms increase in degree till death, which follows a general consumption, as appears upon dissection of the carcass; the juices and even solids having suffered a general dissolution."

In order to discover the seat and nature of this disease, sheep that die of it ought to be dissected. This is said to have been done by one gentleman, Mr Beal; and he found in the brain or membranes adjoining a maggot about a quarter of an inch long, and of a brownish colour. A few experiments might easily determine this fact.

The fly-bruck is cured by clipping the wool off as far as infected, and rubbing the parts dry with lime or wood-ashes; carriers oil will heal the wounds, and prevent their being struck any more; or they may be cured with care, without clipping, with oil of turpentine, which will kill all the vermin where it goes; but the former is the surest way.

The flux is another disease to which sheep are subject. The best remedy is said to be, to house the sheep immediately when this distemper appears, to keep them very warm, and feed them on dry hay, giving them frequent siftings of warm milk and water. The cause of that distemper is either their feeding on wet lands, or on grass that is become mossy by the lands having been fed many years without being ploughed. When the farmer perceives his sheep-walks to become mossy, or to produce bad grass, he should either plough or manure with hot lime, making kilns either very near or in the sheep walks, because the hotter the lime is put on, the sweeter the grass comes up, and that early in the year.

Burling, or as it is called in some places the blight, attacks sheep when driven into fresh grass or young clover. They overeat themselves, foam at the mouth, fweel exceedingly, breathe very quick and short, then jump up, and instantly fall down dead. In this case, the only chance of saving their life is by stabbing them in the maw with an instrument made for the purpose. The instrument is a hollow tube, with a pointed weapon passing through it. A hole is made with the pointed weapon; which is immediately withdrawn, and the hole is kept open by inserting the tube till the wind is discharged.

Sheep are infested with worms in their nose called Account of alirus ovum, and produced from the egg of a large two-winged fly. The frontal sinuses above the nose in sheep and other animals are the places where these worms live in sheep, and attain their full growth. These sinuses are always full of a soft white matter, which furnishes these worms with a proper nourishment, and are sufficiently large for their habitation; and when they have here acquired their destined growth, in which they are fit to undergo their changes for the fly-state, they leave their old habitation, and, falling to the earth, bury themselves there; and when they are hatched into flies, the female, when she has been impregnated by the male, knows that the nose of a sheep or other animal is the only place for her to deposit her eggs, in order to their coming to maturity. Mr Valliniert, to whom the world owes so many discoveries in the insect class, is the first who has given any true account of the origin of these worms. But though their true history had been till that time unknown, the creatures themselves were very early discovered, and many ages since were esteemed great medicines in epilepsies.

The fly produced from this worm has all the time of its life a very lazy disposition, and does not like to make any use either of its legs or wings. Its head and corselet together are about as long as its body, which is composed of five rings, streaked on the back; a pale yellow and brown are there disposed in irregular spots; the belly is of the same colours, but they are there more regularly disposed, for the brown here makes three lines, one in the middle, and one on each side, and all the intermediate spaces are yellow. The wings are nearly of the same length with the body, and are a little inclined in their position, so as to lie upon the body; they do not, however, cover it; but a naked space is left between them. The allers or petty wings which are found under each of the wings are of a whitish colour, and perfectly cover the balancers, so that they are not to be seen without lifting up thefe.

The fly will live two months after it is first produced, but will take no nourishment of any kind; and possibly it may be of the same nature with the butterflies, which never take any food during the whole time of their living in that state. Reaumur, Hist. Inf. vol iv. p. 552, &c.

To find a proper composition for marking sheep is a matter of great importance, as great quantities of wood tan for every year rendered useless by the pitch and tar marking with which they are usually marked. The requisite qualities for such a composition are, that it be cheap, that the colour be strong and lasting, so as to bear the changes of weather, and not to injure the wool. Dr Lewis recommends for this purpose melted tallow, with too much charcoal in fine powder mixed into it as is sufficient to make it of a full black colour, and of a thick consistence. This mixture, being applied warm with a marking iron, on pieces of flannel, quickly fixed or hardened, bore moderate rubbing, resisted the sun and rain, and... and yet could be washed out freely with soap, or ley, or stale urine. In order to render it still more durable, and prevent its being rubbed off, with the tallow may be melted an eighth, fifth, or fourth, of its weight of tar, which will readily wash out along with it from the wool. Lewis's Com. Phil. Techn. p. 361.

**Sheep-Stealing.** See Theft.

**Sheering,** in the sea-language. When a ship is not steered steadily, they say the sheers, or goes sheer; or when, at anchor, the goes in and out by means of the current of the tide, they also say the sheers.

**Sheerness,** a fort in Kent, seated on the point where the river Medway falls into the Thames. It was built by king Charles II. after the insult of the Dutch, who burnt the men of war at Chatham. The buildings belonging to it, in which the officers lodge, make a pretty little neat town; and there is also a yard and a dock, a chapel and a chaplain. Mr Lyons, who sailed with the Honourable Captain Phipps in his voyage towards the pole, fixed the longitude of Sheerness to 0° 48' E. Its latitude 51° 25'.

**Sheers,** a name given to an engine used to hoist or displace the lower masts of a ship. The sheers employed for this purpose in the royal navy are composed of several long masts, whose heels rest upon the side of the hulk, and having their heads declining outward from the perpendicular, so as to hang over the vessel whose masts are to be fixed or displaced. The tackles, which extend from the head of the mast to the sheerheads, are intended to pull in the latter toward the masthead, particularly when they are charged with the weight of a mast after it is raised out of any ship, which is performed by strong tackles depending from the sheerheads. The effort of these tackles is produced by two capstans, fixed on the deck for this purpose.

In merchant ships this machine is composed of two masts or props, erected in the same vessel wherein the mast is to be planted, or from whence it is to be removed. The lower ends of these props rest on the opposite sides of the deck, and their upper parts are fastened across, so as that a tackle which hangs from the intersection may be almost perpendicularly above the station of the mast to which the mechanical powers are applied. These sheers are secured by stays, which extend forward and aft to the opposite extremities of the vessel.

**Sheet-Lead.** See Plumbery.

**Sheet,** in sea-language, a rope fastened to one or both the lower corners of a sail, to extend and retain it in a particular station. When a ship sails with a lateral wind, the lower corner of the main and fore sail are fastened by a tack and a sheet; the former being to windward, and the latter to leeward; the tack, however, is entirely disfused with a stern wind, whereas the sail is never spread without the affluence of one or both of the sheets. The stay-sails and studding-sails have only one tack and one sheet each: the stay-tack sails are always fastened forward, and the sheet drawn aft; but the studding-tack draws the under clue of the sail to the extremity of the boom, whereas the sheet is employed to extend the inmost.

**Sheffield,** a town in the west riding of Yorkshire, about 162 miles from London, is a large, thriving, populous town on the borders of Derbyshire; has a fine stone bridge over the Don, and another over the Sheaf, and a church built in the reign of Henry I. It had a castle built in the reign of Henry III. in Sheffield which, or else in the manor-house of the Park, Mary Queen of Scots was prisoner 16 or 17 years; but after the death of Charles I. it was, with several others, by order of parliament demolished. In 1673 an hospital was erected here, and endowed with 200l. a-year. There is a charity-school for 30 boys, and another for 30 girls. This town has been noted several hundred years for cutlers and smiths manufactures, which were encouraged and advanced by the neighbouring mines of iron, particularly for files and knives, or whistles; for the last of which especially it has been a staple for above 300 years; and it is reputed to excel Birmingham in these wares, as much as it is surpassed by it in locks, hinges, nails, and polished steel. The first mills in England for turning grindstones were also set up here. The houses look black from the continual smoke of the forges. Here are 600 master cutlers, incorporated by the style of the Cutlers of Hallamshire (of which this is reckoned the chief town), who employ not less than 40,000 persons in the iron manufactures; and each of the masters gives a particular stamp to his wares. There is a large market on Tuesday for many commodities, but especially for corn, which is bought up here for the whole West Riding, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire. It has fairs on Tuesday after Trinity-Sunday, and November 28. In the new market-place, erected by the Duke of Norfolk, the shambles are built upon a most excellent plan, and strongly inclosed. There are several other new good buildings, such as a large and elegant octagon chapel belonging to the hospital or almshouses; likewise a good assembly-room and theatre. We must not omit the large steam-engine, lately finished, for the purpose of polishing and grinding the various sorts of hardware. The parish being very large, as well as populous, Mary I. incorporated 12 of the chief inhabitants, and their successors for ever, by the style of the Twelve Capital Burgesses of Sheffield, empowering them to elect and ordain three priests to assist the vicar, who were to be paid out of certain lands and rents which she gave out of the crown; and since this settlement two more chapels have been built in two hamlets of this parish, which are served by two of the assistants, while the third, in his turn, helps the vicar in his parish-church. James I. founded a free grammar-school here, and appointed 13 school burgesses to manage the revenue, and appoint the master and usher. A new chapel was built lately by the contributions of the people of the town and of the neighbouring nobility and gentry. Water is conveyed by pipes into Sheffield, whose inhabitants pay but a moderate rent for it. In the neighbourhood there are some mines of alum. The remains of the Roman fortification between this town and Rotherham, which is six miles lower down the river, are still visible; and here is also the famous trench of five miles long, by some called Devil's or Dane's Bank, and by others Kemp Bank and Temple's Bank. W. Long. i. 29. N. Lat. 53. 20.

**Sheffield (John),** duke of Buckinghamshire, an eminent writer of the last and present century, of great personal bravery, and an able minister of state, was born about 1650. He lost his father at nine years of age; and his mother marrying lord Offulton, the care of his education was left entirely to a governor, who did not greatly improve him in his studies. Finding that he was deficient in many parts of literature, he resolved to devote a certain number of hours every day to his studies; and thereby improved himself to the degree of learning he afterwards attained. Though possessed of a good estate, he did not abandon himself to pleasure and indolence, but entered a volunteer in the second Dutch war; and accordingly was in that famous naval engagement where the duke of York commanded as admiral: on which occasion his lordship behaved so gallantly, that he was appointed commander of the Royal Catharine. He afterward made a campaign in the French service under M. de Turenne. As Tangier was in danger of being taken by the Moors, he offered to head the forces which were sent to defend it; and accordingly was appointed to command them. He was then earl of Mulgrave, and one of the lords of the bed-chamber to king Charles II. The Moors retired on the approach of his majesty's forces; and the result of the expedition was the blowing up of Tangier. He continued in several great posts during the short reign of king James II. till that unfortunate prince was dethroned. Lord Mulgrave, though he paid his respects to king William before he was advanced to the throne, yet did not accept of any post in the government till some years after. In the sixth year of William and Mary he was created marquis of Normanby in the county of Lincoln. He was one of the most active and zealous opponents of the bill which took away Sir John Fenwick's life; and exerted the utmost vigour in carrying through the Trefon Bill, and the bill for Triennial Parliaments. He enjoyed some considerable posts under king William, and enjoyed much of his favour and confidence. In 1702 he was sworn lord privy-seal; and in the same year was appointed one of the commissioners to treat of an union between England and Scotland. In 1703 he was created duke of Normanby, and soon after duke of Buckinghamshire. In 1711 he was made steward of her majesty's household, and president of the council. During queen Anne's reign he was but once out of employment; and then he voluntarily resigned, being attached to what were called the Tory principles. Her majesty offered to make him lord chancellor; but he declined the office. He was instrumental in the change of the ministry in 1710. A circumstance that reflects the highest honour on him is, the vigour with which he acted in favour of the unhappy Catalans, who afterward were so inhumanly sacrificed. He was survived by only one legitimate son (who died at Rome in 1735); but left several natural children. His worst enemies allow that he lived on very good terms with his last wife, natural daughter to king James II. the late duchess of Buckingham, a lady who always behaved with a dignity suitable to the daughter of a king. He died in 1721.

He was admired by the poets of his age; by Dryden, Prior, and Garth. His Essay on Poetry was applauded by Addison, and his Rehearsal is still read with pleasure. His writings were splendidly printed in 1723, in two volumes 4to; and have since been reprinted in 1729, in two vols 8vo. The first contains his poems on various subjects: the second, his prose works; which consist of historical memoirs, speeches in parliament, characters, dialogues, critical observations, essays, and letters. It may be proper to observe, that the edition of 1729 is calibrated; some particulars relating to the revolution in that of 1723 having given offence.