CHAPTER III.

BRITISH WOOL TRADE.

(37) Origin of the Wool Trade;--(38) Invention of Weaving;--(39) Early progress of the Wool Trade;--(40) Introduction of Weaving into Britain;--(41) Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture;--(42) Weavers brought by Edward III. from Flanders;--(43) Regulations regarding _Staples_;--(44) Rapid advance of the Wool Trade in the 14th century;--(45) Subsidies raised by Edward III.;--(46) Progress of the Wool Trade during the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI.;--(47) Encouragement given by Elizabeth to the Trade;--(48) Woollen Cloth monopolized by the Merchant Adventurers;--(49) Consumption of Wool in England increased;-- (50) Severity of the Prohibitory Enactments relating to Wool reprobated;--(51) Emigration of English families to Holland, and Prosperity of the Dutch Manufactures;--(52) Fluctuating state of the Trade between 1635 and 1698;--(53) King William discourages the Irish manufactures;--(54) Statistics of the British Wool Trade in 1699;--(55) British Woollen Manufacturers rivalled by the Swedes;--(56) Regulations relating to Wool from 1740 to 1742; --(57) Impulse given to the Trade by the improvements in Machinery; --(57) Commencement of the 19th century; Duty imposed on imported Wool;--(59) Restrictions on Foreign Wool removed; increase in Manufacturing prosperity;--(60) Countries from which we derive our Wool;--(61) Statistics of the Wool Trade from 1800 to 1830;--(62) Do. in 1832 28