mutton, till nothing but their fullness should stint



238 . STATE OV EUROPE [Chip. DL

emie. Wool was still the principal article of export and source of
revenue. Subsidies granted by every parliament upon this artide
wei*e, on account of the scarcity of money, commonly taken in kind.
To prevent evasion of this duty seems to have been the principle of
those multifarious regulations, which fix the staple, or market for
wool, in certain towns, either in England, or, more commonly, on
the Continent. To these all wool was to be carried, and the tax was
there collected* It is not easy, however, to comprehend the drift of
all the provisions relating to the staple, many of which tend to bene-
fit ioreigu at the expense of English merchants. By degrees, the
exportation of woollen cloths increased so as to diminish that of the
raw material, but the latter was not absolutely prohibited during the
period under review (1); althoiigh some restrictions w^re imposed
upon it by Edward IV. For. a much earlier statute in the lith of
Edwanl III., making the exportation of wool a capital felony, was in
it$ terms provisional, until it should be otherwise ordered by the
council; and the king almost immediately set it aside (2).
