=37.= 6. Here I. R. inserts--Of Sheepe there be two sorts, that is, blacke and white, but the white is the best, for the Wooll they beare there bee of diuers Staples: some long and hairie, as those bredde in barren cold Countries, and that is the worst; some hard, short, and curld, as those bred in woody grounds, and that is better: some long, thicke, soft, and curled, and that is the best of all: and they be bredde vpon fine heathes, where they haue short, dry, and sweet foode. The profit of wooll the world can witnesse, and yeerely your Ewes will bring forth Lambes, which is an other commoditie; and lastly, in some Countries, as in Suffolke, Essex, and Kent, with many other, they milke their Ewes, a gaine equall to the rest. Therfore when you chuse sheepe, elect them big-boand and well-woolld, their colours beeing white. For _Virgill_ faines, that _Cynthia_, the Goddess of Chastitie, in whose thoughts could neuer enter impuritie, was enamored of _Endimion_ onely through hys flocke of white sheepe. When therfore you haue got a flock of white sheepe, then you must chuse Rams to equall them, for preseruing the breede: your Ram would bee white also, and ouer and beside you must looke in his mouth, and if the roofe thereof be blacke, then is hee not good: for either hee will then get blacke Lambes, or at least staine theyr fleeces with a duskie colour. The greater the homes of your Ram is, the worse; for the pollard is the chiefest Ram. 14. _blyssomme or ryde_] blossome and arride. 16. _at the Exaltation of the holye crosse_] in September. 32. I. R. adds--Wherfore be carefull to keepe thy sheepe well, both with hay in Winter as well as with grasse in Sommer. Also in the Winter such Sheepe as thou intendest to fatte and sell, let them either haue straw or fleakes to lie vpon, for the cold earth will both disease them and hinder their feeding. =38.= 3. _trouse_] brouse. See these words in the glossary. 6, 7. The sense is--and if she (the ewe) will not stand sideways beside the lamb; _i.e._ in such a position that the lamb can approach her side. There is an evident misprint in l. 7, where the original has _ewe_ for _lambe_. I. R. tries to make sense by turning _all_ into _call_; thus--“and if she wil not stand side-long, call the Ewe and giue her a little hay.” This is an evident attempt at making sense by falsifying the grammar of the text; for Fitzherbert does not say “_and_ give her,” but “_than_ gyue her,” _i.e._ then give her. Consequently all that precedes the word _than_ belongs to the clause containing the supposition. =39.= 9. After _theym_, I. R. inserts--Yet _Virgill_ aduiseth you in such a case to haue a leather full of sharp poynted nayles, which being put about the musell of the Lambe, if it offer to sucke, it will so pricke the dugges of the Ewe th_a_t she will not suffer it, but by that meanes weane it perforce: and by the same deuise you may weane all maner of Cattell whatsoeuer. See Virg. Georg. iii. 399.