The manufacture of coarse woollens was extensively carried on in this part of the country from the early part of the fourteenth to beyond the middle of the eighteenth century, owing in a great measure to the cheapness of living, the active industry of the inhabitants, the good supply of water, and above all the ample resources of the district in mineral wealth. Scarely any alteration took place in the processes of manufacture till the latter part of the last century, except the variation of colours or patterns to suit the fashion of the day.

The woollen goods exported in 1688 were valued at £2,37l,942, and consumed at home £901,759. The official value of all the cotton goods exported in 1697, was £5,915. As, however, the official value is a criterion only of tl1e quantity, and not of the real or declared value, it is probable the valuable of the total amount of cotton goods exported in 1697, was not more than about £3,000 or £4,000. I have no means of stating the value of cotton goods consumed at home at that period. The mere annual value of ten second-rate

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