380 ROMNEY MARSH.

have had, of examining these two distinct breeds, in their ordinary, or unimproved states, whether in the respective districts of their propagation, or in Smithfield, I have no hesitation, in pronouncing the breed of Kent to be the most valuable. Their respective claims to superiority, in their present im- proved states, I leave for contending parties to adjust.

The PRESENT STATE OF IMPROVEMENT, of the Kentish sheep, may be considered as that of infancy, compared with the advanced stage of maturity, which the improvement of the Midland or Fen breed has reached.* The rays of light, however, by which the breeders of Kent have hitherto been di- rected, are evidently no other, than emana- tions from the luminary, which enlightened

* The sheep of the /owlands of CAMBRIDGESHIRE, HuNTINGDONSHIRE, NoRTHAMPTONSHIRE, WAR- WICKSHIRE, LEICESTERSHIRE, LINCOLNSHIRE, and YORKSHIRE, appear, pretty evidently, to be of one and the same race, and are, at present, very distin- guishable, from the other breeds of the Island. But whether they are merely a selection, of long standing, from the ancient breed of the country, or have been imported, from the lowlands of the CONTINENT, may now be too late to determine.

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