>>24600958
The accounts of foreign views of Englishmen are great as well
From the account of Emmanual Van Meteren, Antwerp merchant
>"The people are not so laborious and industrious as the Netherlanders or French, as they lead for the most part an indolent life...They keep many lazy servants, and also many wild animals for their pleasure, rather than trouble themselves to cultivate the land...The people are bold, courgaeous, ardent and cruel in war, fiery in attack and having little fear of death; they are not vindictive, but very inconstant, vainglorious, light and deceiving, and very suspicious, especially of foreigners, whom they despise."
From a Venetian Vistor in the 1400s
>Agriculture is not practised in this island beyond what is required for the consumption of the people ; because were they to plough and sow all the land that was capable of cultivation, they might sell a quantity of grain to the surrounding countries. This negligence is, however, atoned for, by an immense profusion of every comestible animal, such as stags, goats, fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, pigs, and an infinity of oxen, which have much larger horns than ours, which proves the mildness of the climate, as horns cannot bear excessive cold ; whence, according to Strabo, in some northern countries, the cattle are without horns. But above all, they have an enormous number of sheep, (6) which yield them quantities of wool of the best quality