well-established fact, not alone in flavour, but also in tenderness; and
that the nature of the pasture on which the sheep is fed influences the
flavour of the meat, is equally certain, and shown in the estimation in
which those flocks are held which have grazed on the thymy heath of
Bamstead in Sussex. It is also a well-established truth, that the
_larger_ the frame of the animal, the _coarser_ is the meat, and that
_small bones_ are both guarantees for the fineness of the breed and the
delicacy of the flesh. The sex too has much to do in determining the
quality of the meat; in the males, the lean is closer in fibre, deeper
in colour, harder in texture, less juicy, and freer from fat, than in
the female, and is consequently tougher and more difficult of digestion;
but probably age, and the character of the pasturage on which they are
reared, has, more than any other cause, an influence on the quality and
tenderness of the meat.