"Important purebred dual purpose sheep."*

The romney is a longwool sheep that originated in England, where it developed an inherited ability to resist foot rot and keep quality fleeces over long, wet winters. Characteristics: docile, somewhat slow maturing, adaptable to different pastures. Bred in New Zealand and the United States.


* Okay, so wool is one purpose. I can't begin to imagine, or choose not to, imagine the other one. Romney presumably be used as a surname, which I am inferring from Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem-- I'm fairly certain she is not writing about a sheep:

    Romney

    Nay, Romney, nay---I will not hear you say
      Those words again: "I love you, love you sweet!"
      You are profane---blasphemous. I repeat,
    You are no actor for so grand a play.

    You love with all your heart? Well, that may be;
      Some cups are fashioned shallow. Should I try
      To quench my thirst from one of those, when dry---
    I who have had a full bowl proffered me---

    A new bowl brimming with a draught divine,
      One single taste thrilled to the finger-tips?
      Think you I even care to bathe my lips
    With this poor sweetened water you call wine?

    And though I spilled the nectar ere 'twas quaffed,
      And broke the bowl in wanton folly, yet
      I would die of my thirst ere I would wet
    My burning lips with any meaner draught.

    So leave me, Romney. One who has seen a play
      Enacted by a star cannot endure
      To see it rendered by an amateur.
    You know not what Love is---now go away!

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Poetical Works, (1917)