Sir Walter Scott, in the 'Bridal of Triermain,'[1] describes an adventure of the same King, where he is tempted to drink from a goblet by Guendolen; but when he—
'Lifted the cup, in act to drink,
A drop escaped the goblet's brink—
Intense as liquid fire from hell,
Upon the charger's neck it fell.
Screaming with agony and fright
He bolted twenty feet upright—
The peasant still can show the dint
Where his hoofs lighted on the flint.'
It is remarkable to find this tradition of hoof-prints in existence beyond England, and to note that it refers to nearly as early a date. On the black rocks of the Dame de Meuse, in the Ardennes, Belgium, is still shown the ineffaceable imprint left there by the horse on which Renaud was mounted. This valiant knight was the supposed contemporary of Charlemagne; his astounding deeds of prowess almost rival those of our own Arthur, and towards the termination of his career he became a chevalier mason, carrying on his back all the enormous blocks of stone required to build the 'Sainte Eglise' at Cologne.
My curiosity was considerably excited, when, in the course of recent researches, I found that a correspondent to 'Notes and Queries,' had sent the following letter to that valuable periodical, in January, 1864: 'Can any of your readers inform me when horses were first shod with iron? I have just had brought to me a stone about five inches over, on which is plainly impressed the mark of a pony's or mule's shoe. It was found near the scythe-
- ↑ Canto ii. 10.
