it with money; and the truth of this is apparent by the many horse-shoes nailed upon the shire-hall door; and their badge is a horse-shoe.' This shire-hall is one of the oldest mansions in the kingdom, and was built by Wakelin de Ferrers, son of an earl of that name.
Evelyn, travelling in 1654, writes in his Diary: 'I took a journey into the northern parts. Riding through Oakham, a pretty town in Rutlandshire, famous for the tenure of the barons, who held it by the taking off a shoe from every nobleman's horse that passed with his lord through the street, unless redeemed with a certain piece of money. In token of this are several gilded shoes nailed on the castle gate.' And Gough, in his Camden, asserts that the bailiff of the town had power to take a shoe off the horse of any man of noble birth who declined to pay the tribute money; the amount to be paid being left to the equestrian's generosity, while his liberality regulated the size of the horse-shoe inscribed with his name and title, which was set up to commemorate the event.
The origin of this singular impost or tenure is not known. A recent visitor, an army veterinary surgeon, says: 'I was much amused about four years ago, when marching through Oakham, a town in Rutlandshire, to find a very arbitrary law in existence there. On looking over the court-house, I found the walls literally covered with horse-shoes, and some of them of the most exaggerated and fantastic shape, gilt and emblazoned with the heraldic devices peculiar to their donors, and others the simple shoe. When I questioned the worthy old guide relative to the eccentricity of the act, he informed me that it originated with Elizabeth. Her Majesty, when
