subject of shoeing; although it is probable their efforts to improve it met with little success.
In England, the form of the shoes in ordinary use would seem to have varied to a notable degree in different parts of the country, and on one occasion this variety gave rise to a remarkable incident connected with the Civil War that broke out about the middle of the century. When Charles II. was making his escape from England in the winter of 1649, and got as far as Lynne, he put up at an inn in a village where his attempts at getting away, and his being somewhere in the locality, were well known. 'The passengers who had lodged in the inn that night, had, as soon as they were up, sent for a smith to visit their horses, it being a hard frost. The smith, when he had done what he was sent for, according to the custom of that people, examined the feet of the other two horses (the king's) to find more work. When he had observed them, he told the host of the house, "that one of those horses had travel'd far; and that he was sure that his four shooes had been made in four several counties." Which (says Lord Clarendon), whether his skill was able to discover or no, was very true. The smith going to the sermon (it was Sunday), told this story to some of his neighbours; and so it came to the ears of the preacher, when his sermon was done.'[1] This preacher was a most enthusiastic puritan, and having strongly suspected Charles to be in the neighbourhood, at once gave the alarm; the king, however, contrived to make a very narrow escape.
Whether it was in grateful recognition of the acuteness manifested by this son of Saint Eloy, or a necessity
- ↑ Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iii. p. 330. Oxford, 1702.
