In the Stable, Field, and on the hood. 123 



the men and their employers, and you will find that the 

 principal recommendation of half their men is that they 

 were farriers in our army, and being so, must understand 

 their business. From these large shops emanate from 

 time to time libels upon their brother Vulcans, the 

 country shoeing-smiths, who are held up to ridicule by 

 the gentlemen of large shops in town, where they are 

 under the hallowed protection of having served in the 

 army, and their employers have tacked to their names 

 M.R.C.V.S., which may be literally read, " makers of 

 rough, coarse, vexatious shoes." The writer's experience 

 has led him to the conclusion that if you wanted your 

 horses well shod, and thought of taking them to these 

 large shops, and asked his advice upon them, he would 

 give you the same advice that Punch gave to the young 

 man about getting married, " Don't." As a general rule, 

 these large firms turn out the worst work ; they do not 

 take time enough to fit the shoes, but cut and rasp the 

 foot to fit the shoe. In justice to the village smith, he, 

 as a rule, will shoe the gentleman's horse better than at 

 the large shops in town. If he has my lord's or the 

 squire's horses to shoe, he is looked upon by the 

 villagers as a man of great skill, and he devotes much 

 time and labour to shoeing them, knowing that if they 

 are not shod well he will in all probability lose most of 

 the work in the village, as where the squire's horse goes 

 the farmer follows ; and, radical though it may appear, 

 yet the writer can positively assert that the best shoeing- 

 smiths he has met with in England had been in the 

 village smithy, and men who could not boast of a 

 military training, but brought sound common sense to 

 bear upon their work. 



