OF FARRIERY. 



II 



who was farrier to Charles II., and whose 

 family, it appears by his book, had served the 

 crown in that capacity upwards of two 

 hundred years. Snape's anatomy of the 

 Horse proves him to have been a well-in- 

 formed farrier. His anatomical system, ar- 

 rangements, and nomenclature, were, of course, 

 drawn from the Italian school ; but he dis- 

 sected, and his descriptions were confirmed by 

 his own observations. His numerous plates 

 are bold, accurate, and handsomely executed. 

 Whether or not he published the book of 

 cures which he promised, we are uninformed ; 

 but he was, doubtless, far better qualified for 

 that task than those of his profession upon 

 whom that branch of the Veterinary art un- 

 fortunately devolved. Stephens, Martin, Clif- 

 ford, Morgan, were very early writers among 

 the leeches and farriers. The book of Mascal, 

 farrier to James I. is most laughably illiterate ; 

 and we cannot help wondering with a late 

 author how such a book could possibly pass 

 through numerous editions in a learned age, 

 and which even possessed learned and rational 

 books on the same subject. The above list 

 may be concluded with De Gray, and the 

 celebrated Gervase Markham, a cotemporary 

 of Blundeville, who continued to publish until 

 after the Restoration, and whose works were 

 stuffed with every absurd, barbarous, and 

 abominable juggling trick, as well as with 

 every usefid invention which had issued from 

 the brains of either ancients or moderns. As 

 a specimen of the medical part of the horse- 

 leech craft of Markham, he prescribes human 

 ordure in certain cases for the Horse, both ex- 

 ternally and internally. Yet this man's works 

 had a most rapid and universal sale, and con- 

 tinued in repute until the days of Gibson, and 

 even long afterwards, among the country 



leeches and farriers. It must be allowed ihat 

 Markhams book contained the fullest detail of 

 the practice of the farrier, with a delineation 

 of his instruments, not materially different from 

 those of the present day. 



Blundeville wrote sensibly and respectably 

 on the general subject of the Horse, according 

 to the continental, the then fashionable prac- 

 tice. Baret, in the succeeding reign, that 

 of James I., wrote a learned treatise, entitled, 

 "An Hipponomie, or the Vineyard of Horse- 

 manship," in which he ably, and from obvious 

 great experience, discusses all the relative 

 branches, including the principles and practice 

 of racing, and of that system of equitation pe- 

 culiar to, and so generally prevalent in this 

 country. The huge folio of the Duke of New- 

 castle gives us the regular management of the 

 Horse from the continental schools, with an ac- 

 count of the different races of the animal ; in 

 which his Grace was a connoisseur of high 

 celebrity. 



Throughout, the same internal Veterinary 

 science in France seems to have remained 

 almost exclusively in the hands of the marshals 

 or farriers, amongst whom Solloysel was the 

 most celebrated writer of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury ; his works were afterwards abridged 

 and translated into English by Sir William 

 Hope. 



Until the reign of George I. the medical 

 care of Horses and other domestic animals was 

 confined entirely to the class of farriers, leeches, 

 and cow doctors. Considering the superior 

 value of animals in this country, the former 

 neglect of them would appear astonishing, did 

 it not subsist at this moment in so considerable 

 a degree ; and that from causes easily ascer- 

 tainable, but with difficulty to be surmounted. 



The medical system of the farriers, as de- 



