lo Antiquity and Early 



deceitful men, did resort to the woods, which, as 

 FItzstephen Informs us, were in those days in 

 close proximity to the City, and did there secretly 

 patch up saddle-bows in the roughest and most 

 deceitful manner imaginable ; the parts being 

 often simply glued together and made of un- 

 seasoned wood, often perfectly green. Under 

 the cover of night, these would be smuggled into 

 the City and disposed of to dishonest Saddlers 

 and Painters, who after painting them or covering 

 them with leather, velvet, or cloth, would offer 

 them in that unfit state for sale. The conse- 

 quence of all of this was, we are told, that when the 

 wood became dry the saddle-bow would shrink, 

 and the saddle itself collapse, an eventuality 

 which was not unlikely to extend to the rider. 



To remedy all this, it was thereupon ordained 

 that in future no Joiner should make saddle-bows 

 of less than quarters [si noun de qtcarte7^), which 

 Mr. Riley, in his interesting comment on these 

 articles, construes as the quarter of the horizontal 

 section of the trunk of a tree.^ The wood was to 

 be dry before it was painted, and each Joiner was 

 required to have his own mark for marking all 

 goods of his manufacture ; Painters were forbidden 

 to paint any saddle-bow made outside the City, 

 until they had been viewed and approved and 

 received the official mark of the jurors appointed 

 to examine them by the mystery. No Joiners 

 were to be permitted to work in the woods, and 



