PREFACE. 



To all who possess an interest in or a love for the horse, but little 

 apology will be required in otferingfor their acceptance a work like the 

 present. The result of much labour and research, it is an attempt to 

 trace, for the first time in England, the origin and history of the art of 

 shoeing horses. Since the pubhcation, in 183 1, of Bracy Clark's essay 

 ' On the Knowledge of the Ancients respecting the Art of Shoeing the 

 Horse,' the science of ethnological archaeology has made wonderful 

 progress in throwing light upon much that was obscure, or altogether 

 lost, in the darkness of pre-historic, and even historic times, and the 

 manners and customs of ancient peoples have been largely elucidated 

 by it. Some of its rays have been incidentally shed upon the early 

 condition of this apparently humble handicraft, tending considerably to 

 modify, or altogether disprove, the opinions held by various authorities 

 as to the antiquity of horse-shoeing. 



Though but of minor importance in archaeology, yet the discussion 

 of this subject has attracted much notice at times, and engaged a large 

 share of attention on the part of men much celebrated as antiquarians 

 and scholars. And the origin of the art, though of comparatively little 

 moment in an utilitarian point of view, is nevertheless one of those 

 interesting subjects which will always prove interesting to the anthro- 

 pologist and archaeologist. 



To make this portion of the work complete, every discovery of 

 relics connected with the subject has been inquired into, when possible, 

 and no pains have been spared in the investigation of its unwritten 

 story. 



With regard to the Middle Ages, much original research has, I 

 trust, satisfactorily brought the history forward to a period when 

 authentic records become abundant, and these have been made suffi- 

 ciently available for the purpose 5 while, for the succeeding centuries. 



