WELSH KING'S COURT. 267 



shall begin to make four horse-shoes, with their comple- 

 ment of nails, icntii he places them under the feet of 

 the kings horse, to convey away an offender.' The duties 

 of the smith were : — ' He is to make all the necessaries of 

 the palace gratuitously, except three things : these are, 

 the suspending irons of the rim of a caldron, the blade of a 

 coulter, the socket of a fuel-axe, and head of a spear ; for 

 each of these three things he is to be paid the value of 

 his labour. He is to do what is wanted by the officers of 

 the palace gratuitously ; they are to present him with 

 clothes for each piece of work. He is entitled to the 

 "ceinion."' His seat in the palace is on the end of the 

 bench, near the priest of the household. His protection 

 is, from the time he shall begin his work in the morning 

 until he shall finish at night.' 



There were three arts which the son of a taeog (or 

 villain) was not allowed to learn 'without the permission 

 of his lord ; and if he should learn them, he must not 

 exercise them, except a scholar, after he has taken holy 

 orders : these are scholarship, smithcrcft, and bardism.' 



To show the value put upon the extremity of a horse's 

 limb, it is enacted that ' the worth of a horse's foot is his 

 full worth.' ^ 



' Four horse-shoes {Pecleyr pedhol),W\\\\ their com- 

 plement of nails, are two pence in value ;' a small sum, if 

 the Welsh money bore a like value to that then current 

 among the Anglo-Saxons, five of their pence making one 

 shilling. 



' The ceinion was the first liquor that came into the hall. 



^ Book iii. chap. 4. We are reminded by this of the saying of 

 Jeremiah Bridges, ' No Foot no Horse ; ' or, as our French friends 

 have it, ' Pas de Pied, pas de Cheval.' 



