TRADITIONS OF HOOF-PRINTS. 27,3 



Sir Walter Scott, in tiie 'Bridal of Triermain,' ' de- 

 scribes an adventure of the same King, where he is 

 tempted to drink from a goblet by Guendolen ; but when 

 he— 



' Lifted the cup, in act to drink, 

 A drop escaped the goblet's brink — 

 Intense as liquid fire from hell. 

 Upon the charger's neck it fell. 

 Screaming with agony and fright 

 He bolted twenty feet upright — 

 The peasant still can show the dint 

 Where his hoofs lighted on the flint.' 



It is remarkable to find this tradition of hoof-prints in 

 existence beyond England, and to note that it refers to 

 nearly as early a date. On the black rocks of the Dame 

 de Meuse, in the Ardennes, Belgium, is still shown the in- 

 effaceable imprint left there by the horse on which Renaud 

 was mounted. This valiant knight was the supposed con- 

 temporary of Charlemagne ; his astounding deeds of 

 prowess almost rival those of our own Arthur, and towards 

 the termination of his career he becam^e a chevalier mason, 

 carrying on his back all the enormous blocks of stone re- 

 quired to build the ' Sainte Eglise ' at Cologne. 



My curiosity was considerably excited, when, in the 

 course of recent researches, I found that a correspondent 

 to ' Notes and Queries,' had sent the following letter 

 to that valuable periodical, in January, 1864: 'Can any 

 of your readers inform me when horses were first shod 

 with iron ? I have just had brought to me a stone about 

 five inches over, on which is plainly impressed the mark 

 of a pony's or mule's shoe. It was found near the scythe- 



' Canto ii. 10. 

 18 



