492 FOREIGN SHOEING SMITHS. [BOOK III* 



mechanical labour were precluded from acquiring 

 the additional information that books contain, after 

 they had once adopted their future calling. Error 

 and prejudice laid fast hold of our ancestors for 

 ages ; and the darker it seemed for the very little 

 glimmering light which did but shine to render it 

 still more visible. But the prevailing national 

 desire of acquiring the minor school endowments, 

 promises a different result at the present day, and 

 particularly on this occasion, when Science has been 

 disrobed of her cloak, and the niceties of Art are 

 sought in language that all can comprehend. 



The shoes affixed to the feet of their horses by 

 the continental farriers differ materially from our 

 own, and from each other; which proves, that no 

 fixed principle is acknowledged by either of them; 

 though the English and the French assimilate to- 

 gether the nearest of any, and are those, it is appre- 

 hended, that approach nearest to perfection ; not- 

 withstanding the controversies and bold assumptions 

 of superior wisdom, and the " patents," that en- 

 abled a few persons here to give themselves airs, 

 and to set up pretensions they have miserably failed 

 to substantiate. The jointed shoe, for instance, of 

 Goldfinch, of B. Clark, (see page 500,) and of 

 Rotch, which is the best modification of the old 

 semi- oval defence for healthy feet, was preceded a 

 whole century by the French author of " Le Cheval," 

 a folio French work, noticed by Mr. Bee in the 

 Annals of Sporting for 1823, and by Wattis an 

 Irish author in 17G6, or earlier. 



