For anncestrie of tyme oh! who canne tell The first beginning of so old a trade, For Horses were before the Deluge fell, And cures, and shoes, before that tyme were made, We need not presse tyme farther then it beares, A Company have _Farriers_ beene 300 Yeres!!
And in this _Cittie London_ have remayned Called by the name of _Marshall Farriers_, Which title of Kinge Edward the Third was gaynde, For service done unto him in his warres, A _Maister_ and two _Wardens_ in skill expert, The trade to rule and give men their desert.
And for utilitie that cannot be denied, That many are the Proffitts that arise To all men by the _Farriers_ arte beside. To them they are tied, by their necessities, From the Kinge's steede unto the ploweman's cart, All stande in neede of _Farriers_ skillfull arte.
In peace at hande the _Farriers_ must be hadde, For lanncing, healinge, bleedinge, and for shooeinge, In Warres abroade of hym they wille be gladd To cure the wounded Horsse, still he is douinge, In peace or warre abroade, or ellse at home, To Kinge and Countrie that some good may come.
Loe! thus you heare the _Farriers_ endelesss praise, God grant it last as many yeres as it hath lasted Daies.
[1] It commences from Henri de Ferrer, Lord of Tetbury, a Norman who came over with William the Conqueror.
We read of a beautiful table, "wherein Saturn was of copper, Jupiter of gold, Mars of iron, and the Sun of silver, the eyes were charmed, and the mind instructed by beholding the circles. The Zodiac and all its signs formed with wonderful art, of metals and precious stones."
In 1283, say the annals of Dunstable, "We sold our slave by birth, William Pike, with all his family, and received one mark from the buyer." Men must have been cheaper than horses.
In 1340, gunpowder and guns were first invented by Swartz, a monk of Cologne. In 1346, Edward III. had four pieces of cannon, which contributed to gain him the battle of Cressy. Bombs and mortars were invented about this time.
In 1386, the magnificent castle of Windsor was built by Edward III. and his method of conducting the work may serve as a specimen of the condition of the people in that age. Instead of engaging workmen by contracts or wages, he assessed every county in England to send him a certain number of masons, tilers, and carpenters, as if he had been levying an army.
