The Washington times., 1901-07-21
ALWAYS An OMEN OF LUCK,
The Horseshoe Long Regarded as a
Safeguard Against Evil.
Deep-Rooted Superstition which
May BE Traced to a Remote Age
Strange Customs in EngIand-Onk-
hams Collection of Hoef. Plates.

May Re Traced to n Remote Are
Strange Customs in EngIand-Onk
hams Collection of Hoef-PIates
| virtue in horseshoes long has been re
garded as of material potency agains
eVii. All Europe has accepted the tradi
tion to greater or less degree Finding ,
horseshoe is significant of luck and from
the finding of horseshoes 1t has com,
that picking up a piece of iron of an!
shape is lucky
1 But. aside from mere tradition and SUI
perstition. England has some of tn,
strangest of the deep-rooted custom:
clinging to the iron hoof-plate.
Queerest Of these, perhaps, is that con
corning the collection that gradually has
\ filled the walls of Oakham Castle bull,
by Walkelin de Ferrers. Somewhere ir
the dim past the high-born residents oi
the castle adopted the custom of demand
ing shoe from the foot of a horse when
ever peer of the realm passed the castle
gates. II he had no horse he left money
| with which to buy a shoe. If the peer re-
sists giving shoe OF the price of it he may
| be fined.
Oakham Castle is now used for the
town council. for the assizes, and for the
| general headquarters of municipal busi-
ness. but at the same time the old custom
holds good. In the famous collection that
| has been nailed to the walls of the castle
are shoes of silver and of gold. Four of
the most noted were given by Queen
Elizabeth, the Prince Regent, George ".
and the Princess Victoria.
| The shoes vary in size and design. For
when n nobleman or sprig of royalty cor
| tributed money for the shoes the custom
I faI that h. siz nf h. chn
should be in proportion to the amount of
the gift. Those given by the Duke of
| Connaught and by the present Prince of
Wales are small by comparison with their
neighbors on the wall. Each shoe in the
collection bears the name and title of
| the donor, and one of the latest of these
additions was about two years ago, wbe
the constable of the castle stopped ne
Earl OF Onslow and exacted the shoe. The
earl was allowed to send a shoe instead
of having 1t stripped from the foot of one
of his horses, and the piece of iron bears
the inscription, William Hitler, Fourth
Earl of Onslow."
Aside from the historic collection in the
castle, w. G. Newbery, of London, has
one of the most interesting of cabinets.
showing the evolution of the horseshoe
of today. One of the earliest of horse
shoes in this cabinet is a bar shoe, eight
inches in diameter and Weighing five
pounds. Another is a Eailess shoe, de-
signed to fasten to the hoof with a strap
Another is a heart shaped piece of iron,
having three nail holes Oh each side and
two blunt projections in the centre, such
as are worn by horses of the Arabs.
There is shoe worn by Gen. Philip Sher-
idan's charger, and shoes from the fam
Gus rotting mares, Lena NJ. and Maud
S.
Another freakish form of the horse
shoe superstition is shown in the fact
that the municipality of London today is
receiving six horseshoes a year in pay
ment of rent for certain property on the
Strand. The story is that in 1851 Walter
lie Brun a farrier, was allowed forge room
in consideration of six horseshoes, with
nails for them, paid annually Suisse
quently the property passed to the city.
with the terms Of the lease binding upon
it. The city receives the horseshoes and
nails, but it is said no account of them
is ever taken in the report OF the Chan
cellor Of the Exchequer.
According to legend the mystic proper
ties of the horseshoe date from the time
of St Dunstan. who was asked to shoe
the single hoof of the Evil One. When
the customer was harnessed up fast and
tight the good saint so tortured him as
to make the Evil One promise never to
enter a doorway over which horseshoe
might be hung.
Lord Nelson is said to have had shoe
nailed to the mast of the Victory. In the
last century it was common to find door
ways with several shoes over each one,
as if the occupants were not satisfied to
trust TO the virtues of only one.
But If picking up a horseshoe of iron Is
luck, finders of other shoes have been
doubly lucky in times past For instance,
the white stations, with pink noses, kept
at the imperial Spanish manege in Vienna
are said to wear only silver shoes fasten-
ed by nails of the same metal. Emperor
Charles VI at his death left large sums.
the interest of which was to go to the
keeping up of this stud.
The second Earl of Air, once aide-de-
camp to the great Duke of Marlborough,
went to Paris as Ambassador in 1715, and
to impress the citizens he was driven in
a six-horse coach, each animal being shod
with silver. These shoes kept dropping |
off, too to the delight of those who fol- !
lowed in the streets.
John of Gaunt did great deal for Lam |
caster, England. and that village COM |
him in rather an odd manner.
On one occasion his horse cast a shoe at |
a place now known as Horseshoe Corner. |
Since that time horseshoe has been en-
pedded in the stone sidewalk al the spot,
and every seven years the municipality
renews 1t in memory of the man.