It may be justly claimed that amongst the earliest trades or crafts of this country was that of the Horner, who was indispensable to the community, inasmuch as he was the purveyor of many articles absolutely necessary for domestic purposes. In the days, for instance, of Kings Ina and Alfred metals of any kind were rare and consequently costly. Articles required for eating and drinking, such as cups, plates, forks, etc., as well as vessels for the preservation of liquids and powders, were made from horn, that being the least expensive and the most easily attainable material for those who had risen above the use of wooden articles for similar purposes. [Sidenote: Laws of Ina.] That trades did exist throughout the Saxon period is clear, nor should it be doubted that among the more important of those trades was that of the Horner. Indeed, though little else of a commercial character is alluded to in the laws of King Ina (A.D. 688-726), those laws lay down the price at which horns are to be bought and sold, and thereby indicate the importance of the horner to the community. “Bovis cornu decem denariis valeat Vaccæ cornu duobus denariis valeat.”—No mean price, surely, at that early period. [Sidenote: Horn Tenure.] Not only are horns mentioned in the early Norse Runic inscriptions (see _Deutsches Literatur Zeitung_, April 2nd, 1910), but there have been, from the earliest days, many well-known instances of beautifully worked horns used as a method of conveyancing property. Ulphus’s Horn, a drinking horn now at York, is, perhaps, the best known example. It was presented by him to the Church in token of the conveyance of his lands to the Church Authorities. King Edgar granted privileges to Glastonbury Abbey by means of a horn. For a very long period the family of Pusey held the village of Pusey by virtue of a horn, given to William Picoli by King Canute. Edward the Confessor granted the Rangership of Bernwode Forest, Bucks, to be held by a horn, while Randal de Meschines, third Earl of Chester, conferred on Allan Silvestris the Bailywick of the Forest of Wirall by delivering to him a horn, which was ever after preserved at Hooton. Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, mentions the horn amongst those things whereby land was conveyed in the Conqueror’s reign. This recalls the lines of Wordsworth in the “Horn of Egremont Castle.” “Eustace pointed with his lance “To the horn which there was hanging, “Horn of the Inheritance.” * * * “Who of right claimed the Lordship “By the proof upon the Horn.” [Sidenote: Drinking Horns.] Both Pliny and Cæsar allude to the elaborate horn cups of their period. Johannis Salisburiensis tells us that the Danes used horns as well as the Saxons, and Giraldus Cambrensis mentions the Horn of St. Patrick.