Then came the less expensive processes of reproduction by casting and stamping, which multiplied the designs and very often made them grotesque in the eyes of experts and those who had been accustomed to realize and understand a true meaning in the designs they had been familiar with. The ornamental brasses which hung in rows round horses' necks, and conspicuously on the foreheads or chests of the animals, deemed inseparable from a set of harness in olden times, were regarded as charms, protective against danger, accident, and, in wilder times, perils unknown to-day. These very pleasing objects in brass, which look so handsome when polished and arranged on a cloth-covered shield in the harness-room, or, perchance, framed as a trophy for the hall or gun-room, are so varied, and yet for the most part quite distinct, that it is said nearly two hundred designs are collectable. A complete set of brasses, as worn by one horse properly harnessed, includes the face brass already mentioned as the chief ornament on the forehead, ear-brasses hanging behind the ears, three brasses on each side of the shoulders, and ten martingale (a strap passing from the horse's girth between his forelegs) brasses for the breast. To trace their purport and hence their forms it may be pointed out that they are associated with the folk-lore of the districts where they were originally used, and were chiefly intended to keep off the "Evil Eye" or calamity. They go back a long way into the past, and are nearly all attributable to symbols understood by the Saxons, early British, and still older races. Their modern exponents are the gypsies, and strange as it may seem, most of them are either Buddhist, Egyptian, or Moorish. The genuine antiques include such well-known emblems as the crescent, the symbol brought back, it is said, by the Crusaders from Eastern lands. The crescent moon, like the horseshoe brass, is valued. There are others showing the radiated sun's rays indicating the sun worship of our ancestors. Conspicuous among the floral emblems may be noticed the iris; the lotus of Egypt is a common emblem, often enclosed in a crescent-like form, occasionally met with in a shield-like frame. There are the bull's head with horns and the horse of the Saxon banner, both essentially English types. Then there are clubs and diamonds, hearts and spades, and many heathen symbols. In a few instances brasses in the shape of crosses are met with, but these are rare; possibly they were introduced in the days of the Canterbury pilgrims. In this connection may be related a pretty story of the good luck associated with the horseshoe, which comes from Russia, where peasants used to paint a picture of the Virgin Mary with a golden halo round her head outside their doors to protect them from harm. The snows and the rains washed off the paint, but left the more lasting gilding in the shape of the horseshoe. Hence it is said the superstitious legend of the protective power or good luck