He did what was of more consequence than this, he put in requisition all the saws in the country, and all the blacksmiths, and made swords for four troops of militia cavalry.
"A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion"
William Dobein James
Here, then, while other men were actively at their work,-blacksmiths, carpenters, bullock-drivers,-this man, who was as well fed and clothed as they, carried on a horse to boot, and doing no work, was the only dissatisfied person.
"Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia In Search of a Route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria (1848) by Lt. Col. Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell Kt. D.C.L. (1792-1855) Surveyor-General of New South Wales"
Thomas Mitchell
When I first approached her, from Walsall, in 1741, I was surprized at the prodigious number of blacksmiths shops upon the road; and could not conceive how a country, though populous, could support so many people of the same occupation.
"An History of Birmingham (1783)"
William Hutton