Notes and Queries, Number 76, April 12, 1851

    E. J. R.

[We are indebted to Mr. J. B. Ditchfield and Mr. Joseph Sulley for very elaborate notices of the custom of the French kings touching for the evil; but the principal facts contained in those communications have already been laid before our readers by Mr. Cooper (Vide No. 69. p. 148. et seq.)]

Drax Free School (Vol. ii., p. 199.).—It appears by the will of Charles Read, dated July 30, 1669, that that gentleman had at his own charge erected a school-house at Drax, which he designed for a free school, and for the habitation of a schoolmaster, to instruct the children of the inhabitants of that parish gratis, to read, write, and cast accounts, and in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as occasion should require; and that he had erected six almshouses at Drax, for six aged and impotent people at that parish, and the lodgment of six poor boys; and for the support and maintenance of the said school, master, alms people, and poor boys, he directed his executors to lay out 2000l. in the purchase of freehold land of 120l. per annum in or near Drax, to be conveyed to trustees to let such land at the best improved rent, for the purposes and uses mentioned in his will; and he appointed the lord mayor and aldermen of York, visitors of the school and almshouses.

At the time of the inquiry by the charity commissioners, the estates purchaser in pursuance of the directions of Mr. Read's will amounted to 391 acres of land, let at 542l. per annum, and there was an accumulation of stock of 12,700l. in the Three per Cents, the whole income being 924l. 9s. 6d. per annum.

Mr. Dyson will find a copious account of this school, &c., in the following Reports of the Commissioners: XXI. p. 598.; XXXII. part 2d. p. 828.; and the latter gives a full detail of proceedings in Chancery, and other matters connected with the administration of the trust.

    Henry Edwards.

Enigmatical Epitaph on the Rev. John Mawer (Vol. iii., pp. 184. 248.).—Perhaps it may be of service to J. H. to know that Arthur Llewellyn Tudor Kaye Mawer, referred to by J. T. A., was a short time ago an assistant bookseller at Oxford, and may be heard of by addressing a line to Mr. Vincent, Herald Office, or Mr. Wheeler, bookseller, Oxford.

    Nibor.

Treatise by Engelbert, Archbishop of Treves (Vol. i., p. 214.).—Mr. Sanson may probably find the information he desires in the reprint of Bishop Cosin's History of Popish Transubstantiation, London, 1840, in which the references are verified, and the quotations given in full length.

    T. J.

King John at Lincoln (Vol. iii., p. 141.).—There is no question of Matt. Paris alluding here to the old prophecy which forbade a king's wearing his crown in Lincoln, or, as some think, even entering the city. Although he makes John the first to break through the superstition, yet the same is attributed to his predecessor Stephen, who is described by H. Huntingdon as entering the city fearlessly—"prohibentibus quibusdam superstitiosis." This was after the great disasters of Stephen's reign; but as the succession eventually departed from his line, Lord Lyttleton observes that the citizens might nevertheless be strengthened in their credulity; and Henry II. certainly humoured it so far as to wear his crown only in the suburb of Wigford. John seems to have been very partial to the place, and visited it repeatedly, as did many of his successors. Many parallel superstitions might, no doubt, be gathered, as that of Oxford, and Alexander the Great at Babylon, &c.

    B.

Lincoln.

Haybands in Seals (Vol. iii., p. 186.).—In your paper for March 8. I observe a Query by Mr. M. A. Lower respecting seals. It appears that Mr. Lower has in his possession one or two seals, temp. Henry VII., which are impressed on haybands, that is to say, the wax is encircled by a twisted wisp of hay, or split straw; and, if I rightly understand Mr. Lower, no device is apparent on the wax, but some ends of the hay or straw protrude from the surface of it. Under these circumstances Mr. Lower states his opinion that such seals belonged to mediæval gentlemen who occupied their time in fattening stock,—simply graziers.

It may be interesting to some of your correspondents, and especially to Mr. Lower, to know that a few seals, both pendent and impressed on the parchment itself, within haybands, may be found of as early a date as the reign of Edward II. From that time the fashion become very prevalent: in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., and, indeed, down to the period of Elizabeth, it was the common practice to secure the wax impression in this manner. Almost all the impressions of the Privy Seal of Henry V., called "the Eagle," are made on haybands. It is needless to give further examples, as they must be well known to all antiquaries who have studied the history of seals. It is not from the examination of a few specimens of early seals that a general conclusion is to be rationally drawn; and it is to be hoped that Mr. Lower may, even yet, be induced to abandon his singular theory of graziers' seals.

    T. Hudson Turner.

If your correspondents on this subject will refer to the first volume of Kalendars and Inventories of his Majesty's Exchequer, published by the Commissioners of Public Records, they will find in the Introduction, written by Sir Francis Palgrave, at page cxlvii., a fac-simile representation of a letter upon paper from James IV. of Scotland to Henry VII., dated July 12, 1502, showing the seal encircled by a rush ring. At page cxxxvii. it is stated that in the fifteenth century a rush ring surrounding the fragile wax was not unfrequently used for the purpose of preserving it.

    S. S. S.

Aver (Vol. iii., pp. 42. 157.).—Spelman, in his Glossary, derives averia from averare pro laborare. Averare he derives from the French ouvre and ouvrage, "vel potius a Latino operare, o et p, ut solent, in a et u, conversis." "Hence," he says, "our ancestors called beasts of burden averia, and the Scotch called them avaria." In Northumberland, he elsewhere adds, "they call a lazy, sluggish horse 'a faulse aver,' or 'afer.'"

Averum signified goods and chattels, and personal property in general, and, in this sense, is derived from the French avoir. It also signified the royal treasure, as appears from the following extract front the will of Philip Augustus, sub anno 1190. After directing his rents, services, and oblations to be brought annually to Paris, he adds—

"In receptionibus averi nostri, Adam clericus noster presens erit, et eas scribet, et singuli habeant singulas claves de singulis archis in quibus reponetur averum nostrum in templo."

The following story, which illustrates P.'s Query, is told by Blackstone:—

"Sir Thomas More (when a student on his travels) is said to have puzzled a pragmatic professor at Bruges, who gave a universal challenge to dispute with any person in any science: in omni scibili, et de quolibet ente. Upon which Mr. More sent him this question, 'Utrum averia carucæ, capta in vetito namio, sint irreplegibilia, Whether beasts of the plough, taken in withernam, are incapable of being replevied:'"

—a question likely enough to pose any man except an English lawyer.

    Cudyn Gwyn.

Aver or Aiver is a word in common use in the south of Scotland for a horse. In Burns's poem entitled "The Dream," there is this couplet:

"Yet aft a ragged cowte's been known
To mak a noble aiver."

    J. Ss.
Aver (Vol. iii., p. 42.).—Your correspondents G. M. and D. 2. are at cross purposes. The latter is unquestionably right in his opinion about haver cake, haver in that instance being the German Hafer, Sw. Havre, &c., as held by Brockett (North Country Words) and Carr (Craven Glossary). But aver, averium, on which G. M. descants, is altogether a different word. As D. 2. requires the authority of a dictionary, allow me to refer him to Lacombe, Dictionnaire du vieux Langage François, where he will find:

"Avoirs, animaux domestiques de la basse cour."
"Averlands, marchand de chevaux."

And in the second, or supplementary volume of the same work:

"'Avers,' bestiaux qui nantissent une ferme à la campagne."

See also Jamieson (Scottish Dictionary):

"Aver, a cart-horse."

A suggestion may also be gathered from Webster under Average.

    F. S. Q.

In the Chronicle of Jocelyn de Brakelond, at p. 29. of Tomlins's translation, mention is made of one Beodric,

"Lord of that town, whose demesne lands are now in the demesne of the Cellarer. And that which is now called Averland was the land of the rustics."

Again, at p. 30.:

The Cellarer was used freely to take all the dung-hills in every street, for his own use, unless it were before the doors of those who were holding averland; for to them only was it allowable to collect dung and to keep it."

To this a note is appended to the effect that

"Averland seems to have been ancient arable land so called, held by rustic drudges and villans."

At p. 29. the said Cellarer is stated

To have aver-peni, to wit, for each thirty acres two pence."[8 - "Averpenny was a sum paid as a composition for certain rustic services."]

Roquefort, in his Glossaire de la Langue Romane, gives Aver, from avoir: "Bestiaux qui nantissent une ferme de campagne;" and Avè, "un troupeau de brebis," from ovis.

Raynouard, in the Nouveau Choix des Poésies des Troubadours, vol. ii., which commences the Lexique Roman, derives "Aver" also from Avoir; to signify possession generally I take it. 2dly, Troupeau,

"E play mi quan li corredor
Fan las gens e 'ls avers fugir."
("Et il me plaît quand les coureurs
Font fuir les gens et les troupeaux.")
Bertrand de Born, Be m Play.

Barbazan, in his short Glossary, derives the word from Avarus.