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:'"