Abbot Eustacius (Vol. iii., p. 141.).—As J. L.'s inquiry after an abbot of that name has hitherto been unsuccessful, perhaps he would like to know that Eustacia was abbess of the monastery at Shaftesbury (founded by King Alfred), tempore incerto, but probably in the time of Stephen. See Willis's History of Abbeys, and a History of the Ancient Town of Shaftesbury, p. 21.
Blowen.
The Vellum-bound Junius (Vol. iii., p. 262.).—In the Minor Queries of your Number 75., you have kindly inserted my notice on the vellum-bound Junius. I beg to state further, that the reason of my being so desirous to procure this copy at the Stowe sale was, that it was not only bound in vellum, but was also printed on that article. If any of your correspondents can inform me of another copy printed on vellum, I should be glad.
W. D. Haggard.
Bank of England, April 5, 1851.
Meaning of Waste-Book (Vol. iii., pp. 118. 195. 251.).—Among a list of "the books printed for, and are to be sold by John Hancock, at the sign of the Three Bibles in Pope's-head Alley, in Cornhill," I find The Absolute Accountant, or London Merchant, containing instructions and directions for the methodical keeping of merchant's accounts, after the most exact and concise way of debtor and creditor; also a Memorial, vulgarly called a waste-book, and a cash-book, with a journal and a ledger, &c., 1670. This is the first reference I have seen to the correct designation of the book, which might have received it vulgar name of waste from wast, the second person of was—thus the Memorial or the Wast-book.
Blowen.
Cowdray (Vol. iii., p. 194.).—There is a misprint here of Eastbourne for Easebourne. There is a curious note on Cowdray, and the superstition attached to it, in Croker's Boswell, p. 711. 8vo. edit.
C.
Solemnisation of Matrimony (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—A. A. will find, from Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. ii. p. 135., that in feudal times a husband had the power of protecting his lands from the wife's claim to dower, by endowing her, ad ostium Ecclesiæ, with specific estates to the exclusion of others; or, if he had no lands at the time of the marriage, by an endowment in goods, chattels, or money. When special endowments were thus made, the husband, after affiance made and troth plighted, used to declare with what specific lands he meant to endow his wife ("quod dotat eam de tali manerio," &c.); and therefore, in the old York ritual (Seld. Ux. Hebr. l. ii. c. 27.) there is at this part of the matrimonial service the following rubric—"Sacerdos interroget dotem mulieris; et si terra ei in dotem detur, tunc dicatur psalmus iste", &c. When the wife was endowed generally, the husband seems to have said "with all my lands and tenements I thee endow," and then they all became liable to her dower. When he endowed her with personalty only, he used to say, "with all my worldly goods (or, as the Salisbury ritual has it, "with all my worldly chattels") I thee endow," which entitled the wife to her thirds, or pars rationabilis, of his personal estate, which is provided for by Magna Charta, cap. 26. The meaning, therefore, of the words noticed in A. A.'s Query, if they can be said to have any meaning in the present state of the law, is simply that the wife's dower is to be general, and not specific, or, in other words, that she is to have her pars rationabilis in all her husband's goods.