E. H. K.
According to M. Collin de Plancy, in his Dictionaire Infernal, vol. i. p. 34., this word is composed of the four first letters of the following Hebrew words, Athar, gabor leolam, Adonai, "Thou art powerful and eternal, O Lord," and was a cabbalistic word used against evil spirits. A brooch of gold found near Devizes, and set with rubies in the form of the letter [A], and having the word AGLA thereon, was shown at the Winchester meeting of the Archæological Institute by W. Herbert Williams (Journal, vol. iii. p. 359.).
EDWARD HAILSTONE.
COLONIES IN ENGLAND.
(Vol. iv., p. 272.)
"The inhabitants of Haverfordwest derived their origin from Flanders, and were sent by Henry I. to inhabit these districts; a people brave and robust, ever hostile to the Welsh; a people, I say, well versed in commerce and woollen manufactures; a people anxious to seek gain by sea and land, in defiance of fatigue or danger; a hardy race, equally fitted for the plough and sword; a people brave and happy," &c.—Giraldus Cambrensis.
"A.D. 1107. About this season a great part of Flanders being drowned by an inundation, or breaking in of the sea, a great number of Flemings came to England beseeching the king to have some void part assigned to them, wherein they might inhabit. At the first they were appointed to the countrie lieing on the east part of the Tweed; but within four years after they were removed into a corner by the sea-side in Wales, called Pembrokeshire, to the end that they might be a defence there against the unquiet Welsh. It would appear by some writers that this multitude of Flemings consisted not onlie of such as came over about that time, by reason their countrie was overflowed with the sea [as ye have heard], but also others that arrived there long before, even in the daies of William the Conqueror, through the friendship of the queen, their countriewoman, sithens their numbers so increased that the realme of England was sore pestered with them; whereupon King Henrie devised to place them in Pembrokeshire, as well to avoide them out of the other of England, as also by their helpe to tame the bold and presumptuous Welshmen: which thing in those parts they brought verie well to pass; for after they were settled there, they valiantlie resisted their enemies, and made verie sharp wars upon them, sometimes with loss and sometimes with gaine."—Holinshed.
"Wallenses Rex Henricus, semper in rebellionem crebris expeditionibus in deditionem premebat; consilioque salubri nixus, ut eorum tumorem extenuaret, Flandrenses omnes Angliæ accolas eò traduxit. Plures enim, qui tempore patris pro matris paternà cognatione confluxerant, occultabat Angliâ, adeo ut ipsi regno pro multitudine onerosi viderentur. Quapropter omnes cum substantiis et necessitudinibus apud Rôs provinciam Walliarum, velut in sentinam congessit, ut et regnum defæcaret, et hostium brutam temeritatem retunderet."—William of Malmsbury.
"The yeare 1108 the rage of the sea did overflow and drowne a great part of the lowe countrie of Flanders, in such sort that the inhabitants were driven to seeke themselves other dwellings; who came to King Henrie and desired him to give some voide place to remaine in; who being very liberal of that which was not his owne, gave them the lande of Rôs, in Dyvet or West Wales, where Pembroke, Tenby, and Haverfordwest are now built; and there they remaine till this daie, as may be well perceived by their speeche and conditions, farre differing from the rest of the countrie."—Powell's Welsh Chronicle.
A similar colony is located in that part of Glamorgan called Gower; and the Flemish population, both of Rôs and of Gower, still retain many peculiar customs and words; while they scrupulously keep aloof from the Welsh, each people looking down upon the other, and considering intermarriage as a degradation. I have been told by a friend that Flemish colonies were also located in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. This much is certain: in the last-named county fields are occasionally divided between different proprietors, in the manner known as "landshares," a custom which prevails to a great extent in Gower, and also, I believe, in Rôs. Am I right in considering this Flemish peculiarity?
SELEUCUS.