ircled 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 {292} 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 carucae, 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 dicti