which improvements the Sheriff answered under the title of Crementum Comitatus, or, Firma de Cremento Comitatus."

HEAD-SILVER.

A Quit-rent of 5s., called " Head-Silver," is payable to The Marquis of EXETER out of the Town Lands of North Luffenham, in the County of Rutland.

Head-Pence, or Head-Silver, was an exaction made by the Sheriff of Northumberland, amounting to 407. or more, twice in seven years. It was received for an exemption from attendance at the Sheriff's torn; and thereupon the Lords of Manors held their Leet, where the Suitors, for their greater convenience, were permitted to attend and make what, in the Law books, is called their "Suit Royal." This exaction was totally suppressed by the Statute made in the 23d year of King HENRY the Sixth, cap. 7. The name, however, and also some memorials of this obsolete custom still remain on the Borders, and in the mountainous parts of the County.-HUTCHINSON.

ANCIENT APPELLATIONS.

MANY OLD WORDS occurring in the Reports, descriptive of the Customs of Antiquity, or of Local application, I have thought it expedient to make a Collection of them,-not with any pretence to a regular Glossary, but to afford amusement to those who may take pleasure in tracing the Etymology of names, several of which have long been considered to be obsolete.

AYTE, or EYGHT, a small Island in a river,

where Osiers grow, supposed by SKINNER, to be corrupted from Islet. This explanation is fully confirmed by a charity at Fulham, which is designated "an Island or twig-ait, situate in the river Thames." BALK, or BAWK, a bank or hill, a ridge of land which is either casually overslipped, or not turned up in ploughing, or designedly left untouched by the plough, for a boundary between lands, or some other use. Hence "to balk" is frequently used metaphorically for "to pass over, or to disappoint."

Doles and marks, which of ancient time were laid for the division of meres and balks in the fields, to bring the owners to their right. Homilies, ii. 235. Todd.

Amongst all these all silent stood their King,
Upon a balk, his Sceptre in his hand.

CHAPMAN'S Transl. of the Shield of Achilles. BANNISTERS, a term, which is understood to designate "travellers in distress." It occurs in the ancient accounts of the parish of Chudleigh, in Devon.-Quære, Bangisters, the prevailing party, or a violent and disorderly person, who regards no law but his own will,

Adieu! fair Eskdale up and down,
Where my puir friends do dwell;
The bangisters will ding them down,
And will them sair compell.

SCOTT's Minstrelsy, i. 298.

Or, probably from Bannitus, an Outlaw, a word which occurs in the Patent Roll of 15° Edw. III.

BARGAYNE, a tenement, so called in the County

of Cornwall, which usually consisted of a plough land, of about sixty acres, if the ground was good, or more if barren,—but

most of these Bargaynes, especially near the Sea, have since been subdivided into lesser portions, and converted into modern dwellings.

BARTH, a sheltered place, or pasture for cattle and sheep.

BARTON, the demesne lands of a Manor, a Manor house, the out-houses belonging to a farm or mansion house, the court-yard.COWEL, and Asн.

BOLTED or TEMSED, that is, meal or flour sifted to make it finer.

BOON DAYS, a service anciently performed by

some tenants, in reaping the corn of their landlords at harvest,- and some, more especially in Wales, are still bound to give one, two, or more days' work for that purpose, when required,-which, in some places, are called, "Boon Days."-PHILLIPS.-In the County of York, Boon Days, are those days when Statute work on the Highways is performed.

BOTTLE of Hay, a quantity of hay or grass bundled up,

But I should wither in one day, and passe

To a botle of hay, that am a locke of grasse.
DONNE'S Juvenilia, p. 61.

U

BOUGHT BREAD, a term which is used in the North of England, to signify the finer kind of bread purchased of the Baker, in opposition to that of a coarser quality which is baked at home. BRACKEN-DALES.-Bracken, or Braken, that is, Fern.-PHILLIPS says, Brake is the female fern. In the North of England it is pronounced breckin. Both the ferns delight to grow in barren, dry, and desert places, -to which HORACE bears testimony,

Neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris.

And SPENSER poetically adds,

In a canvas thin he was bedight,
And girded with a belt of twisted brake.

F. Q. ii. XI. 22.

In the South, it is called Brakes.

BUTTS, the place, in Archery, on which the mark to be shot at, is placed,

He calls on Bacchus, and propounds the prize; The groom his fellow groom at butts defies, And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes. DRYDEN. BUTTS, or other conveniences, for the people to kneel upon at their prayers in Church. Quære, Bass, a kind of straw Cushion, a