248 Notes and Illustrations. 
Similarly we have “atte nale”=at the ale-house, a corruption of 
A.S. zt pan ale-—See Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B, Text, Prologue, 
1. 43. So in Sir Thomas More’s Workes, 1557, p. 709, we have “‘A 
verye nodypoll mydyote” for zdto¢. Other instances of the prefixed 
m are ‘‘nonce, a nother, nagares (=augers).” Cf. ‘‘One axe, a bill, 
ilij zagares, ij hatchettes, an ades,” etc.—Shakspereana Genealogica, 
1869, p. 472. 
** A Douercourt beetle” is explained by Dr. Mavor as ‘ one that 
is large (like the rood of Dover once so celebrated) and capable 
of making a great noise,” and he adds that ‘there is an old 
proverb ‘A Dover Court: all speakers and no hearers.’”’ But this 
explanation is entirely erroneous: there is no reference whatever 
to Dover, but, as the following extract will show, a Dovercourt beetle 
simply means one made of the wood of the elms of Dovercourt in 
Essex, which were celebrated for their soundness and _ lasting 
qualities: ‘‘ Of all the elms that euer I saw, those in the south side 
of Douer court, in Essex neere Harwich, are the most notabie, for 
they growe, I meane, in crooked maner, that they are almost apt 
for nothing else but nauie timber, great ordinance, and Jeefe/s ; and 
such thereto is their naturall qualitie, that being vsed in the said 
behalfe, they continue longer, and more long than anie the like 
trees in whatsoeuer parcell else of this land, without cuphar,’ shak- 
ing or cleauing, as I find.” —Harrison, Descr. of Eng. part i. p. 341. 
17. 10. In the Hist. of Hawsted, Suffolk, by Sir J. Cullum, znd 
ed. p. 216, we are told that there, in the 14th century, oxen were as 
much used as horses; and, in ploughing heavy land, would go 
forward where horses would stop. ‘‘A horse kept for labour ought 
to have every night the 6th part of a bushel of oats; for an ox, 34 
measures of oats, 10 of which make a bushel, are sufficient for a 
week.” 
17. 11. “The ploughstaff is alluded to by Strutt (Manners and 
Customs, ii. 12): ‘The ploughman yoketh oxen to the plough, and 
he holdeth the plough-stilt [z.e. principal hale or handle | in his left 
hand, and in his right hand the ploughstaff to break the clods.’ 
See plate 32 (vol. i.) in Strutt, and the picture of a plough at work 
prefixed to Mr. Wright’s edition of Piers the Plowman, copied from 
MS. T. [MS. R. 3. 14, Trin. Coll. Camb. ].”—Piers Plowman, ed. 
Skeat, B. vi. 105. 
17. 13. ‘‘ Hoigh de la roy,” that is, excellent or proper; but why, 
I cannot say. 
17. 14. A cradle is a three-forked instrument .of wood, on 
which the corn is caught as it falls from the scythe, and thus is laid 
in regular order. It is heavy to work with ; but is extremely useful 
for cutting barley or oats, which are intended to be put into 
sheaves.—M. 
17. 17. Tar was the common salve for all sores in cattle. “Two 
1 Cracking. 
