A V A 
A'VAGE, or A'visage, f. A rent or payment by te¬ 
nants of the manor of Writ tie in EfTex, upon St. Leonard’s 
day, November 6,*for the privilege of pannage in the 
lord’s woods, viz. for every pig under a year old, an half¬ 
penny ; for every yearly pig, one penny; and for every 
hog above a year old, two-pence. Blount. 
To AVAIL', v.a. [from valoir , Fr. to avail being near¬ 
ly the fame thing with faire valoir."] To profit; to turn to 
profit: with of before the thing ufed.—-Both of them avail 
themfelves of thofe licences, which Apollo has equally be¬ 
llowed on them. Dry den.- —To promote; topfofper; to 
a (lift: 
Mean time he voyag’d to explore the will 
Of Jove, on high Dodona’s holy hill, 
What means might beft his fafe return avail. Pope. 
To A vail, "v. n. To be of ufe ; to be of advantage. — 
When real merit is wanting, it avails nothing to have been 
encouraged by the great. Pope. 
Avail, f. Profit; advantage; benefit. — Truth, light 
upon this way, is of no more avail to us than error. Locke. 
AVAIL'ABLE, adj. Profitable; advantageous.'—-All 
things fubject to adtion the will does fo far incline unto, as 
reafon judges them more available to our blifs. Hooker.- — 
Powerful; in force ; valid.—Laws human are available by 
confent. Hooker. 
AV AIL'ABLENESS,yi Power of promoting the end 
for which it is ufed.—We differ from that fuppofition of 
the efficacy, or availablcnefs, or fuitablenefs, of thefeto the 
end. Ha/e. —Legal force ; validity. 
AVAIL'ABLY, adv. Powerfully; profitably; advan- 
tageoufty. Legally; validly. 
AVAI'LLE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Vienne, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of 
Civray : five leagues eaft of Civray, and fix and and a half 
fouth-fouth-weft of Montmorillon. 
AVAIL'MENT,/; Ufefulneis; advantage; profit. 
AV AL', an ifiand in the gulf of Perfia, the largeft among 
the cluftercalled Bakkrein , famous for its pearl fiftiery. It 
contains, befides the fortified town of Bahhrein, about fix- 
ty poor villages. 
AV ALAN'CHES,/! a name given to prodigious fnow- 
balls that frequently roll down the mountains in Savoy, 
particularly mount Blanc, to the extreme danger of fuch 
adventurous travellers as attempt to afeend thofe ftupen- 
dous heights. Some of the avalanches are about 200 feet 
diameter; being fragments of the ice-rocks which break 
by their own weight from the tops of the precipices. See 
Mount Blanc. 
A'VALAS, a town of Servia, twelve miles fouth of 
Belgrade. 
To AVA'LE, v. a. [ avaler , Fr. to let fink.] To let fall; 
to deprefs; to make abjedt; to fink. Not in ufe: 
By that th’ exalted Phoebus ’gan avale 
His weary wain, and now the frofty night 
Ller mantle black through heav’n ’gan overhale. Spenfer. 
To Avale, v. n. To fink : 
But, when this latter ebb ’gins to avale , 
Huge heaps of mud he leaves. Spenfer . 
AVALLON', a town of France, in the department of 
the Yonne, and principal place of a diftridt, fituated on 
the river Coufin. It is a town of confiderable trade in 
grain, wine, and cattle ; with a cloth manufactory. The 
town is twenty-three miles fouth-fouth-weft of Auxerre, 
and fifty fouth of Troyes. Lat. 47. 29. N. Ion. 2 1.35. E. 
AVANASHE'E, a well-built town of Hindoftan, with 
a fmall yet (lately pagoda, about one hundred and fifty feet 
in height. A ftaircafe incapable of admitting two men 
abreaft, or even one bulky perlon, winds to its top ; and, 
as innumerable fwarms of bats fly about in every diredtion, 
the afeent is no lefs offenlive than dangerous to the fight. 
A fubftantial wall, twelve feet high, iurrounds the pago¬ 
da. Three well-built fwamy-houfes, or temples, with 
arched roofs, and doors at one end, (land in the endofurc ; 
Vol. II. No. 88. 
and, at no confiderable diftance, feveral brafs and copper 
images. In the front of this building (lands an obelilk, 
forty-five feet high, on the top of which there is a lamp 
that is lighted on certain feftivals. In the neareft ftreet 
(land two unweildy carriages; and each of them Hip ports 
a huge and irregular frame of teakwood, on which are 
carved figures of the moft difgufting appearance. When 
the lamp is lighted, tiiefe carriages are put in motion by 
men and bullocks. Bramins and others, in the hopes of 
obtaining remiffion of their (ins, aflift by pulling at the 
traces; and many infatuated females, proftrating them¬ 
felves before the wheels, meet a death alike certain ai;d 
much more terrible than the funeral pile. A clear dream 
that empties it(elf into the Noel river feparates the town 
from tlie fandtuary; but the communication is rendered 
ealy by means of a (irong but inelegant done bridge. From 
the top of the pagoda there is a view that can never fail to 
pleafe: the mountains, forming an immenfe arch, which 
ft retches from the fouth towards the north, of a hidden 
rife in one grand and majeftic wall, that ranges at the dif- 
tance of from twenty to thirty miles ; jungles eternally ver¬ 
dant completely overfpread the furface of thefe mountains 
from their bafe to their fummits, and the plains around as 
far as the eye can reach are fertile in the extreme. Large 
clumps of trees, with extenfive (fleets of water, protect 
and enrich the country ; villages defended by walls, hed¬ 
ges, and ditches, are to be feen in every diredtion ; and, 
however bold the aftertion, it is neverthelefs true, that no 
part of Great Britain exhibits a higher date of cultivation. 
This is one of the places that was taken by the marquis 
Cornwallis from Tippoo Saib, in the late Mahratta war. 
AVA'NIA,/! in the Turkiffl legiflature, a fine for crimes 
and on deaths, paid to the governor of the place. In the 
places wherein feveral nations live together under a Turk- 
iili governor, he takes this profitable method of punilfling 
all crimes among the Chriftians or Jews, unlefs it be the 
murder of a Turk. 
AVANT ',/1 The front of an army. See Van. 
Avant-foss, or Ditch of the Counterscarp, f* 
in fortification, is a wet ditch furrounding the counter- 
fcarp, on the outer fide, next to the country, at the foot of 
the glacis. It would not be proper to have fuch a ditch 
if it could be laid dry, as it would then ferve as a lodg¬ 
ment for the enemy. 
Avant-guard,/. [ avantgarde , Fr.] The van; the 
firft body of an army.—The horfemen might iifue forth 
without disturbance of the foot, and the avant-guard with¬ 
out Ifluffling with the battail or arriere. Harvard. 
AUAN'TE,_/ [from to dry.] A dry difeafe pro¬ 
ceeding from a fermentation in the (iomacli, and described 
by Hippocrates, Li. de Morbis, 6q, 1. 
A VAR AY', a town of France, in the department of 
the Loir and Cher, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
tridt of Mer: twelve miles north-eaft of Blois. 
A'VARICE,/! [ avarice , Fr. avaritia , Lat.] Covetoufi¬ 
ne fs ; infatiable defire..— -Avarice is infatiable; and fo he 
went ftill puftiing on for more. DEf range. 
There grows 
In my moft ill-compos’d affection, fuch 
A ftanchlefs avarice , that, were I king, 
1 Ihould cut oft' the nobles for their lands. Shahefpeare . 
Avarice is reprefented by a hideous pale-faced old wo¬ 
man, with a difeontented and dejected aipedt, and a fwoln 
belly, upon w hich (he lays one of her hands as if in pain, 
and in the other Ifle gripes a purfe clofe tied, on which her 
eyes are fixed ; by her fide (lands a meager wolf, as an em¬ 
blem of voracity. Her palenefs proceeds from her envy, 
which torments her to fee her neighbours richer than her- 
felf; her eyes are fixed on her purfe, it being her chief de¬ 
light. The wolf denotes the voracious humour of the 
covetous, who would have other mens goods as well as 
their own. 
AVARI'CIOUS, adj. \_avaricieux, Fr.] Covetous; in- 
fatiably defirous.—This fpeech has been condemned as ava- 
6 Z ricious ; 
