5 68 i A V O 
AVOSTO'LA, a river of Piedmont, which runs into 
the Cervo, two miles and a half weft: of Buronza, in the 
Vcrceilois. 
To AVOU'CH, v.a. [ avouer, Fr. for this word we now 
generally fay vouch.'] 1 o affirm ; to maintain ; to declare 
peremptorily.—They boldly avouched that themfelves only 
liad the truth, which they would at all times defend. 
Hooker. —To produce in favour of another.—Such anti¬ 
quities could have been avouched tor the Irilh. Spcnfer. — 
To vindicate ; to juftify.—You will think you made no 
offence, if the duke avouch the jttftice of your dealing. 
Shakespeare. 
Avouch, f . Declaration; evidence; teftimony : 
. I might not this believe, 
Without the (enfible and try’d avouch 
Of mine own eyes. Shaktfpcare. 
AVOU'CH ABLE, adj. That may be avouched. 
AVOU'CHER, f. He that avouches. 
To AVOW', v. a. [ avouer, Fr. ] To declare with con¬ 
fidence'; to jollify ; not to diffemble.— He that delivers 
them mentions his doing it upon his own particular know¬ 
ledge, or the relation of Come credible perfon, avowing it 
upon his own experience. Boyle. 
Left to myfelf, 1 mull avow, I ftrove 
From public (hame to fereen my feci ct love. Dryden. 
AVO'WABLE, adj. That which may be openly de¬ 
clared ; that which may becleclared without fhame. 
AVO'WAL, f. Juftificatory declaration; open decla¬ 
ration. 
AVO'WEDLY, adv. In an open manner. 
AVOWEE',/ [avoue, Fr.] One who has a right to 
prefent to a benefice. He is thus called in contradiftinclion 
to thole ivho only have the lands to which the advovvfon 
belongs for a term of years, or by virtue of intrusion or 
dilfeifin. 
AVOW'ER,/ He that avows or juftifies.—Virgil makes 
./Eneas a bold avower of his own virtues. Dryden. 
AVO'WRY, f. in law, is where a man takes a diftrefs 
for rent or other thing, and t he party on whom taken fues 
foith a replevin, then the taker lliall juftify his plea for 
what caufe he took it; and, if in his own right, lie mult 
ihew the fame, and avow the taking : but, if he took it 
in right of another, he nnifl make cognifance of the taking, 
as bailiff or fervant to the perfon in whofe right lie took 
the fame. Terms deLeys, 70. 2 Lill. 454. The avowry rnuft 
contain fufficient matter for judgment to have return; but 
fo much certainty is not required in an avowry as in a de¬ 
claration ; and the avowant is not obliged to allege feifin 
within the ftatute of limitations. Nor (hall a lord be re¬ 
quired to avow on any perfon in certain ; but be mult al¬ 
lege feifin by the hands of fome tenant within forty years. 
Stat. 21 Hen. VIII. c. 19. 1 Inft. 268. In avowry feifin in 
law is fufficient, fo that, where a tenant hath done homage 
or fealtv, it is a good feifin of all other fervices to make an 
avowry, though tiie lord, See. had not feifin of them with¬ 
in fixtv years. See flat. 32 Hen. VIII. c. 2. 4. Rep. 9. A 
man may dillrain and avow for rent due from a copyholder 
to a lord of a manor ; and alfo for heriots, homage, fealty, 
amercements, &c. 1 Nelf. Abr. 215- 
If a perfon makes an avowry for two caufes, and can 
maintain his avowry but for one of them, it is a good 
avowry ; and if an avowry be made for rent, and it ap¬ 
pears that part of it is not due, yet the avowry is good for 
tiie reft ; fuppofing fufficient rent due to juftify a diftrels. 
An avowry may be made upon two feveral titles of land, 
though it be but for one rent; for one rent may depend 
upon feveral titles. 1 Lill. Abr. 157. Saund. 285. If a man 
takes a diftrefs for rent referved upon a leafe for years, 
and afterwards accepts a furrender of the lands, he may 
jieverthelefs avow, becaufe he is to have the rent due, not- 
withftanding the furrender. 1 Danv. Abr. 652. Where te¬ 
nant in tail aliens in fee, the donor may avow upon him, 
<the reverlioa being in the donor, whereunto the rent is in- 
A V R 
cident. Ibid. 630. If there be tenant for life, remainder in 
fee, the tenant for life may compel the lord to avow upon 
him; but where there is tenant in tail, with fuch remain¬ 
der, and the tenant in tail makes, a feoffment, the feoffee 
may not compel the lord to avow upon him. 1 Danv. Abr. 
64S. Co. Lit. 268. If the tenant enfeoffs another, the lord 
ought to avow upon the feoffor for the arrearages before 
the feoffment, and not upon the feoffee. 1 Danv. 6 50. 1 lie 
lord may avow upon a dilfeifor. 20 Hen. VI. And if a 
man’s tenant is diffeifed, he may be compelled to avow, 
hy fuch tenant or his heir. A defendant in replevin may 
avow or juftify ; but if lie juftifies he cannot have a return. 
3 Lev. 204. The defendant need not aver his avowry with 
an hoc paraius ejl, See. By flat. 21 Hen. VIII. c. 19, it is 
enafted, That if in any replegiare for rents, &c. the avow¬ 
ry, cognifance, or juftification, be found for the defend¬ 
ant, or the plaintiff be nonfuit, Sec. the defendant fhall 
recover fuch damages and cofts as the plaintiff fhould have 
had, if he had recovered. See Bull. N. P. 57, that this 
ftatute does not extend to an avowry for a nomine pance or 
eftray. And by flat. 17 Car. II. c. 7, When a plaintiff fiiall 
be nonfuit before iifue in any (bit of replevin, See. removed 
or depending in any of the courts at Weftminfter, the de¬ 
fendant making fuggeftion in the nature of an avow ry for 
rent, the court on prayer fhall award a writ to inquire of 
the fum in arrear, and the value of the diftrefs, &c. upon 
return w'hereof the defendant (hall recover the arrears, if 
the diftrefs amounts to that value, or elfe the value of the 
diftrefs with cofts ; and where the diftrefs is not found to the 
value of the arrears, the party may diftraiu for the relidue. 
AVOW'SAL, / [from avow. ] A confeffton. 
AVOW'TRY, /. Adultery. 
AU'RA,/ [from u.u, to breathe ; or Gr. air; ra¬ 
ther from hk Heb.] The air, exhalation; vapour, wind. 
AURACH', a river of Germany, in Franconia, which 
runs into the Redrtitz, three miles fouth of Erlang. 
Aurach, a town of Germany, in the circle of Suabia, 
and county of Waldberg, nine miles E.N.E. ofWurzach. 
AU'Rj®, in mythology, a name given by the Romans 
to the nymphs of the air. They are moftly to be found 
in the ancient paintings of ceilings ; where they are repre- 
fented light and airy, generally with long robes and flying 
veils of lively colours, fluttering about in the pleafing ele¬ 
ment afligned to them. They are charaffterifed as fportive 
and happy in themfelves, and well-wifliers to mankind. 
AVRAINVTLLE, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Meurt, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftrift of Tout; two leagues north of Toul. 
AUR AN', a town of Arabia, fixty miles S. of Damafcus. 
AVRAN'CHES, a city of France, and principal town 
of a diftricl, in the department of the Channel, fituated on 
a mountain, near tire river See ; before the revolution, it 
was the fee of a bi(hop, fuffragan of Rouen ; befides the 
cathedral, it had three parilhes, a convent, a public fchool, 
a college, and an hofpital. Avranches is a very ancient 
towm, and was, before the county of Bretagne was united 
to the crown of France, called the Boulevard of France , yet 
the Bretans made themfelves mafters of it, and deftroyed 
the fortifications in the year 1203. The fortifications were 
rebuilt in the reign of St. Louis. The cathedral Hands 
on a hill, which terminates abruptly ; the front of the 
church extending to the extreme verge of it, and over¬ 
hanging the precipice. Here, we are told, the Englifli 
Henry II. received abfolution from the papal nuncio for 
the murder of St. Thomas-a-Becket, in 1172; and the 
(lone on which he knelt during the performance of that 
ceremony is (hewn to ((rangers. Its length is about thirty 
inches, and the breadth twelve. It (lands before the 
north portal of the cathedral, and on it is engraved a cha¬ 
lice in commemoration of the event. The ruins of the 
caftle of Avranches are very extenfive ; and beneath lies 
a rich extent of country, abounding in grain and covered 
with orchards, from the fruit of which is made the bed 
cider in Normandy. It is nineteen pofts fouth of Cher- 
burg, fix fouth of Coutances, twenty-five fouth-weft of 
Rouen, 
