r798.] 
great reafon, to this opinion, from having 
noticed that, ina document given by Du 
Cange, a fpecific difference is made be- | 
tween the mark of England and that of 
Troyes ; and, finding a coincidence be- - 
tween the Englifh ounce, and that ufed 
by the moneyers and’ apothecaries in 
Egypt, conjeétures that troy weight 
might have been fo denominated, from the 
Arabian word, Taraw, which fignifies 
fpices*. Had he recolleéted there was a 
city of Troy, in Egypt, he might have 
gone farther; but in neither cafe does the 
opinion feem deferving of much attention. 
The bifhop adds, that Sir Henry SPEL- 
MAN appears to have thought that our 
troy weight was not borrowed from the 
city of Troyes, from his fiyling it /iéra 
Trojana (and Thoja pondus) and not 
Trecenfis; bu: SPELMAN, aware, perhaps, 
of the difficulty, does not enter into the 
fubjeét, thouvh he defcribes many other 
forts of potinds. vf 
With refpeét to averdupois weight, it 
will be neceffary to examine, in the firft 
inftance, its etymology. ‘It is, as to this 
kingdom, undoubtedly a Norman-French 
word, and implies either babere pondus, 
or babere debitum pondus, avoir du poids: 
fhould the latter appear too fanciful, let it 
be remembered, that the idiom of the 
French language would now require, in 
the former inftance, avoir le poids, though 
it ts impoilible to criticife, with any de- 
gree of certainty, upon the, old French. 
The older word is fimply averium, or 
averia, which, from innumerable inftances, 
appears to have denoted all kinds of 
moveable property. Du Cange derives it. 
from the French avoir, but I fhould rather 
fuppofe it a barbarous terar from daédcre, 
the common parent. In the *“ Liber 
Confuetudinum Imperii Romaniz,” which 
was compofed in the thirteenth century, 
and exhibits a maft curious {pecimen of 
the Italian language of that period, I find 
the word avoreria ufed for land; and the 
term, varioufly difguifed, was probably 
indicative of property of all kinds: it was 
alfo ufed in the old Spanith language. 
SPELMAN’s derivation from ouvre {carcely 
deferves notice. 
Averdupois occurs in our ftatutes, inthe 
fenfe of heavy merchandife in general, 
and I believe, for the firft time, in the 
ftat. York, 9 Edw. III, and frequently 
afterwards. As a weight, it does not 
#ppear in the ftatutes, until 24 Hen. VIII, 
* Hooper’s Enquiry into the -State of the 
Ancient Meafures, pages 435) 437. 

Ox Englifh Weights. it 
fe 
c. 3, where it is called /awful weight, but 
was certainly known long before, for 
StrRYPeE, in his edition of STOWE’s 
Survey, Vol. II, p. 344, gives an extraét 
from the records of the city of London, 
6 Ed. II, in which it is mentioned. I think . 
it is more probable that the weight was de= 
nominated from the merchandife, than the 
latter from the weight, notwithftanding 
CoweEx infers the contrary. 
By flat. 27 Edw: WI, fiat. 2, ¢, 10, it: 
is direéted,. that all averdupois commodi- 
ties be fold by one method of weighing, 
that is, by even balance, without inclina- 
tion of the fcales to either fide, as appears 
to have been fometimes fraudulently prac- 
tifed. A fimilar ordinance had been 
already made, in the reign of Edw. I, 
notwithftanding a remonftrance on the 
part of the mayor and fheriffs of London, 
‘that a contrary praétice had immemorially 
prevaiied, with refpecét to averdupois 
goods, aS appears from the plea books of 
Edward I & II, cited by Cowel v. Pondus, 
Regis. I would here remark that, in my 
humble judgment, Cowel, or his editor, 
has mifconceived the meaning of the ex- 
traé&t from the plea books, and that the 
term poxdus regis meant nothing more 
than the royal, or authorifed weight, as to. 
averdupol8 goods, and not a different, ner 
troy weight. 
In the reign of Elizabeth, our weights 
were, at length, regulated by the prefent- 
. ment of a jury, which, for troy weight, 
adopted a flandard at Gold{miths’ Hall, 
‘Sof ancient ufe,’” add for averdupois 
‘San ancient ftandard of §6lb. remaining 
in the Exchequer fince the time of king 
Edward III, and then in ufe”’ This 
prefentment was afterwards allowed by 
the queen and her council, and a pro- 
clamation iffued for the making of weights 
agreeable thereto, and for diftributing 
them throughout the kingdom, in the 
places mentioned in fiat. Hen. VII*. 
Patterns of the above weights were 
depofited in the Exchequer, where the 
averdupois weight of fourteen pounds is 
marked with a crowned E, and infcribed 
XIIII POVNDE AVERDEPOIZ ELIZA- 
BETH REGINA, 1582+. ‘The. troy 
weights, marked alfo with a crowned E, 
are ounces from 256 oz. to the fixteenth 
partof an ounce. There being no pounds 
troy, feems a proof that that weight was 
never defigned for heavy articles. Other 
weights in the Exchequer are dated 1601, 
a a TES 
* Strype’s Stowe, II, 345. 
+ Philof. Tranfact, No. 470. ; 
A complete 
