124
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. FEB. 12, '98.
(this alloyed mass may be coined into xx.
marks, the value of wnich is one pound of
silver, that is to say, two marks).
So that, if the mark were a weight only and not a coin, the same piece would weigh the twentieth of a pound and half a pound "which is absurd." The "pound" spoken of if the weight of 7,195 grains, equal to two marks of Cologne, "libram semper intelligo quae continet marchas duas ponderis " (p. 72).
My 'Colloquy on Currency,' 1894, is pro- bably more accessible than Wolowski's book, and at p. 306 will be found extracts from Copernicus, showing several instances where the pound of two marks (weight) is supposed to be cut into twenty or twenty -four or other numbers of marks (money). ALDENHAM.
"A MYAS OF ALE." In 1572 John Jones, who in his will dated 17 July, 1600, describes himself as " Phisitian, parson of Treton, and chaplaine to the right honorable lord high Treasurer of England," published his book entitled * The Benefit of the auncient Bathes of Buckstones.' In describing the diet suit- able for patients undergoing treatment at Buxton, he says :
" Wynes of these kyndes may bee permitted, as a cuppe of Sacke and Sugar, if the disease doo not forbid it, or of good Gascoyne wyne, to them that be leane, with Sugar, or whyte Mamulsyes of Madera, a myas of good Ale, a cawdell, or Alebury, althogh afore in the generall dyet I haue not touched it." Fol. 10, recto.
The word " myas," pronounced " meeas," has just been reported to me by my friend Mr. Joseph Kenworthy from the neighbour- hood of Deepcar, near Sheffield, a place about twelve miles to the west of Treeton, where Jones was parson. Mr. Kenworthy tells me that he heard a man say, " I am dry ; I wish I 'd a myas o' ale." Another man said he could eat "aw?/as o' nettle porritch." Mr. Kenworthy has made many inquiries about this word, and his informants are unanimous in saying that a " myas " is a brown earthenware pot, of the kind which was common before Stafford- shire earthenware came into use, and having a " stale" or handle. Such pots were formerly made in South Yorkshire. Some of them are still in use. They taper towards the bottom, they have no lip or spout, and the inside is glazed black. Similar pots are now made in Holland and in Friesland.
But it seems that people in Deepcar speak of " myas pots " as well as of a " myas." The " myas pot" is the vessel in which York- shire puddings and other compounds are mixed, and I am told that it sometimes occurs in old inventories annexed to wills as "mesepot," In South Yorkshire a beast is
known as a " beeast," in two syllables, plural
" beeases." One suspects, therefore, that, in
spite of the assertions of the people of Deepcar,
a "myas" is really a "mess,' a portion of
food or drink. It is possible, of course, that
the word, like the Latin ferculum, has the
twofold meaning of a vessel or pot, and of a
dish or mess of food. It sounds rather strange
to speak^of " a mess of ale," though the ale of
former times may have been thick enough to
serve for both meat and drink !
S. O. ADDY.
"PLUKALITY." This term, although at- tempts have often, I believe, been made in this country to introduce it as a substitute for "majority" when used in reference to numerical superiority, has never maintained its ground in English speech except as the abstract noun of " plural." Recently, how- ever, the newspapers contained telegrams from New York headed "Plurality for Tammany," and the expression is not unlikely now, by a "concensus" of newspaper usage, to " supercede " its stubborn rival.
J. P. OWEN.
A ROMAN ROAD UNEARTHED AT REIGATE. Several morning and evening newspapers of 6 January record the unearthing pi what they describe as "an interesting discovery in the form of a portion of a Roman roadway " at Reigate. It appears that some workmen employed by a local builder were " excavating a trench in Nutley Lane," when they came upon "a completely formed roadway about six feet below the surface of the highway." This newly found road is said to be about twelve or fifteen feet wide (one account says fourteen feet). It is composed of flints " un- broken, but with the edges trimmed to fit." There appears some uncertainty as to what particular road it is a part. Some local authorities regard it as a continuation of the well-known Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury; while others, from its construction, believe it to be a part of the Roman road from Winchester to London. The British Architect, noting the discovery, says : " The road passed over the hill, and the district was known as Ridge Gate, altered in later years to Reigate." Lewis's ' Topographical Dictionary ' states : "This place, which is of considerable antiquity, was called in Domesday Book Cherche felle, and afterwards Church-field, in Reigate, by which name
- he church was given by Hamelin, Earl of Surrey,
- o the priory of St. Mary Overy, Southwark, in the
- eign of King John. The origin of its present name
s uncertain. Camden says that, if borrowed from the ancient language, it signifies the course of the tream ; while Mr. Bray and others consider it, with
- reat probability, to be derived from the Saxon
words rif/e or rtdge, and f/ate, from a gate or bar
