Anciently, the tenants (in England) in
some manors, were not allowed to have their rural implements sharpened
by any but those whom the lord appointed; for which an acknowledgment
was to be paid, called _agusa dura_; in some places _agusage_, a fee for
sharpening plough-tackle, which some take to be the same with what was
otherwise called _reillage_, from the ancient French _reille_, a
_ploughshare_.
_Ancient Fete at Gorhamlury._--In the year 1577, Queen Elizabeth was
entertained at Gorhambury, by Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, from
Saturday, May the 18th, to the Wednesday following, at the expense of
577_l_. 6_s_. 7-1/4_d_. besides fifteen bucks and two stags. Among the
dainties of the feathered kind, enumerated in this entertainment, Mr.
Nichols mentions herons, bitterns, godwites, dotterels, shovelers,
curlews, and knots. Sir Nicholas Bacon was frequently visited by the
queen, who dated many of her state papers from Gorhambury.
P.T.W.
_Adrian the Fourth._--Adrian the Fourth was the only Englishman who ever
filled the Papal chair. His name was Nicholas Breakspeare, and he was
born at Abbot's Langley, a village in Herts. Such was the unbounded
pride of this pontiff, that when the Emperor Frederick the First went to
Rome, in 1155, to receive the imperial diadem, the Pope, after many
difficulties concerning the ceremonial of investiture, insisted that the
emperor should prostrate himself before him, kiss his feet, hold his
stirrup, and lead the white palfrey on which the holy father rode.
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