Threadneedle Street, Aug. 28. 1851.
132. _Abacot._--The word ABACOT, now inserted in foreign as well as
English dictionaries, was adopted by Spelman in his Glossary: the
authority which he gives _seems_ to be the passage (stating that King
Henry VI.'s "high cap of estate, called _Abacot_, garnished with two
rich crowns," was presented to King Edward IV. after the battle of
Hexham) which is in Holinshed, (the third volume of _Chronicles_, fol.
Lond. 1577, p. 666. col. 2. line 28.): but this appears to be copied
from Grafton (_A Chronicle, &c._, fol. Lond. 1569), where the word
stands _Abococket_. If this author took it from Hall (_The Union, &c._,
fol. Lond. 1549) I think it there stands the same: but in Fabyan's
_Chronicle_, as edited by Ellis, it is printed _Bycoket_; and in one
black-letter copy in the British Museum, it may be seen _Bicoket_,
corrected in the margin by a hand of the sixteenth century, _Brioket_.
Can any reader point out the right word, and give its derivation?