Permit me to suggest that, in asking a question, it is often desirable
that the querist should state briefly the amount of information he
already possesses on the subject. For instance, had Mr. "T.H. Turner,"
when inquiring after _beaver hats_ (No. 7. p. 100.), stated, that he
had met with the mention of them as early as the time of Hen. III., I,
of course, should not have troubled you with a notice of them in the
reign of Elizabeth. Indeed, I owe Mr. Turner an apology; for if I had
reflected a moment upon the extensive antiquarian information of
the querist, I should certainly have concluded that he must be well
acquainted with the authorities I cited, which happened to be at my
elbow at the time I read the query. Mr. B. Corney (No. 19. p. 307.)
has supplied a beaver hat from Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_; we meet
with another in his _Testament of Creseide_, v. 386., "in a mantill
and a beaver hat." We may therefore conclude that they were not
unusual in Chaucer's time. I now think it very probable that beaver
hats were introduced into this country as early as the Norman
Conquest; for we find mention of them in Normandy at a still earlier
period. In the "Chronicle of the Abbey of St. Wandrille" (edited by
Acheri, in his _Spicilegium_), we find, amongst the gifts of the Abbot
Ansegisus, who died A.D. 833,
"Cappas Romanas duas, unam videlicet ex rubeo cindato, et
fimbriis viridibus in circuitu ornatam; alteram _ex cane
Pontico_, quero vulgus _Bevurum_ nuncupat, similiter fimbriis
sui coloris decoratam in orbe."
I do not conceive this cap to have been made of the _skin_ of a
beaver, for the term would then most probably have been "ex _pelli_
canis Pontici."
This Chronicle contains several curious inventories of the gifts of
many of the abbots; in which we may see the splendour of the vessels
and vestments used at that period in religious services, as well as
the style of reading then prevalent amongst the monks.
Gastros.
Cambridge, March 11.
[There is a Query which arises out of this subject which none
of our correspondents have yet touched upon--What was the
original meaning of _Beaver_, as applied to a hat or cap? and
was it taken from the name of the animal, or did it give the
name to it?]
* * * * *