Launceston.
[The meaning of the first passage quoted by our correspondent is
clearly, "una parva capella quarum parietes sunt de _maheremio_ et
plastro, et maheremium inde fere disjungitur," _i.e._ "one small
chapel whose walls are of timber and plaster (or, as we say, built
of lath and plaster), and the timbers thereof for the most part
disjointed." Under the word _Materia_, Ducange gives Mæremium,
Maheremium, and many other forms of the word, which is used for
timber.
_Un arc de Arbouin._--If our correspondent will refer to Ducange
sub _Arcus_, he will find him, sub "Arcus de Aubour," citing
_Monast. Ang._, tom. ii. p. 602., and explaining it, "arcus
bellici species. Regestum Philippi Augusti, fol. 159. Habet
sagittam et arcum de aubour cum corda." He next cites _Le Roman de
Garin_ (MS.):
"Arc d'Aubour porte et sajetes d'acier," &c.
A learned friend whom we have consulted reminds us that besides
the common Laburnum, which it is obvious could not be the wood
referred to, there is another sort known to our gardeners as
"Cytisus Alpinus," Scotch Laburnum, which grows into an actual
tree, and supplies the hard black wood used by the French as
ebony, and called by them False Ebony. It is of notorious
hardness, and would have done well for bows. It is a native of
Dauphiné, and indigenous also in the Alps, and, even if unknown in
England in the reign of Edward III., was probably used in the
Alpine countries for bows, and possibly imported into England for
the same purpose.]
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