In Grimm's _Elucidations to Andreas_ he thus notices it:-- "Unlaed, miser, improbus, infelix. (A. 142. 744. _Judith_, 134, 43.). A rare adjective never occurring in Beowulf, Coedmon, or the Cod. Exon., and belonging to those which only appear in conjunction with _un_. Thus, also, the Goth. unleds, pauper, miser; and the O.H.G. unlât (Graff, 2. 166.); we nowhere find a lêds, laed, lât, as an antithesis. It must have signified _dives, felix_; and its root is wholly obscure." In all the Anglo-Saxon examples of unlaed, the sense appears to be _wretched_, _miserable_; in the Gothic it is uniformly _poor_[1]: but _poverty_ and _wretchedness_ are nearly allied. Lêd, or laed, would evidently therefore signify _rich_, and by inference _happy_. Now we have abundant examples of the use of the word ledes in old English; not only for _people_, but for _riches_, _goods_, _movable property_. Lond and lede, or ledes, or lith, frequently occur unequivocally in this latter sense, thus:-- "He was the first of Inglond that gaf God his tithe Of isshue of bestes, of londes, or of _lithe_." _P. Plouhm_. "I bed hem bothe lond and _lede_, To have his douhter in worthlie wede, And spouse here with my ring." _K. of Tars_, 124. "For to have lond or _lede_, Or _other riches_, so God me spede! Yt ys to muche for me." _Sir Cleges_, 409. "Who schall us now geve londes or _lythe_, Hawkys, or houndes, or stedys stithe, As he was wont to do." _Le B. Florence of Rome_, 841. "No asked he lond or _lithe_, Bot that maiden bright." _Sir Tristrem_, xlviii. In "William and the Werwolf" the cowherd and his wife resolve to leave William "Al here godis Londes and _ludes_ as ether after her lif dawes." p. 4 In this poem, _ludes_ and _ledes_ are used indiscriminately, but most frequently in the sense of men, people. Sir Frederick Madden has shown, from the equivalent words in the French original of Robert of Brunne, "that he always uses the word in the meaning of _possessions_, whether consisting of tenements, rents, fees, &c.;" in short, _wealth_. If, therefore, the word has this sense in old English, we might expect to find it in Anglo-Saxon, and I think it is quite clear that we have it at least in one instance. In the _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_, vol. i. p. 184., an oath is given, in which the following passage occurs: "Do spa to lane beo þé he þinum I leat me be minum ne 3ypne le þines ne laedes ne landes ne sac ne socne ne þu mines ne þeapst ne mint ic þe nan þio3." Mr. Thorpe has not translated the word, nor is it noticed in his Glossary; but I think there can be no doubt that it should be rendered by _goods_, _chattels_, or _wealth_, i.e., movable property.