Not. 17. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



383 



ants of the place. Does any one know where her 

 remains now repose ? A. S. 



" Gillingham" Etymology of. — The name Gil- 

 lingham has been supposed to be derived from the 

 A.-S. gyllan, to roar, howl, &c., in allusion either 

 to the murmuring sound produced by one or two 

 streams that flow through that parish — although 

 the levelness of the country precludes the idea of 

 any waterfall — or else because the wind may be 

 presumed, when rough, to have made a sighing or 

 howling amidst the trees of the forest which once 

 surrounded the place. Now, as it happens that 

 two other places in England, one in Kent and one 

 in Norfolk, rejoice in this identical name, it 

 seems fair to infer that similar considerations may 

 have led to its adoption in all three instances. 

 If there be anything in the above etymology, they 

 ought all to possess some features in common, and 

 perhaps some of your Kent and Norfolk corre- 

 spondents will kindly give some information on 

 the subject. The A.~S. spelling is Gillinga or 

 Gilliiigaham, and discarding the " roaring " ety- 

 mology, I would submit that the first part of the 

 word is merely the genitive plural of gilling, the 

 diminutive form of gill, which latter may have 

 been a proper name. The entire name would 

 thus mean " the home of the sons of Gill," and 

 would be strictly analogous in form to Beorming- 

 aham, and many other A.-S. local names. This 

 theory certainly requires one to assume the exist- 

 ence of thi*ee primitive Anglo-Saxon colonists of 

 the same name, and it is much less poetical than 

 the older etymology, too ; but these defects I 

 must beg your readers to pardon. Quid am. 



" Virgin Victim.'' — AVho is the author of The 

 Virgin Victim, a tragedy. Printed at Hunting- 

 don, 8vo., 1777 ? K. J. 



Dr. Dodds " Sermon on Malt.''' — Can any of 

 your correspondents trace the origin, or authenti- 

 cate the anecdote of Dr. Dodd having been com- 

 pelled by a drunken party to preach on malt as 

 his text ? The sermon, as fiir as I remember, 

 began with a division not into sentences, for there 

 was none ; not into words, for there was but one ; 

 not into syllables, but into letters — M. A. L. T. 

 M., my masters ; A., all of you ; L., leave ; T., tip- 

 pling. This will be sufficient to indicate the cir- 

 cumstance, and my memory does not serve me 

 with more. 



Query, is the person alluded to the too cele- 

 brated Dr. Dodd ? Y. B. N. J. 



Arms of the Lord of Blaencych, SfC. — Can any 

 of your Welsh heraldic correspondents inform me 

 what arms were borne by Cadifor Fawr, Lord of 

 Blaencych and Kilsant, &c. According to Ender- 

 bie's Camhi'ia TimimpJians, his arms were : argent, 

 a lion passant, guardant, sable, incensed gules ; 



No. .316.] 



but in some old family papers, I find the lion is 

 rampant — in other respects the same. Which of 

 these is the correct coat ? Bban. 



Dyke of Hopton Castle, Salop. — Some time ago 

 I made a Note of a conversation which I held 

 with a poor woman named Dyke, who described 

 herself as lineally descended from one Richard 

 Dyke, who, in the civil wars, as she slated, de- 

 fended Hopton Castle for King Charles I. He 

 formed a matrimonial alliance with Minifred, 

 daughter of Sir John Price, the parliamentary 

 general in those parts. At the Restoration, 

 Richard Dyke became security for Sir John, or 

 some one of his family ; and, like many another, 

 had to pay for his kindness. Consequently, he 

 retired to Douay, and afterwards to the West 

 Indies ; and died in Jamaica. Can any one help 

 me in tracing the pedigree, or in confirming the 

 story ? Dro Duce. 



Translator of Gessner. — Can any of your 

 readers inform me who is the translator of the 

 Works of Solomon Gessner, published at Liver- 

 pool, 3 vols, post 8vo., 1802 ? R. J. 



Honiton Schoolmasters. — From the lieport of 

 Commissioners of Inquiry concerning Charities 

 (vol. iv. p. 14.), it appears that the Rev. Richard 

 Lewis was appointed Master of the Grammar 

 School at Honiton in the year 1801. Can any 

 correspondent or reader of " N. & Q." inform me 

 where I can find a list of the masters of this school 

 prior to 1801 ? or can any one supply a list up to 

 the date of the rebuilding of the schoolhouse in 

 17G5 ? Also, at what date was Philip Prince 

 Master of Honiton School ? Any one who could 

 supply these particulars would greatly oblige. 



S. J. B. 



C. Pontius, the Samnite General. — Has Niebuhr 

 any classical authority for identifying the Samnite 

 Pontius, who, in a. u. c. 433., overthrew the Ro- 

 mans at the Caudine Forks, with the Pontius who, 

 in 460, was defeated by the Romans under Fabius 

 G urges, and afterwards beheaded? Niebuhr af- 

 firms that he belonged to the Caudine tribe, but 

 the Pontus of 460 was (if we may judge from the 

 statement in Dionysius, that his army consisted of 

 the Pentrian tribe alone) a Pentrian ; and further, 

 the strange quietude of the Pontius of 433 for 

 twenty-seven years is not very probable, and is 

 quite unaccounted for. E. West. 



Voracity of the Hedgehog. — In the few books 

 on natural history to which I have access, the 

 voracity of the hedgehog is not noticed. I beg, 

 therefore, to ask whether a tragical event, which 

 has recently taken place in my house, is consistent 

 with the habits of this (generally described) 

 harmless animal ? Our kitchen being infested by 

 cockroaches, I offered any village boy a shilling 



