

James.' The word goes back to Hoveden's The 

 6 Watlinga-Strete,' itself but slightly anglicised Milk y 

 from the Anglo - Saxon Waetlinga Straet, ay " 

 where the words mean the Path of the Waet- 

 lings, the giant sons of King Waetla, pos- 

 sibly identical with the giant Sons of Turenn 

 of ancient Gaelic legend, heroes who went out 

 to achieve deeds impossible to men, and 

 traversed earth and sea and heaven itself in 

 their vast epical wanderings. Another curious 

 old English name of the Galaxy, of great beauty 

 in its significance, is 'Walsyngham Way.' 

 Why the Galaxy should be so called might well 

 puzzle us, were it not explained by the fact that 

 up till near the middle of the sixteenth century 

 one of the most common English names of the 

 Virgin Mary was ' Our Lady of Walsyngham,' 

 from the fact that the Blessed Mother's chief 

 shrine in the country was at Walsyngham 

 Abbey in Norfolk. Further, as 'the Way 

 to Walsyngham ' in common parlance signified 

 the road to the earthly tabernacle of Mary, 

 so 'Walsyngham Way,' as applied to the 

 Galaxy, signified the celestial road to the virgin 

 Mother in heaven. Much more barbaric is a 

 name for the Milky Way still to be heard 

 in Celtic Wales, Caer Gwydyon, the Castle 

 or Fortress of Gwython. This Gwython or 

 Gwydyon was a kind of Merlin Sylvestris. 



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