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205 
borough), and gave his name to that town, and to the river 
Kennet, or Kunnet. The Rev. Samuel Greathead, in a letter 
to Mr. Britton, printed in the account of Wiltshire, in the 
15th volume of the “ Beauties of England and Wales,’’ 
regards Silbury as the burial-place of Prydain, a later king 
of the Britons, to whom he ascribes the union of the 
British tribes under one monarchy, and the construction of 
Avebury, as a place of assembly for the chiefs and people on 
great national occasions. Another opinion respecting this 
tumulus is, that it was the mount on which the Druids lighted 
up fires, when they wished to give notice to the surrounding 
country of some intended religious ceremonial. This view 
of the subject is of course confined to those who consider 
Avebury as having been a druidical temple; among whom 
is the Rev. Edward Davies, author of “ Celtic Researches,” 
and of “ The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids.” 
To these opinions relative to Silbury Hill may be added a 
third, which may be regarded as equally probable with any 
of the conjectures above stated. It is, that, like the Tinwald 
of the Isle of Man, and the Moote-hill of Scone, it was the 
mount of justice, the eminence from the summit of which the 
king promulgated the laws enacted in the national assemblies, 
and on which he and his judges sat to decide all important 
causes, whether of a civil or criminal nature. 
SILCHESTER, a village and parish of England, in the 
county of Hants ; 7 miles from Basingstoke. This is supposed 
to have been at one time a populous city, called by the Ro¬ 
mans Segontiaci, and by the Britons Caer Segont, and by 
the Saxons Silchester, or the great city. According to Le- 
land, the walls were two miles in compass, and contained 
80 acres of ground. They still remain, and consist of nine 
unequal sides, formed of rows of stones and flints alternately, 
being about 18 feet high and 15 thick. The remains of the 
ditches are in some places 12 yards over, with the appear¬ 
ance of having had four principal gates. Many British coins 
have been dug up here at different times. Without the 
walls on the north-east is a pond, which was the site of an 
amphitheatre. A military road called Loanbank and Grims- 
dike, pitched with flints, runs from the south gate to Win¬ 
chester ; and another called the Portway, leads from the 
south gate by Andover, to Old Sarum. 
SILE, a small river of the Venetian territory, which rises 
near Trevigo, and joining an arm of the Piave, takes the 
name of the Piavecello, and falls into the gulf of Venice. 
To SILE, v. a. [ si/a , Su. Goth.] To strain, as fresh 
milk from the cow : used in the north of England : whence 
a sile dish, a strainer. Sited milk is also sometimes another 
term for skimmed milk. To site is likewise used for subside, 
or sink down, from the primary meaning. 
SILEBY, a parish of England, in Leicestershire; 1| mile 
east of Mount Sorrel. Population 1200. 
SI'LENCE, s. [ silentium , Lat.] The state of holding 
peace; forbearance of speech. 
Speech submissively withdraws 
From rights of subjects, and the poor man’s cause. 
Then pompous silence reigns, and stills the noisy laws. 
Pope. 
Habitual taciturnity; not loquacity. 
I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence. 
And discourse grow commendable in none but parrots. 
Shakspeare. 
Secrecy. Stillness; not noise. 
Hail happy groves, calm and secure retreat 
Of sacred silence, rest’s eternal seat. Roscommon. 
Not mention; oblivion; obscurity. 
Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell; 
For strength from truth divided, and from just, 
Illaudable, nought merits but dispraise 
And ignominy ; yet to glory aspires, 
Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame ; 
Therefore eternal silence be their doom. Milton. 
SI'LENCE, interj. An authoritative restraint of speech. 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1565. 
S I L 
Sir, have pity ; I’ll be his surety.-— 
— Silence; one word more 
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. Shakspeare. 
To SI'LENCE, v. a. To oblige to hold peace; to forbid 
to speak. 
Silence that dreadful bell: it frights the isle 
From her propriety. Shakspeare. 
To still. 
The thund’rer spoke, nor durst the queen reply; 
A reverend horror silenc'd all the sky. Pope. 
SILENE [so named by Linnaeus, from 2<aXo?, 2iaXi?, or 
2 teXoi;, Gr., spuma, saliva, foam or spittle], in Botany, a 
genus of the class decandria, order monogynia, natural 
order of caryophyllei, caryophylleee (Juss .)—Generic Cha¬ 
racter. Calyx: perianth one-leaved, ventricose, five-toothed, 
permanent. Corolla : petals five: claws narrow, length of 
the calyx, margined : border flat, obtuse, often bifid. Nec¬ 
tary composed of two toothlets in the neck of each petal, 
forming a crown at the throat. Stamina: filaments ten, 
awl-shaped, alternately inserted into the claws of the petals, 
and later than the other five. Anthers oblong. Pistil: 
germ cylindrical. Styles three, simple, longer than the sta¬ 
mens. Stigmas bent contrary to th« sun’s apparent motion. 
Pericarp: capsule cylindrical, covered, one or three-celled, 
opening at the top into five or six parts. Seeds very many, 
kidney-form. It differs from cucubalus in the nectareous 
crown of the corolla.— Essential Character. Calyx ven¬ 
tricose. Petals five, with claws, crowned at the throat. 
Capsule three-celled. 
I.—-Flowers solitary, lateral. 
1. Silene Anglica, or English catchfly.—Hirsute viscid; 
petals emarginate; flowers lateral, erect, alternate; lower 
fruits divaricate-reflexed. Root annual, fibrous. Stem 
erect.—Native of England and France, in sandy fields: flow¬ 
ering in June and July. 
2. Silene Lusitanica, or Portugal catchfly.—Hirsute; 
petals toothed, undivided; flowers erect; fruits divaricate- 
reflexed, alternate. It is an annual plant.—Native of Portugal 
and Barbary. 
3. Silene quinquevulnera, or variegated catchfly.—Hir¬ 
sute; petals roundish, quite entire; flowers lateral, alternate, 
and fruits erect. From a small fibrous annual root arise 
several flaccid spreading stems, round, hairy, and a little 
viscid.—Native of the South of Europe, Siberia and Bar¬ 
bary. 
4. Silene ciliata, or fringed catchfly.—Root simple, fili¬ 
form. Stems somewhat branched, a finger’s length, pubes¬ 
cent. Root-leaves roundish-spatulate. Stem-leaves oblong, 
acute. Flowers erect, on very short peduncles.—Native of 
the island of Candia. 
5. Silene sericea, or silky silene.-—Petals bifid; flowers 
opposite, peduncled, erect; leaves oblong-spatulate, silky- 
hoary. Root annual, not very fibrous. Stem round, di¬ 
vided from the bottom alternately or forked into procum¬ 
bent branches.—Native of Piedmont, on the sandy coast 
between Oneglia and Porto Maurizio. 
6. Silene nocturna, or spiked night-flowering catchfly.— 
Flowers in spikes, alternate, directed one way; sessile; 
petals bifid. This is an annual plant with a low branching- 
stem.—Native of France and Spain. There remain in this 
section Silene gallica and cerastoides. 
II.—Flowers lateral, in clusters. 
7. Silene mutabilis, or changeable catchfly.—Petals bifid ; 
calyxes angular, peduncled; leaves lanceolate-linear. Stem 
eighteen inches high, round, hairy, red towards the bottom. 
It is annual plant.—Native of the south of Europe. 
8. Silene chlorantha, or pale-flowered catchfly.'—Petals 
linear, bifid; flowers lateral, directed one way, drooping; 
root-leaves rugged at the edge. Root perennial.—Native of 
Germany. 
9. Silene nutans, or Nottingham catchfly.—Flowers pa-- 
nicled, directed one way, drooping; petals two-parted, with 
3 G linear 
