Edinburgh.
Was Colonel Hewson a Cobbler? (Vol. iii., p. 11.).—Hume's History relates that "Colonel Hewson suppressed the tumult of London apprentices, November, 1659:" and that "he was a man who rose from the profession of a cobbler to a high rank in the army."
Colonel John Hewson was member for Guildford from September 17, 1656, to January 27, 1658-59. (Bray and Manning.)
GILBERT.
Mole (Vol. ii., p. 225.).—This story is of course much older than the form which it now appears. Sir Bevil Grenville is the great hero of the N.W. coast of Cornwall most of the floating legend has been gathered about him.
Legends referring to the origin of different animals are common. Mrs. Jamieson (Canada) has a very beautiful Chippewa story of the first robin.
It is believed in Devonshire that moles begin to work with the flow, and leave off with the ebb of the tide. The same thing is asserted of the beaver.
Pillgarlick (Vol. ii., p. 393.; Vol. iii., p. 42.).—The word is given by Todd, in his edition of Johnson, under the forms Pilgarlick and Pilled-garlick. The same orthography is adopted by other lexicographers. The spelling, concerning which your querist desires information, is, however, the least important point. I trust that the question will elicit information of a valuable kind as to the origin of the term, by which I have I myself been sorely puzzled, and which, I think, has not been satisfactorily cleared up by any of those who have attempted it. Following the authority of Skinner, our philologists are satisfied with assuring us, that pilled means bald (French, pelé) and about this there can be no dispute. Thus Chaucer (Reve's Tale) says:—
Round was his face, and camuse was his nose,