From Beauty's lip the vermeil hue."
J. A. DOUGLAS.
Mark for a Dollar (Vol. iii., p. 449.).
—The origin of the sign of the dollar, concerning which T. C. inquires, is, I believe, a contraction of scutum, the same as £, formerly written £i, is of libra. The strokes through the S are merely the signs of contraction.
K. P. D. E.
Gillingham (Vol. iii., p. 448.).
—In a foot-note to Rapin (2nd edit., vol. i. p. 130.), the general assembly convened by Earl Goodwin, at which Edward the Confessor was chosen king, is stated, upon the same authority as Hutchins has referred to (viz. Malmsbury), to have been "Gilingeham or London." If at Gillingham, there can be but little doubt it was Gillingham near Chatham, of which latter place Goodwin is stated to have been then possessed.
J. B. COLMAN.
Eye, June 10, 1851.
The share that Earl Godwin bore in the establishment of King Edward (the Confessor) on the throne of England seems to make it probable that Gillingham in Kent, not the Gillingham in Dorsetshire, was the scene of the council referred to by your correspondent QUIDAM. Edward, observe, was coming from the continent, and relied entirely on the support of the great East Kentish Earl. Milton names the council in his History of England, Works, vol. vi. p. 275., Pickering, ed. 1831. He seems to be still quoting Malmsbury.