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_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,
And _pilled_ as an ape was his skull."