ict of down and common land would not be an
inappropriate habitat for such a personage. It has few trees of any
pretension to age, and is still covered in great part with a dark and
scanty vegetation, which is sufficiently dreary except at those seasons
when the brilliant colours of the blooming heath and dwarf furze give it
an aspect of remarkable beauty.

Whether the present name of Greendale be a mere corruption of the
earliest name, or be not, in fact, a restoration of it to its original
meaning, is a matter which I am not prepared to discuss. As a general
rule, a sound etymologist will not hastily desert an obvious and trite
explanation to go in search of a more recondite import. He will not have
recourse to the devil for the solution of a _nodus_, till he has
exhausted more legitimate sources of assistance.

The "N. & Q." have readers nearer to the spot in question than I am, who
may, perhaps, be able to throw some light on the subject, and inform us
whether Greendale still possesses the trace of any of those natural
features which would justify the demoniacal derivation proposed by I. E.
It must not, however, be forgotten that three centuries and a half of
laborious culture bestowed upon the property by the monks of Tor, must
have gone far to exorcise and reclaim it.

E. S.

Some years ago I asked the meaning of _Grindle_ or _Grundle_, as applied
to a deep, narrow watercourse at Wattisfield in Suffolk. The Grundle
lies between the high road and the "Croft," adjoining a mansion which
once belonged to the Abbots of Bury. The clear and rapid water was
almost hidden by brambles and underwood; and the roots of a row of fine
trees standing in the Croft were washed bare by its winter fury. The
bank on that side was high and broken; the bed of the Grundle I observed
to lie above the surface of the road, on the opposite side of which the
ground rises rapidly to the table land of clay. My fancy instantly
suggested a river flowing through this hollow, and the idea was
strengthened by the appearance of the landscape. The village stands on
irregular ground, descending by steep slopes into narrow valleys and
contracted meadows. I can well imagine that water was an enemy or
"fiend" to the first settlers, and I was told that in winter the Grundle
is still a roaring brook.

I find I have a Note that "in Charters, places bearing the name Grendel
are always connected with water."

F. C. B.

Diss.

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