Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/566

This page needs to be proofread.

466


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. DEC. n, 1909.


" But I beseech you, Gentlemen, how comes this unmodish Opinion in you against the Plays in Fashion ? I '11 tell you, continued Lisander, methinks they have neither the Wit, Conduct, Honour, nor Design of those writ by Johnson, Shakspear, and Fletcher." James Wright,

  • Country Conversation,' 1694, p. 3.

' The applause that is given them proves, as the Oommon Phrase is, but a Nine Days Wonder. Whereas there is hardly a scene in Shakspeare <tho' he writ near 100 years since) but we have still in Admiration, for the Vivacity of the Wit, the Justness of the Character, and the True, Natural, and Proper Expression." Ibid., p. 4.

" Whereupon Julio, in a long Discourse, pro- duced out of Ben Johnson, Shakspear, Beau- mont and Fletcher, Massinger, Shirley, and Sir William Davenant, before the Wars, and some Comedies of Mr. Dryden's, since the Restauration, many Characters of Gentlemen, of a quite different Strain from those in the Modern Plays." Ibid., p. 16.

" May he lock you up from the sight of all man- kind, and leave you nothing but your ill Conscience to keep you company, till at last, between his penurious allowance and the sense of your own .guilt, you make so terrible a figure, that the worst witch in ' Mackbeth ' would seem an Angel to you." ' Familiar Letters,' 1697, p. 170.

" How often is the good Actor (as, for instance, the lago in ' The Moor of Venice,' or the Countess of Notingham in ' The Earl of Essex ') little less than curst for Acting an 111 Part ? " ' A Defence of Dramatick Poetry,' 1698, p. 72.

There is also (ibid., pp. 73-4) an allusion to Timon of Athens, but it is not Shake- speare's play that the writer has in mind. G. THOBN-DBUBY.

MONTJUICH : ITS PBONUNCIATION. The fortress of Montjuich came once more to the front during the recent disturbances in Barcelona. This name is remarkable for the difficulty attaching to its pronunciation, which is not given in any English work of reference, and, owing to the fact that it is spelt accord- ing to the local Catalan orthography, is troublesome even for Spaniards. The Cas- tilian, I have noticed, is about as much at

sea with the names of Catalonia as the

Cockney is with those of " Wild Wales.'* In Spanish newspapers and books this name is often abbreviated to Monjui. This gets rid of its chief peculiarity, the final ch, which puzzles Spaniards and foreigners, because it is sounded, not like the ch in " church, 11 but like hard k. The name is, in fact, a rime to English " eke,' 1 and should be three syllables Mon-jew-eke. It rimes with another Catalan place-name, Vich, which is sometimes more intelligibly written Vique. A third local name with the final guttural isHBelllloch, which I add here merely because of the rarity of four Z's coming together.

JAS. PLATT, Jun.


' D.N.B. EPITOME * AND STATUES AT CALCUTTA. In the course of preparing an illustrated work on * Calcutta in Pre- Camera Days * I have noticed that the ' Index and Epitome of the D.N.B. 1 omits to mention the fact that Cornwallis has an elaborate statue erected to his memory in the Town Hall, Calcutta. It is by John Bacon, jun., and of superb workmanship.

The ' Epitome * in the case of the Marquis of Hastings does mention the fact of his having a statue in Calcutta ; it is by Flax- man, though, and not, as stated, by Chantrey.

There is also a statue here to Warren Hastings by Westmacott. This escapes mention in the ' Index and Epitome.*

WlLMOT COBFIELD.

Calcutta.

WELTJE'S HOUSE AT HAMMEBSMITH. (See ante, p. 294.) As my statement that the Weltje house in The Upper Mall at Hammer- smith was demolished many years ago has been questioned by a well -known antiquary in a private letter to myself, I would ask permission to state that very careful in- quiries on this point have been made by Mr. S. Martin, Chief Librarian, Public Libraries, Hammersmith, with the following results.

At p. 332 of Faulkner's 'History of Hammersmith l a description is given of an old mansion which was known as " Sea- greens, 3 * and was occupied as long ago as 1657 by Edward Trussell, from whom it passed successively to William, Lord Allington, Sir George Warburton, Sir Thomas Beavor, and the Duke of Norfolk. It afterwards became, by purchase, the property of Louis Weltje, who on his death in 1800 (not 1810, as stated by Faulkner) bequeathed it to his brother John Christopher, who was in occupation when Faulkner wrote. It was this house which, as I stated, was demolished several years ago, and of which a relic still exists in the shape of an old water-gate, which retains its original position on the river wall, although the steps have long been removed.

The house, which is still traditionally associated with the Weltjes, is known as Linden Lodge. It adjoined " Seagreens " on the western side, and is over two centuries old. The garden is large, but not so large as that which belonged to " Seagreens, 51 from which it was divided by a high wall con- temporary with the house. The owner of the house informed Mr. Martin that he believed both " Seagreens " and Linden Lodge belonged to Louis Weltje at the time of his death, and that it may have been