Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/358

 294

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XIL OCT. 9, 1900.

correct, as it had been opened eight years previously. It was on the whole a Ministerial or Tory Club, and for some years was a serious rival to Brooks's. There are several references to it in the ' Report on the Manu- scripts of the Earl of Carlisle' (Hist. MSS. Comm.), 1897, pp. 555, 575, 579, 580. The club-house was No. 63, St. James's Street, a building which was afterwards known for many years as Fenton's Hotel, and more recently was occupied by the Meistersingers' Club. The Weltjes did their best to keep the club select, and the story goes that on one occasion John Christopher dropped two black balls into the ballot box, in order to keep out that disreputable nobleman Lord B anymore.

What with the high play and the exquisite cuisine, the brothers soon made a fortune, and in 1790 were able to retire. John Christopher took a house at Fulham, in the present Lillie Road, next to the grounds of Cambridge Lodge ; while his brother Louis pitched his tent in The Upper Mall, Hammersmith. This house possessed a beautiful garden, and Faulkner,, in his ' History of Hammersmith,' 1839, p. 44, speaks of Louis as " a very successful culti- vator of auriculas and seedling geraniums." He was of a social disposition, and Henry Angelo, in his ' Reminiscences,' 1830, ii. 46-9, gives many anecdotes of him, one or two of which have been reproduced in leading characters in the literary and dramatic world were entertained at his table. He died on 23 Oct., 1800, aged fifty- five, and, according to the parish register, was buried on the 31st in Hammersmith Church- yard, under a tomb which had originally been built for his brother's daughter Eliza- beth, who was cut off by small-pox on 10 March, 1796, at the age of fifteen. After the death of his brother, John Christopher moved into the house on The Upper Mall, where he lived for nearly forty years, and died on 15 Dec., 1839, aged eighty-seven years. He was buried in the same grave as his brother. I am indebted to my friend Mr. Samuel Martin, Chief Librarian, Public Libraries, Hammersmith, for copies of the inscriptions on the tomb. Mr. Feret states that Louis died in 1801, while Faulkner (o. c., p. 161) asserts that John Christopher died in 1816, aged fifty-five years; but it will be seen that neither, of these statements is exact. John Christopher, indeed, was still alive when Faulkner published his book.
 * Old and New London,' vi. 545. Many

The house at Fulham occupied by John Christopher was long ago pulled down to

make room for a line of small shops. That on The Upper Mall is commemorated by Weltje Road, which unites The Mall with King Street, and was built on the grounds attached to Louis Weltje' s house. The house itself was demolished many years ago. W. F. PRIDEAUX.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE (10 S. xii. 229). In his contri- bution to Robinson's " College Histories " the late Provost of King's, A. Austen Leigh, tells that after the death of Copleston in 1689 the Fellows had " the opportunity of recovering their right to choose their own Provost : for resistance to a newly estab- lished dynasty might prove easier than it had been to a Tudor or a Stuart." Before they could meet, one of their number, John Hartcliffe, posted off to Court and set the authorities on the alert. An order for the election of Stephen Upman was sent to Cambridge, but the Kingsmen succeeded in representing him as no true Whig.

"Accordingly a new order was issued in favour of Sir Isaac Newton, at that time M.P. for the University. Against so great and good a man the only possible objections were that he was an alien and a layman ; and these objections were made." ' King's College,' p. 157.

After that John Hartcliffe himself was named, but nobody would appear to receive the mandamus, and the Fellows elected Charles Roderick, Head Master of Eton, and suc- ceeded in getting their choice confirmed.

" The battle was won by the College ; and no doubt the right was on their side. But whether it was worth winning is more doubtful. The College had owed much to such aliens as Sir John Cheke and Whichcote. If they could have secured Sir Isaac Newton as their Head, the presence of such a man must have done something to stimulate intellectual life." P. 159.

ST. SWITHIN.

" The Statutes of King's College require the Provost to be in priest's orders, and to be chosen from the existing or former fellows of the Society. Newton therefore was disqualified for the post." 'Newton's Correspondence with Cotes,' ed. Edle- ston, xxxi, lix.

See also Brewster's ' Life of Newton,' 1855, ii. 116. R. H. EDLESTON, F.S.A.

Gainford.

B. also refers to Austen Leigh's book.]

THE " STRAWBERRY HILL " CATALOGUE (10 S. vii. 461, 517 ; xii. 216). I have read somewhere that either the books or the engravings in this sale were so incompetently catalogued that they were withdrawn and recatalogued before being sold by auction. I do not know when or where I read this,