Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/437

 ii s. x. NOV. 28, 1914.] NOTES AND QUERIES,

431

HEART-BURIAL (US. viii. 289, 336, 352, 391, 432, 493 ; ix. 38, 92, 234, 275, 375, 398, 473; x. 35, 77, 111). In 1792 Mariana Btarke visited Voltaire's villa at Ferney. She describes first the " large picture com- posed by Voltaire himself, and executed by a wretched artist, whom he met with at Ferney," in which Voltaire presents to Apollo the ' Henriade,' the Muses and Graces surrounding Voltaire ; in the back- ground the Temple of Memory, towards which flies Fame, &c. After the picture comes " a design in china for the tomb of a lady supposed to have died in childbirth, but who was in fact buried alive." Then the authoress writes :

" In Voltaire's bed-room are portraits of his friends, and the vase wherein his heart was placed before its removal to Paris : this monument is of black marble, plain but neat, and immediately under that part which contained the heart is written: ' Mon esprit est partout, et mon cceur ost id ' ; and over the vase is written in French (I forget the precise words), ' My manes are at peace, because my heart is with you ' : alluding, I pre- sume, to the surrounding portraits, namely, those of Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Lequain the player, the late Empress of Russia, and Madame Dillon Cramer. Voltaire himself is in the centre : and in various parts of the room are Newton, Milton, and several other great men, both English and French." ' Letters from Italy,' by Mariana Sturkf, second edition, 1815, i. 17-19.

According to Galignani's ' New Paris <mide for 1854,' p. 406, Voltaire died at No. 1, Rue de Beaune, Quai Voltaire, Paris ; according to ' Memorable Paris Houses,' by Wilmot Harrison, 1893, p. 229, at Xo. 27, Quai Voltaire. As an illustration in the latter book shows that No. 27 is a corner house, and as the Rue de Beaune runs into the Quai Voltaire, I have little doubt that the two books indicate the same l.uilding. Voltaire died 30 May, 1778. His body, having been embalmed, was buried in the Abbey of Scellieres, but was removed to the Pantheon in 1791. According to ! i'llk'nani, as above, p. 437, it was secretly i away during the Restoration.

I have found no mention of the disposal of Voltaire's heart in the Life of Voltaire, by the Marquis de Condorcet, in vol. Ixx. of ' (Euvres completes de Voltaire,' 1785-9 ; in the ' Biographie Universelle ' ; or in ' Le Xouveau Larousse Illustre.' Probably the heart was taken from the house at Ferney and deposited with the body in the Pantheon.

The late Augustus J. C. Hare, in his

' Paris,' 1887, p. 362, says that Voltaire's

tomb in the Pantheon is empty, " having

i 'illumed at the Revolution." One may

a^k Why ? "

I think that the secret removal during the Restoration, spoken of in Galignani, is more likely to be the correct account.

REGENT CIRCUS (11 S. x. 313, 373). COL. PRIDEAUX was quite correct, as one would expect, in referring (ante, p. 313) to Picca- dilly Circus as having been called Regent Circus. Perhaps the name was Regent's Circus :

" Begent's-Circus, The. 1. Is at the inter- section of Regent-street and Oxford-street. 2. Is the intersection of the same street and Piccadilly." ' A Topographical Dictionary of London,' by James Elmes, 1831.

The two circuses bore the one name.

A third Regent's Circus was projected some ninety vears ago. See 11 S. vi. 109, 174, 216, 277/358.

There is plenty of evidence that what are now called respectively Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus were each named Regent (or Regent's) Circus. From ' Tallis's Illus- trated London, in commemoration of the Great Exhibition of All Nations in 1851,' with letterpress by William Gaspey, I take these extracts :

" Another principal point in which Regent- street may be advantageously seen, is at the union, formed north, east, west, and south, by the inter- section of that street with Oxford-street, the spot thus environed being called Regent-circus.' Vol. i. p. 150.

" The first Regent-circus, which, in contradis- tinction to that which Oxford-street intersects, may be named the southern circus, forms a splendid centre, into which Regent-street, Picca- dilly, and Tichborne- street* radiate." Ibid., p. 152.

In a map of London issued with ' Cassell's Illustrated Guide to London ; with full Information for Visitors to the Metropolis during the Period of the International Exhibition ' (1862), Oxford Circus is marked " Re. Cir.," and Piccadilly Circus " Reg. Cir."

The name for either Piccadilly Circus or Oxford Circus was abolished by general consent many years ago. I think that the new names were invented by the omnibus owners. The houses or shops in both aro numbered according to the streets which intersect each other. See the ' Post Office London Directory'; e.g., Messrs. Swan & Edgar's is a conspicuous shop at Piccadilly Circus, but their proper addresses are many numbers in Piccadilly and Regent Street. ROBERT PIERPOINT.


 * Tichborne Street should be Coventry Street.