Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/98

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NOTES AND QUERIES. B*S.IL JULY so, m

its double green doors, when he had engraved in gilt letters on a slab of black marble placed under the bell: 'Les Jardies.'

" The door was hung and turned on its hinges long before the house to which it formed an entrance had been built. The building of this house exer- cised for a long time the caustic wit of the Parisians, who are always on the look out for a weakness in a man of mark. Balzac's weakness was great with regard to bricks and mortar. It must not be for- gotten not that it requires excuse, for a taste for building is an extremely respectable one that this was at that time his only relaxation, his only means of reposing from the heavy intellectual tasks he im- posed upon himself. It has been reported that while directing himself the building of the pavilion at Jardies, with a despotism which never relaxed, he forgot the staircase. That he would not permit any suggestion, observation, or criticism from his architect or his builders' men is one fact to which we can bear witness ; but that he should have neglected to provide a staircase in planning the house, and that one fine day builders and architects should have rushed up to him, saying, ' Monsieur de Balzac, the house is finished ; when shall we build the staircase ?' is a second fact which demands an explanation in proportion to its importance. Balzac contemplated for his Jardies spacious rectangular rooms, lighted from the four sides of the building. Now in the architect's design the minotaur-like staircase swallowed up here the third part of one room, there the half of another ; it disfigured the design created by the author's poetic pencil. An attempt was made to reduce its size, to turn it round, to relegate it to the angles of the building, the building Ibeing unhappily too contracted to afford any spare room ; the confounded staircase spoiled everything. The bricklayers threw their mortar into the air, the architect broke the legs of his dividers. It must have been during one of the struggles with the difficulties of this problem that Balzac said, ' Since the staircase means to master me, I will get rid of it.' This was done. The rooms then rose without obstacle, without any other limits than the four walls, and the enclosure of the staircase was built as an afterthought in front of the house as a punishment for its tiresome pre- tensions. Balzac might have excused himself, seeing that in Holland and Belgium whole cities are built on this simple plan, the houses carrying their staircases on their backs, like a basket ; he always declined to explain himself on this point." 'Balzac en Pantoufles, par Leon Uozlan, pp. 24-31.

JOHN HEBB.

2, Canonbury Mansions, N.

MRS. GIBBS (9 th S. ii. 47). The fact of Mrs. Gibbs's marriage with George Colman the Younger has never been clearly established ; and the date and place of her death have yet to be ascertained. John Payne Collier, in 'An Old Man's Diary,' privately printed, writing in 1832, four years previous to George Colman's death, distinctly speaks of Colman as then "living with Mrs. Gibbs." That the public of her day generally accepted the marriage of this good-hearted and affectionate woman with Colman there is little doubt

As much is assumed by Peake in his 'Memoirs of the Colman Family ' ; and Mrs. Baron Wilson assures us that shortly after the death of his wife, a daughter of Morris, proprietor of the Haymarket Theatre, Colmam married Mrs. Gibbs. As George Colman, who died in 1836, was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington, the register of that parish may possibly solve the puzzle. All attempts to establish the identity of Mr. Gibbs have baffled the ingenuity of this lady's many biographers. KOBERT WALTERS.

Ware Priory.

HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE (9 th S. i. 421 ; ii. 9). That portion of MR. FIJCHARD EDGCUMBE'S communication to you under this head which touches upon the attributes of Byron and Keats invites me to deplore again the fact that, promises notwithstanding, the tablet which marked the site of the house where the first-named poet was born namely, No. 24, Holies Street, Cavendish Square has never been reinstated. Headers of ' N. & Q.' need not be reminded that a good deal of corre- spondence has taken place with a view to bringing about this desirable end. Alas ! the agitation has so far proved abortive, the owner, who is also the occupier of the pro- perty, remaining uirnoved by entreaties. The delay in accomplishing so easy a fulfilment of what one would have considered a labour of love is inexplicable. It is certainly not a courteous act thus to flout the many admirers of the illustrious poet who desire a notable event to continue recorded as pre- viously. In respect of Lawn Bank, Hamp- stead, the actual spot where Keats resided for a space, the medallion still remains. It was affixed by the Society of Arts, on the initiative of Mr. E. E. Newton, a well-known local enthusiast. But some of us are appre- hensive lest this interesting landmark may go the way of others in the district, as its neighbour, Wentworth House, is placarded for sale. Let us hope the Fates will deal more kindly with the Lawn Bank memorial tablet than with that which adorned 24, Holies Street. CECIL CLARKE.

Authors' Club, S.W.

CHELTENHAM : CHISWICK (9 th S. i. 200, 245, 396, 509). There is no such word as ekes. Your correspondents have asked me, one of them, where to find "the word" ches; another says he is " ignorant that ches means gravel in A.-S. or in any other language " ; and a third inquires, "In what language, for instance, does ches mean gravel?" If your correspond- ents will do me the favour to refer again to my article, they will find that I have not