accept nothing but the best and purest in this as in any other branch 

 of fine art. 



There is one other possible way of accounting for the prevalence of 

 these all-pervading obelisks. The name of the place is taken from a 

 conical wooded hill {mons acutus). The same play on a word, a favourite 

 fashion of Elizabethan times, and a custom in heraldry from a remoter 

 antiquity, is seen in the shield of the ancient Montacute family, where 

 the three sharp peaks denote that the surname had the same origin. The 

 connexion of this name with the acute peak or obelisk form would 

 therefore the more readily commend itself to the Elizabethan mind. 



The house has never gone into other hands, the present owner, Mr. 

 W. R. Phelips, being the descendant of the founder. 



57 



