Note 976 — Chapter XIV · DOWN UNDER.

The curious name Newlove occurs as one of the erstwhile owners of the Margate grotto: the Lovelace family, for whose name the authorities offer no suggestions except that it is a corruption of the depressing Loveless, probably either once worshipped or acted the Lovelass. This conjecture has in its favour the fact that “many of our surnames are undoubtedly derived from characters assumed in dramatic performances and popular festivities”.—Weekley, A. B., The Romance of Names, p. 197. “To this class belong many surnames which have the form of abstract nouns, e.g., charity, verity, virtue, vice. Of similar origin are perhaps, bliss, chance, luck, and goodluck.”—Ibid., p. 197.