ferring to the sharper's practice of cogging the mottoes have also their humorous side, as when ving put down his carriage twice, adopted the motto when he took it up again : Iterum, iterumque, iterum. Sydney Smith resided in Yorkshire, a county applied to him for the arms of the Smythes. plied :-"The Smythes never had any arms, but ys sealed their letters with their thumbs!" But genial humourist set up a modest vehicle, he all finery, seeing that his motto was Faber mea Maker of my own fortune"). Hyer set up his carriage, but his coat of arms had At a dinner party in his neighbourhood, the f an appropriate motto was discussed. One man "Never say die!" Another remarked, by way of Se non è vero, è ben trovato! whereupon a lady "How much nicer it sounds in Latin than in 5 also the large subject of Medals, which can be nore than named in this place. When Spain the defeat of the Armada to the tempests, rather e bravery of the English, Queen Elizabeth adopted stion, regarding it as a signal favour of Providence, ed a medal to be struck, representing a fleet the winds, and falling foul of each other, with the Afflavit Deus, et dissipantur. blew with His wind and they were scattered). when Louis the Fourteenth projected the subjuga tion of 1 midday rays wo was The D Joshua, ing the be broug The which h Schill old mot I And he subject tion of Europe, medals were struck in which the sun in its midday splendour represented the Grand Monarch, as if his rays would be welcome in any part of Europe. The motto was Nec pluribus impar. (No unequal match for many). The Dutch ambassador, whose baptismal name was Joshua, had a medal struck, representing Joshua commanding the sun to stand still-inferring that this miracle would be brought about by his little republic. The poet Crabbe referring to the Bells of the church in which he long officiated, says : Each has its motto; some contrive to tell, In monkish rhymes, the uses of a bell. Schiller places at the head of his "Lay of the Bell" the old motto: Vivos voco. Mortuos plango. Fulgora frango. And he thus refers to the naming of the bell, which is the subject of his poem: Herein, herein, Gesellen alle! schliesst den Reihen, Zur Eintracht, zu herzinnigem Vereine (Come in! come in! Companions all! and close the circle well, Oh may its sound the loving people bring, One specimen may be given of the old monkish rhymes to which Crabbe refers : Laudo Deum Verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum. Pestem fugo, Festa decoro. (I praise the Only True, By me the Folk are led : The Clergy I convene, 'Tis I that mourn the Dead: The Pestilence I slay, I cheer each Holiday.) Mottoes on Sundials must not be forgotten. The best one is perhaps that on a dial near Venice : Horas non numero, nisi serenas. (I count only the hours that are serene.) Mottoes on Seals are often of a sentimental kind, such as— “Though lost to sight, to memory dear." But we must not forget the Motto of the good Bishop referred to by Dr. Johnson : Inservi Deo, et lætare. (Serve God, and be cheerful.) There are also Mottoes on Rings, known as "posies,” as in the case of a wedding ring in the possession of the author's family, an heirloom which descends to the eldest daughter. It bears this inscription FEAR GOD, AND LOVE ME. There are also Mottoes for Dog-collars, not forgetting the famous one written by Pope at the request of Frederick, Prince of Wales: I'm his Highness's Dog at Kew; Pray tell me, Sir! whose Dog are you? Travellers in Holland may have noticed that the wellto-do burghers are in the habit of attaching mottoes to their country villas, and they are often of a complacent sort, such as Mijn Genoegen (My satisfaction), Lust en Rust (Pleasure and Repose), Wel Tevreden (Well-content), Buiten Zorg (Without care). There is an old story of a retired tallow-chandler who requested his Oxford Undergraduate nephew to furnish him with a Latin motto for his villa; the foolish young man suggested the following: Otium sine dignitate, informing him that it meant "Ease with Dignity;" but he was undeceived by the Vicar of the parish, and immediately struck his nephew's name out of his will. At one time tradesmen were in the habit of putting up mottoes over their shops, as in the case of the hosier, who paraded his honest dealing under the motto— Mens conscia recti; while his opposite rival, determined not to be outdone, put up Mens and Womens conscia recti. Public-house sign-boards also have their mottoes, of which the following is a famous one, although it belongs rather to the family of Inscriptions. Under the figure of Robin Hood at a hostelry on the border of Sherwood Forest, kept by a man named Littlejohn, were the following lines:— All you who love old ale and good, When the host died, the public-house passed into the 20 ESSAY I.-ON MOTTOES. hands of a man of the name of Bunce, who saw no reason why his name should not appear on the sign-board. altered inscription read thus: All you who love old ale and good, The Recurring to the old Essayists and their use of that "learned decoration," the motto, the Connoisseur, of the 5th June, 1755, remarks:-"Such is the prevalence of custom, that the most finished Essay without a motto would appear to many people as maimed and imperfect as a beautiful face without a nose." But Mr. Town differs from his predecessors who appended to their classic mottoes translations by Dryden or Francis. "A motto as it stands in the original may be very apposite to the subject of the Essay, though nothing to the purpose in the common translation." Hence he proposes to give imitations of his mottoes, adapted to the every-day modern character of his lucubrations. The following specimen is from the Essay we have been quoting: Et sermone opus est modò tristi sæpe jocoso.-Hor. Finally, should the reader find this little book, which he holds in his hands, particularly dull, the explanation is to be found in the three capital letters appended to my name; for according to the authority of Isaac Bickerstaff in the Tatler, of the 12th October, 1710, when you meet with a man more dull than the rest of the company, you may conclude him to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. |