VI.] SPEECHIFYING IN LATIN. 39 



cent Latin oration of some twenty minutes, a second time 

 proposes my health ; to which, utterly at my wits' end, I had 

 the audacity to reply in the same language. As it is fit so 

 great an effort of oratory should not perish, I send you some 

 of its choicest specimens : — 



" Viri illustres," I began, " insolitus ut sum ad publicum 

 loquendum, ego propero respondere ad complimentum quod 

 recte reverendus prelaticus mihi fecit, in proponendo meam 

 salutem : et supplico vos credere quod multum gratificatus 

 et flattificatus sum honore tarn distincto. 



" Bibere, viri illustres, res est, quae in omnibus terris, 

 ' domum venit ad hominum negotia et pectora : ' 1 ( 1) requirit 

 c haustum longum, haustum fortem, et haustum omnes simul:' 

 (2) ut canit Poeta, 'unum tactum Naturae totum orben facit 

 consanguineum,' (3) et hominis Natura est — bibere (4). 



" Viri illustres, alterum est sentimentum equaliter univer- 

 sale : terra communis super quam septentrionales et meri- 

 dionales, eadem enthusiasma convenire possunt : estnecesse 

 quod id nominarem ? Ad pulchrum sexum devotio ! 



" Amor regit palatium, castra, lucum : (5) Dubito sub quo 

 capite vestram jucundam civitatem numerare debeam. Pala- 

 tium ? non Regem ! Castra ? non milites ! lucum ? non ullam 

 arborem habetis ! Tamen Cupido vos dominat haud aliter 

 quam alios, — etvirginum Islandarum pulchritudo, per omnes 

 regiones cognita est. 



" Bibamus salutem earum, et confusionem ad omnes 

 bacularios : speramus quod eae carae et benedictae creaturae 



1 As the happiness of these quotations seemed to produce a very 

 pleasing effect on my auditors, I subjoin a translation of them for the 

 benefit of the unlearned : — 



1. "Comes home to men's business and bosoms." — Paterfamilias, 

 Times. 



2. "A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together." — Nelson at 

 the Nile. 



3. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." — Jeremy 

 Bcntham. 



4. Apothegm by the late Lord Mountcoffeehouse. 



5. " Love rules the court, the camp, the grove." — Venerable Bede. 



