412 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2W S. Vin. UOV. 19. '69. 



Tota ergo proosus* (?) spe pacis obimus inanes(?) 



Multus et interiit nunc sine fruge labor 



Tot vigiles curas sanctuni mentitis amorem 



Perdere disiunctis regibus Angle potes 



Sis licet ingratus nee quid gracia cures 



Exul ope nostra victor, ad arma redis 



Et nunc exitis seua ad discrimina regnis 



Ingenium expectas proferat arma socer. 

 '• Egidius Anglicus contra Gallos. 



Siccine tarn erebra per te mendacia fiunt 



Galle tibi quare credere nemo potest 



Credimus ut sanctam tendis dissoluere pacem." 



These three lines might be a prophetic address 

 to the Emperor Napoleon III. 



I shall be glad if any of your numerous corre- 

 spondents would help me to the identification, 

 and, I may add, the translation of the first and 

 last of these sets of verses. H. F. 



AN AUSTRIAN army: ALLITERATIVE ADDRESS TO 

 AURORA BOREALIS. 



Can you inform me who wrote the alphabetical 

 alliterative poem commencing : — 



" An Austrian Armj' Awfully Arrayed, 

 Boldly By Battery Besieged Belgrade"? 



I am anxious to learn, as it was a subject of 

 much discussion during a late passage over from 

 Boston to Liverpool, and no one could give a 

 satisfactory reply. During our voyage in the 

 "Europa" steamer, we were fortunate in having 

 almost every evening most beautiful Auroral dis- 

 plays : and one evening, whilst walking the deck, 

 the writer and two fellow -passengers passed away 

 an hour or two in attempting to compose a poem 

 on the Aurora — following the alphabetical system. 

 Composed hastily, and dotted down by the light 

 of the binnacle lamp, couplet after couplet, it 

 served to give us some amusement ; and, if you 

 judge it worth inserting, may amuse others. In 

 the poem to which I refer above, two lines are 

 repetitions, and one letter of the alphabet is alto- 

 gether omitted : we managed to introduce all, 

 and found our labour vastly increased by the ne- 

 cessity of avoiding words, and combinations of 

 words, which occur in that poem. H. C. B. 



Liverpool. 



P.S. The Aurora at the time extended over 

 the whole visible heavens, and by beautiful crim- 

 son and green pencils of light eclipsed Ursa 

 Major almost completely. 

 An Artful And Amusing Attempt At Alphabetical 



Allite7-ation Addressing Aurora. 

 Awake Aurora ! And Across All Airs 

 By Brilliant Blazon Banish Boreal Bears, 

 Crossing Cold Canope's Celestial Crown, 

 Deep Darts Descending Dive Delusive Down. 

 Entranced Each Eve " Europa's" Every Eye 

 Firm Fixed Forever Fastens Faithfully, 



Greets Golden Guerdon Gloriously Grand ; 



How Holy Heaven Holds High His Hollow Hand ! 



Ignoble Ignorance, Inapt Indeed — 



Jeers Jestingly Just Jupiter's Jereed : 



Knavish Kham8chatkans,KnightlyKurdsmenKnow 



Long Labrador's Light Lustre Looming Low ; 



Midst Myriad Multitudes Majestic Might 



No Nature Nobler Numbers Neptune's Night. 



Opal Of Oxus Or Old Ophir's Ores 



Pale Pyrrhic Pyres Prismatic Purple Pours, — 



Quiescent Quivering, Quickly, Quaintly Queer, 



Rich, Rosy, Regal Rays Resplendent Rear ; 



Strange Shooting Streamers Streaking Starry Skies 



Trail Their Triumphant Tresses — Trembling Ties. 



Unseen, Unhonoured Ursa, — Underneath 



Veiled, Vanquished — Vainly Vying — Vanisheth : 



Wild Woden, Warning, Watchful — Whispers Wan 



Xanthitic Xeres, Xerxes, Xenophon, 



Yet Yielding Yesternight Yules Yell Yawns 



Zenith's Zebraic Zizzag, Zodiac Zones. 



Perhaps meant for prorsus. 



Minav ^atti. 



Ancient Italian Jests. — Castiglione, in his Cor- 

 tigiano (published in 1528), lays down rules as to 

 the style of pleasantry which becomes a refined 

 and high-bred courtier ; and illustrates his pre- 

 cepts by a collection of jests and facetious stories. 

 One of these, attributed to a Florentine citizen, 

 exactly resembles an Irish bull. The story is as 

 follows. When the Florentines were at war with 

 Pisa, they were in a financial difficulty, and a citi- 

 zen proposed, as a means of obtaining money, that, 

 whereas the Florentines had hitherto levied cus- 

 tom duties at each of the eleven gates of their 

 city, they should make eleven other gates, and 

 thus double their receipts. Another story ap- 

 pears to be the original of the well-known inci- 

 dent of the unfreezing of the horn in Baron 

 Munchausen's Travels. A merchant of Lucca had 

 travelled to Poland, in order to buy furs ; but as 

 there was at that time a war with Muscovy, from 

 which country the furs were procured, the Luc- 

 chese merchant was directed to the confines of the 

 two countries. On reaching the Borysthenes, 

 which divided Poland and Muscovy, he found 

 that the Muscovite traders remained on their own 

 side of the river, from distrust, on account of the 

 state of hostilities. The Muscovites, desirous of 

 being heard across the river, announced the 

 prices of their furs in a loud voice ; but the cold 

 was so intense that their words were frozen in the 

 air before they could reach the opposite side. 

 Hereupon the Poles lighted a fire in the middle of 

 the river, which was frozen into a solid mass ; and 

 in the course of an hour, the words which had 

 been frozen up, were melted, and fell gently upon 

 the further bank, although the Muscovite traders 

 had already gone away. The prices demanded werfr^ 



