•1 506.] Misconception (f the Motto of the Order of the Carter. 225 



tion of your Mas;azinc in endeavouring 

 lo lecHfythe error. 



Muni foil (ji'i mtil 1/ ptfife is generally 

 rciidered by " Evil be fo liini tliat evil 

 tliiuks." This tranllation, or rathir luif- 

 fipplication of a phrafc in one lunguage 

 to a quite ditVcrent one in aiiotlicr, IceuiS 

 to have been orij;inally adopted by igno- 

 rance or negligence, and lince continued 

 by mere ro'e. In the firft place, the ve- 

 ry vuture of the denunciation is totally 

 changed. Honi is the participle of the 

 obfolete verb Itonir, " to hifs :" the ma- 

 Jcdittion therefore doe!> not pronounce 

 iiijuri/, but di/gfuce ; Jioni j'oit being 

 merely " let hiui be hilled." 



But the moil material mifajjprehenfion 

 in this rendering is, that it expredcs 

 a mere gener.'il propoiition : " evil be 

 to him that evil t/iLnkx." This is in a cu- 

 rious fpirit of unacquaintance with all 

 tliat confiitutcs the very cU'ence of things 

 fif this nature. For as annorlal bearings 

 were originally emblematical, fo the mot- 

 toes to them were in general no lei's typical 

 and allufive; and thofe of orders of knight- 

 hood were moflly fo iu a double fenfe. 

 Tims, to take a few inftanecs : The motto 

 to the Order of the Thiltle, Nana me iin- 

 'fiine luceffet, refers both to the thifde 

 ■(which is its badge), and to the high Ipi- 

 rit of the knight. In the Orderof St. 

 •Patrick, tlie Quisfepurcihit '? encircling 

 vhat fecn)s not much imiike three lea\es 

 of liiamrock joined on one flalk, may re- 

 fer botli to this circuinfcance, and to the 

 T3nion among the members of the order. 

 The motto of the Order of the Bath, 

 TriajiiuNa in una, belines the three im- 

 perial crowns in the badge (quccrc, fym- 

 toiical of the three Kingdoms?), may pof- 

 iibly liave a diltant allulion to the Trinity. 

 So likewife in Buonaparte's new-fangled 

 Order (as he calls it) of the Iron Crown, 

 the motto (Dieit /nc Ui doiine : gurc qvi 

 la toiiclie!) not only is the very v.ords 

 w'.jicli he fpoke when he put the iron 

 crcrni upon his head, but may refer as 

 well to the infignia of each member. 

 Laftly (for I am not very profound in 

 heraldic lore), there is the beautitul in- 

 ftarice of the Turkilh Order of the Cref- 

 cent ; the badge of \\ hich is the lunar 

 crefccnt, with the motto (referring both 

 to that and to the Ottoman empire) " Do- 

 tiec toluin imp/eat orbcn)." 



Now to return to the tootto of the Gar- 

 ter. The 1/ mod clearly and irreliftibly op- 

 pofesany^'fyicr/z/apj licatir.n of it, and tiii^ 



* Panjer, to drefs horfcs. 



MoKTHLv ]Mac-., No. 148. 



would be feen at once by a boy at fchool. 

 \\'hat was the main fenfe in v.b|ich this 

 particle was ul'ed by king Edward, 1 

 cannot decide : for it feems to be a dif- 

 puted point, whether the fentencc was 

 applied by him (according to the com- 

 mon notion) to the incident »( his pre- 

 fentiiig to the Countefs of Salifbury her 

 garter when (he had dropped it ; or 

 wliether he inliituted the order for the 

 purpofe of decorating his chief captains 

 iu the war with France, and mafic the 

 motto allufive to his claim on the throne 

 of that kingdtnn : but I do not prefoiue 

 to offer anv opinion on the fubject. 

 The y however means iomething, and 

 (from what I have advanced in the jire- 

 ceding paragraph) moil likely has a 

 double idlufion ; its principal one muil 

 be to one of the difputed points juft men- 

 tioned, and its fecondary one may be to 

 the Order itfelf. The witty but deteft- 

 able Duke of Orleans (Egafite), — who, 

 as a Frenchman, certainly underllf)oJ 

 the fentence — leems to have confidercd 

 neither the lioni as a denunciation (jf in- 

 jury, nor the y as by any means fupertlu- 

 ous or unmeaning, when over the en- 

 trance of his liables he canfed to be in- 

 fci'ibed Hofii foil qui inul y punfe ;* 

 meaning that any groom of his wljo 

 lliould there do his bufiuefs improperly, 

 ouglit to be made (t/htimed ui' himieh'. 



With a due attention then to corre(3'- 

 nefs in both the particulars which I have 

 fpecified, the tranllation of the motto 

 might run nearly as follows : " Shame to 

 him who thinks ill of if." The idea of 

 thefe laft two words, however, might cer- 

 tainly be better eKpreil'ed, but it mull be 

 exprelftd fomehow. X.* 



* I beg to be allowed, according to my 

 cuftom, to tack to this letter fome additions 

 to my pronunciatory index to tlie vowels, in 

 your Number of the firft of February laft. 

 Thefe are as follov.' t^Page 10, in the vacant 

 fpace of column VII. on the line numbered 

 i!8, infert the mark " ^," referring to a note 

 in thefe words : " Tlie Latin word hwc." — 

 Page 15, line 10 from bottom of the firft 

 column, a.''ter " emiu" add "and cuckow.'''— 

 Th*e h alio an anomaly aiifing from eTiden; 

 cormptnel's of pronuncntian, and which 

 would require a fcparate and additional lir.e 

 among the triphthoHL's; namely, " kiward ,■" S^ 

 be clalfed in colimia XII. of the Table. — Page 

 16, Abftraft I., in the line deooted by " i, " 

 add " ui ;" ari in the line denoted by " u," 

 add " [eew] ;" and Abftnift II., in the line 

 denoted by " ui," add " i;" siid make an ad- 

 ditional line to be denoted by " [eewj," oppo- 

 ilte to which p!m* " d." 



ff For 



