416 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 26. 
Latin Epigram.—I1 should be much obliged to 
any of your readers who can inform me who was 
the author and what is the date of the following 
epigram. The peculiarity of it, your readers will 
observe, consists in the fact, that while read di- 
rectly it contains a strong compliment; yet it is 
capable of being read backwards, still forming the 
same description of verse, but conveying a perfect 
reverse of the compliment : — 
“ Laus tua, non tua fraus; virtus non copia rerum, 
Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium, 
Pauperibus tua das ; nunquam stat janua clausa; 
Fundere res queris, nec tua multiplicas. 
Conditio tua sit stabilis ! non tempore parvo 
Vivere te faciat hic Deus omnipotens.” 
When reversed, it reads thus :— 
« Qmnipotens Deus hic faciat te vivere parvo 
Tempore! Non stabilis sit tua conditio. 
Multiplicas tua, nee queris res fundere ; clausa 
Janua stat, nunquam das tua pauperibus. 
Eximium decus hoe fecit te seandere rerum 
Copia, non virtus; fras tua, non tua laus.” 
Any additional information would much oblige. 
O. 
April 15. 1850. 
REPLIES. 
GRAY'S ALCAIC ODE. 
Circumstances enable me to give a reply, which 
I believe will be found correct, to the imquiry of 
“C. B.” in p. 382. of your 24th Number, “ Whe- 
ther Gray’s celebrated Latin Ode is actually to be 
found entered at the Grande Chartreuse?” The 
fact is, that the French Revolution—that whirl- 
wind which swept from the earth all that came 
within its reach and seemed elevated enough to 
offer opposition—spared not the poor monks of 
the Chartreuse. A rabble from Grenoble, and other 
places, attacked the monastery ; burnt, plundered, 
or destroyed their books, papers, and property, 
and dispersed the inmates; while the buildings 
were left standing, not from motives of respect, 
put because they would have been troublesome 
and laborious to pull down, and were not suffi- 
ciently combustible to burn. 
In travelling on the Continent with a friend, 
during the summer of 1817, we made a pilgrimage 
to the Grande Chartreuse, reaching it from the 
side of the Echelles. It was an interesting mo- 
ment; for at that very time the scattered remains 
of the society had collected together, and were 
just come again to take possession of and reinhabit 
their old abode. And being their jour de spaci- 
ment, the whole society was before us, as they 
returned from their little pilgrimage up the moun- 
tain, where they had been visiting St. Bruno’s 
chapel and spring; and it was impossible not to 
think with respect of the self-devotion of these 
| The corner of the paper on which they had been 
men, who, after having for many years partaken 
(in a greater or less degree) of the habits and 
comforts of a civilised life, had thus voluntarily 
withdrawn themselves once more to their stern 
yet beautiful solitude (truly, as Gray calls it, a locus 
severus), there to practise the severities of their 
order, without, it may be supposed, any posses- 
sions or means, except what they were themselves 
enabled to throw into a common stock ; for nearly 
the whole of their property had been seized by 
the government during the Revolution, and wis 
still held by it. 
Our conversation was almost wholly with tvo 
of the fathers (they use the prefix Dom), whcse 
names I forget, and have mislaid my memorandam 
of them. One of these had been in England, 
when driven out; and was there protected by the 
Weld family in Dorsetshire, of whom he spoke in 
terms of sincere gratitude and respect. The other 
told us that he was a native of Chambery, and had 
done no more than cross the mountains to get 
home. On asking him for Gray’s Ode, he shook 
his head, saying, the Revolution had robbed them 
of that, and every thing else; but repeated the 
first line of it, so that there was no mistake as to 
the object of my inquiry. From what occurred 
afterwards it appears, however, to be questionable 
whether he knew more than the first line ; for I was 
informed that later English travellers had been 
attempting, from a laudable desire of diffusing 
information, to write out the whole in the present 
Album of the Chartreuse, by contributing a line 
or stanza, as their recollection served; but that, 
after all, this pic-nic composition was not exactly 
what Gray wrote. Of course, had our friend the 
Dom known how to supply the deficiencies, he 
would have done it. 
There is a translation of the Ode by James Hay 
Beattie, son of the professor and poet, printed 
amongst his poems, which is much less known 
than its merits deserve. And I would beg to sug- 
gest to such of your readers as may in the course 
of their travels visit this monastery, that books 
(need I say proper ones ?) would be a most accept- 
able present to the library; also, that there is a 
regular Album kept, in which those who, in this 
age of “ talent” and “intelligence,” consider them- 
selves able to write better lines than Gray’s, are 
at liberty to de so if they please. 
A very happy conjecture appeared in the Euro- 
pean Magazine some time between 1804 and 1808, 
as to the conclusion of the stanzas to Mr. Beattie. 
written was torn off ; and Mr. Mason supplies what 
is deficient in the following manner, the words 
added by him being printed in Italics :— 
“ Enough for me, if to some feeling breast 
My lines a secret sympathy impart ; 
And as their pleasing influence flows confest, 
A sigh of soft reflection heave the heart.” 
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