DECEMBER 311 



that branch of the Gordons now represented by the 

 Duke of Richmond and Gordon, and by ' Stabo,' that 

 of the Hathorns of Castle-Wigg. 



In these days when anything of a missile nature will 

 do to fling at landowners, it behoves them to be guarded 

 in the admissions they may be tempted to make as to 

 the nature of their title-deeds. Was it prudence, then, 

 or a nice sense of humour that caused the Dukes of 

 Argyll to exchange their eighteenth-century motto, 

 ' Vix ea nostra voco ' — I can scarcely call these things 

 my own — for the more colourless one, 'Ne oblivis- 

 caris ' ? The qualities for which bygone knights and 

 barons proclaimed their preference by a choice of 

 mottoes is not always conspicuous in their descendants. 

 A friend of mine with a very long pedigree inherited 

 with his title the simple motto, 'I am ready'; and 

 / am ready to back him to have missed more trains 

 than any other man of his age. 



Mottoes framed as puns or jeu de mots upon sur- 

 names are generally senseless and often irritating. One 

 of the best is a play upon the name of Fane, Earl of 

 Westmorland, 'Ne vile fano' — Offer nothing unclean 

 in the temple (or to a Fane). It is a shade less 

 frivolous than ' Templa quam dilecta ' — How charming 

 are the Temples — borne by Sir Richard Temple of the 

 Nash. 'Festina lente' for the Earls of Onslow may 

 pass, and so may 'Ne vUe velis' — Desire nothing 

 ignoble — for Nevill Marquess of Abergavenny, seeing 

 that both legends convey, however insipidly, more or 

 less of precept. Doubtless there are members of the 

 present Parliament retaining a kindly remembrance of 



