i| MY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS 9 



Janua stat, nunquam das tua pauperibus, 

 Eximium decus hoc fecit te scandere rerum 

 Copia, non virtus, fraus tua non tua Laus." 



My friend, Mr. Comerford Casey, has kindly given me the 

 following elegant translation of the above : — 



" Not by intrigue but merit, not by wealth 

 But worth you rose. This is your title, this, 

 That you bestowed your goods on those in need. 

 Your hospitable door was never closed : 

 More eager ever to alleviate 

 The wants of others than to gather gain. 

 May your prosperity be lasting, Pope ! 

 May God all-powerful grant you length of days ! " 



(J^he same read backwards^ 



" May God omnipotent remove you soon 

 From earth ! May your prosperity be short ! 

 You grasp at gain and shun expense : your door, 

 Inhospitable Pope, stands ever shut. 

 Naught to the poor you give : you^power is due 

 To wealth not worth : by intrigue you have risen." 



In faded ink and very old handwriting, probably my 

 grandfather's, is the following charade, the answer to which 

 is not given, but it is worth preserving for its style : — 



" My first's the proud but hapless Child of danger, 



Parent of highest honours and of woe ; 

 Too long my second to the brave a stranger 



Heaps useless laurels on the soldier's brow. 

 My whole by dext'rous artifice contrives 



To gain the prize by which he stands accurst, 

 And plung'd in infamy when most he thrives, 



He gains my second whilst he gives my first." 



I myself believe the answer to be " cut-purse " — a Shake- 

 spearean word in common use in the eighteenth century, and 

 applying to all the terms of the charade with great accuracy. 

 But few of my friends think this solution good enough. 



The following is in my father's writing, and as it is com- 

 paratively easy, I leave the answer to my young reader's 

 ingenuity : — 



