FAMILY MOTTOES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 88, 15 April 1933, Page 9 (Supplement)

FAMILY MOTTOES.

remarkable examples.

SALLIES GRAVE AND GAY.

Samuel Johnson defines amottotobe "A sentence or word prefixed to any thing written, or added to a The latter sense of the term alludes chiefly to the words or sentences accompanying the armorial bearings of diiferent families. „ , Some of the mottoes of the peerage are remarkable in that they pun. Some of the plavs on words are good; others detestably'bad. One of the best is the motto of the Vernons—"Ver non semper viret," which may either bo read "Vernon always flourishes," or Spring does not always flourish," in which latter truism there is little appropriateness, unless we regard it as a warning to "make hay while the sun shines. A better motto of the species is that which the family of Onslow selected. It is "Festina lente," an old Latin proverb signifying "On Slow," or "Hasten slowly"—advice at once to progress, and a caution a$ the same time to imprudent haste. The Scottish Barons Fairfax have a pithy quibble for their family motto—"Fare fac," which, being translated, signifies "Speak do." It lias generally been held that a better rule is "Faire sans dire," "to act without much talking," which is the motto of the Fox family. The motto of the Nevilles is "Ne vile velis," "Incline to nothing base". Similar is the motto of the Fanes, Earls of Westmoreland, which runs thus, "No vile fano"—"Bring nothing base to the fane," or temple. The dujeal house of Cavendish has the words "Cavendo tatus," signifying "Safe by caution." "Forte scutum salus ducum" is a piece of bad Latin, intended to express that a "strong shield is the safety of commanders," and embodying in its first syllables the name of Fortescue, of which family it is the motto. Another of the kind is that of the noble Irish family of Maynard—"Manus just a nardus," "The just hand is a precious ointment." is the device of the Barons Henniker, whose family name -is Major—"Deus major columna," "God is the great support." With a little more skill, though at the cost of employing an obsolete Latin, word, the family of Aston contrived to get its name nearly hitched into a line of a decent kind as regards sense. Their motto is "Numini et patriae asto," "I stand to God and my The weakest ihvention exhibited in this way occurs in the case of the Temples, or at least the Buckingham branch of that family. "Templa quam dilecta," in English, "Temples, how beloved," is the sentence. The second meaning, or double entendre, is nothing else than, "What an amiable family the Temples are!" From such armorial mottoes it is pleasing to turn to that borne by the line of Bruce, once royal and yet noble. Their dignified and pathetic motto is a single word— "Fuimus," "We have been." One of the most apt and perfect of all witty motto'es was that suggested by Henry Erskine for the family arms of Gillespie, who had made a fortune by dealings in snuff. The lines Wha could hae thought it, That noses had bought it? were proposed by the witty la/wye*.