WALPOLE'S GUINEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12853, 29 April 1905, Page 5 (Supplement)

WALPOLE'S GUINEA.

The guinea which Sir Robert Walpole flung to Mr. I'ultci'ey across the floor of the House of Commons on February 11, 1741, in payment of hie Horatiar bet, is still preserved in tha medal room of the British Museum. It has, too, a caustic little note attached in the handwriting of the winnei, and here is the note: —•

" This guinea I desire may be kept as an heirloom. If was. won of Sii Robert Walpolf in the House of Commons, he asserting the vers?. in Horace to be ' nulli pallescere culpie,' whereas I laid the wager of a guinea, that it was ' nulla pallescere culpa.' He sent for the book, and, being convinced that he had lost, gave me this guinea. I told him I could take the money without any blush on my side, but believed it was the only money he ever gave in the House where the giver and receiver ought not equally to blush. This guinea I hope will prove to ray posterity the use of knowing Latin, and encourage them in their learning." From which one gathers that Sir Robert had some reason for saying that he feared Pulteneys tongue more "than another man's sword.