Swift's Latin Puns.
Among the nugæ of Dean Swift are his celebrated Latin puns. They consist entirely of Latin words, but, by allowing for false spelling, and running the words into each other, the sentences make good sense in English. The subjoined is one of his best—
| Mollis abuti, | Moll is a beauty. |
| Has an acuti, | Has an acute eye. |
| No lasso finis, | No lass so fine is. |
| Molli divinis. | Molly divine is. |
| Omi de armis tres, | O my dear mistress. |
| Imi na dis tres, | I'm in distress. |
| Cantu disco ver | Can't you discover. |
| Meas alo ver? | Me as a lover? |
Rhyming Charter.
The following grant of William the Conqueror may be found in Stowe's Chronicle and in Blount's Ancient Tenures:
HOPTON, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.
To the Heyrs Male of the Hopton, lawfully begotten.
From me and from myne, to thee and to thyne,
While the water runs, and the sun doth shine,
For lack of heyrs to the king againe,
I, William, King, the third year of my reign,
Give to the Norman hunter,
To me that art both line [A] and deare,
The Hop and the Hoptoune,
And all the bounds up and downe,
Under the earth to hell,
Above the earth to heaven,
From me and from myne,
To thee and to thyne;
As good and as faire
As ever they myne were.
To witness that this is sooth,[B]
I bite the white wax with my tooth,
Before Judd, Marode and Margery,
And my third son Henery,
For one bow, and one broad arrow,
When I come to hunt upon the Yarrow.
[A] Related, or by lineage.
[B] True.