And twit me with the spring.—Song of the Shirt.
RUSSIAN DOUBLE ENTENDRE.
The following message was sent to the Emperor Nicholas by one of his generals:—
Voliā Vāschā, ā Varschāvoo vsi’at nemogoo.
{ ‘Volia
is } but Warsaw I cannot take.
CLASSICAL PUNS AND MOTTOES.
Sydney Smith proposed as a motto for Bishop Burgess, brother to the well-known fish-sauce purveyor, the following Virgilian pun (Æn. iv. 1),—
Gravi jamdudum saucia curâ.
A London tobacconist, who had become wealthy, and determined to set up his carriage, applied to a learned gentleman for a motto. The scholar gave him the Horatian question,—
QUID RIDES?