“I had four brothers over the sea,
Perrimerri dictum, Domine:
And each one sent a present to me;
Partum quartum, peredecentum,
Perrimerri dictum, Domine.
The first sent a cherry without any stone;
Perrimerri dictum, Domine:
The second a chicken without any bone,
Partum quartum, peredecentum,
Perrimerri dictum, Domine.
The third sent a blanket without any thread;
Perrimerri dictum, Domine:
The fourth sent a book that no man could read;
Partum quartum, peredecentum,
Perrimerri dictum, Domine.
When the cherry’s in the blossom, it has no stone;
Perrimerri dictum, Domine:
When the chicken’s in the egg, it has no bone;
Partum quartum, peredecentum,
Perrimerri dictum, Domine.

When the blanket’s in the fleece, it has no thread;
Perrimerri dictum, Domine:
When the book’s in the press, no man can it read;
Partum quartum, peredecentum,
Perrimerri dictum, Domine.”

Little Bo-peep.

“Parvula Bo-peep
Amisit her sheep,
Et nescit where to find ’em;
Desere alone,
Et venient home,
Cum omnibus caudis behind ’em.”

Jack and Jill.

“Jack cum amico Jill,
Ascendit super montem;
Johannes cecedit down the hill,
Ex forte fregit frontem.”

The Teetotum.

“Fresh from his books, an arch but studious boy,
Twirl’d with resilient glee his mobile toy;
And while on single pivot foot it set,
Whisk’d round the board in whirring pirouette,
Shriek’d, as its figures flew too fast to note ’em,
Te totum amo, amo te, Teetotum.”

Schoolboys and college youths not unfrequently adorn their books with some such macaronic as this:

“Si quisquis furetur,
This little libellum,
Per Bacchum, per Jovem,
I’ll kill him, I’ll fell him;
In venturum illius
I’ll stick my scalpellum,
And teach him to steal
My little libellum.”

Inscriptions and epitaphs are often the vehicles of quaint and curious diction, and of these we give some instances: