Motto on old Damask.—Can your correspondents furnish an explanation of the motto herewith sent? It is taken from some damask table napkins which were bought many years back at Brussels; not at a shop in the ordinary way, but privately, from the family to whom they belonged. I presume the larger characters, if put together, will indicate the date of the event, whatever that may be, which is referred to in the motto itself.
The motto is woven in the pattern of the damask, and consists of the following words in uncials, the letters of unequal size, as subjoined:
"sIgnUM paCIs DatUr LorICæ."
the larger letters being IUMCIDULIC. If the U's are taken as two V's, and written thus X, it gives the date MDCCLXIII. Perhaps this can be explained.
H.
[The chronogram above, which means "The signal of peace is given to the warrior," relates to the peace proclaimed between England and France in the year 1763. This event is noticed in the Annual Register, and in most of our popular histories. Keightley says, "The overtures of France for peace were readily listened to; and both parties being in earnest, the preliminaries were readily settled at Fontainebleau (Nov. 3rd). In spite of the declamation of Mr. Pitt and his party, they were approved of by large majorities in both Houses of Parliament, and a treaty was finally signed in Paris, Feb. 18, 1763." The napkins were probably a gift, on the occasion, to some public functionary. For the custom of noting the date of a great event by chronograms, see "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 585.]
Explanation of the Word "Miser."—Can any of your readers explain how and when miser came to get the meaning of an avaricious hoarding man? In Spenser's Faerie Queene, II. l. 8., it is used in its nearly primary sense of "wretch:"
"Vouchsafe to stay your steed for humble miser's sake."
Again, Faerie Queene, II. 3. 8.: