"Cum Sapiente Pius nostras juravit in aras,
Impius heu Sapiens, desipiensque Pius.
"When a league 'gainst our Faith Pope with Cardinal tries,
Neither Wiseman is Pious, nor Pius is Wise.
"Quando Papa' o' Cardinale
Chiesa' Inglese tratta male,
Que Chiamo quella gente,
Piu? No-no, ni Sapiente.
ANGLUS."
The Italian version will of course be put down as English-Italian, and therefore worse than mediocre; but I wished to perpetuate, along with the sense of the Latin couplet, a little jeu d'esprit which I saw half obliterated on a wall at Rovigo, in the Lombardo-Venetian territory; being a play on the family name and character of Pius IX.: