Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-24
ENGLISH FAMILY NOTICES.
Many Conceal Puns and Jokes Beneath
Their Classic Forms.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

From the Pail Mall Gazette
The study of family notices is not en-
livening. They are, for the most part
frtgid tags Of Latin, which look as If they
had been chosen in despair from a hand
book Of classical quotations, either because
of the piety of the platitude, or for some
inept play upon words. But they are most
lamentabe when attempt is made at
wit, and the entire peerage and baronetage
may be ranacked In vain to find more than
half dozen which are really happy and
Ingenious
Perhaps the wittiest is the motto of the
Earl of Onsow. "Festina Lente." The
family name has been split up into it's COM
ponent syllables and translated into Latin
and by lucky chance there was a Latin
proverb which seemed coined for the pur-
pose. The Forster baronetcy (of the 1874,
not the 1894 creation) is equally we'll suited
sit Fors ter felix" says the head of that
house, to be read at will either MAY Fors-
ter be happy" or May our luck be thrice
happy" Lord Armstrong; Forts In
ARMS is almost too obvious to be quite
good. but it gathers additional point from
the fact that his lordship gained his peer
age for big gun making. There are others
whose names require little twisting to OBJ
tain an easy jest Earl Beauchamp says
Fortuna mea in belo campo" Lord Braye
whose family name is Verney-Cave, says
"Gardez,' and the twin houses of Caven-
dish both abide by "Cavendo TITUS" The
Earl Of Hopetoun rather feebly proclaims
AT spes non fracta'-why should it be-?
Viscount Cross. with just touch of daring
1mpiety, adopts the legend 'Crede Cruel"
There Is not much wit in the .'Templa guam
dilecta!' of the Temples the ''Vigila ct
Ora of the Wakes. the "Pollet virtus' of
the Poles, or the mon Deu est ma roche"
or the Roches. But worst of ALL perhaps
are two notices Of recent date. the LAS God
wills Of Sir w. H. Wills, and the Vent
hOra' of Sir Sanne1 he
explain in their motto that they hope for
better things to come, "Pauper non In spe,"
The Salts ds99 creatioD pin their faith to
the virtues of salt. I'm sale saIus" viii
pass muster fairly well.
But 1t Is more interesting to see what
the owners of unpromising names have done
with them. Out Of Nevill-the family of
which the Marquis of Abergavenny is the
head-there has been extracted me vile
Velis;" out of Fairfax Fare, fac" out of
Monsel dord Emly's family nance, "Mone
sale out Of James Uord Northbourne).
y annie a tamais"-a double pun: out of
Mosley, Mos legem regit;" out of Paunce-
fote, "Pensez fort" oct Of Bateson 1ord
Deramore), "Nocte voiamus'-in reference
to the bats wing which figures on the coat
of arms. Earl Fortescue boasts Forte Sou
tum salus docum,' and Lord Battersea
(cnce Mr.. Cyril Flower) piously notes
Flores curat Deus" Earl Manvers, the
head of the house of Pierrepont. has for a
motto PIE repone te.'' obtained by drop
ping an 81 and adding two "e's" Lord
Burton's family name of Bass is suggeste d
In his motto, Basis virtutum constantia."
but the tour de force is not pleasing. Nor
Is Lord Swansea's "Vive ANNA Del" a
soothing echo Of Vivian. Whether Lord
Mountgarret's motto, "Depressus extollnr."
conceals jest at his family name of But
Ter. it is hard to say. The last we NAV
notice is the motto Of the DOylys, who
were raised to the baronetase in 1863. Here
we can see the brain of the Jester at work
"D.Oyiy-Do Ye-Lo Ill. doe no vile uuoth
DOyly." King Charles II, who gave the
baronetcy, made better jokes than that.