I send you two copies of Latin verses which have not, to my knowledge,
appeared in print. They are however interesting, from the coincidence of
their both relating to _elm-trees_, and in some measure belonging to the
"Story of Waterloo," about which we never can hear too much. The lines
themselves possess considerable merit; and, as their authors were
respectively distinguished alumni of Eton and Winchester, I hope to see
both compositions placed in juxtaposition in the columns of "N. & Q."
The first of these productions was written by Marquis Wellesley, as an
inscription for a chair carved from the _Wellington Elm_ (which stood near
the centre of the British lines on the field of Waterloo), and presented to
his Majesty King George IV., to whom the lines were addressed:
Ampla inter spolia, et magni decora alta triumphi,
_Ulmus_ erit fastis commemoranda tuis,
Quam super exoriens faustâ tibi gloria pennâ
Palmam oleamque uno detulit alma die;
Immortale decus maneat, famâque perenni
Felicique geras sceptra paterna manu;
Et tua victrices dum cingunt tempora lauri,
Materies solio digna sit ista tuo.
For the other verses subjoined, we are indebted to the late Rev. William
Crowe, Fellow of New College, Oxford, and many years public orator in that
university. It seems that he had planted _an elm_ at his parsonage, on the
birth of his son, afterwards killed at Waterloo, which sad event was {7}
commemorated by his afflicted father in the following touching monody,
_affixed to the same tree_:
_Hanc_ Ego quam felix annis melioribus _Ulmum_
Ipse manu sevi, tibi dilectissime Fili
Consecro in æternum, Gulielme vocabitur Arbos
Hæc tua, servabitque tuum per secula nomen.
Te generose Puer nil muneris hujus egentem
Te jam perfunctum vitæ bellique labore,
Adscripsit Deus, et coelestibus intulit oris,
Me tamen afflictum, me consolabitur ægrum
Hoc tibi quod pono, quanquam leve pignus amoris,
Hic Ego de vitâ meditans, de sorte futurâ,
Sæpe tuam recolam formam, dulcemque loquelam,
Verbaque tam puro et sacrato fonte profecta,
Quam festiva quidem, et facili condita lepore.
At Te, qui nostris quicunque accesseris hospes
Sedibus, unum oro, moesti reverere Parentis,
Nec tu sperne preces quas hâc super Arbore fundo.
Sit tibi non invisa, sit inviolata securi,
Et quantum natura sinet, crescat monumentum
Egregii Juvenis, qui sævo est Marte peremptus,
Fortiter ob patriam pugnando, sic tibi constans
Stet fortuna domûs, sit nulli obnoxia damno,
Nec videas unquam dilecti funera nati.