Note 148 — Chapter III

In this engraving, which is our frontispiece, the Greek inscription runs thus: τοις σε πεμψασιυ και προστατασιυ ειχαριστω, and means, "I thank those who sent you and gave the order." These words are, of course, addressed to the messenger who has been commissioned by the Muses to convey the wreath to Sir Thomas. Above the wreath itself is an obscure phrase—Mουσαρυ[μ] στόλοϛ—which is evidently a mixture of Latin and Greek, musarum στολοϛ (=ἀπόστολοϛ?), "messenger of the muses." It may, however, be that στολος is to be taken as "equipment" or "decoration," as referring to the wreath. The courage with which Greek and Latin forms are mixed up, and an old word despatched on its way with a new meaning, of which this brief phrase gives evidence, is highly characteristic of Cromartian Greek. For further illustration of the peculiarities of this local variety or Hellenic speech, see p. 149.