_Johnny._ I suppose it means a public thing. _Rem's_ a thing, and _publicus_ is public. [Was not that clever in the dear fellow, putting words together like that, _Mr. Punch_? Will you believe it, his Papa did nothing but give him a grunt?] _Papa._ Go on. _O navis, referent in mare te novi Fluctus. O quid agis?_ _Johnny._ O, navy, referring to the sea. I have known thee. What will the waves do? [I thought this quite beautiful, like "_What are the Wild Waves Saying?_"] _Papa._ Ah! Proceed. ----_fortiter occupa Portum. Nonne vides_---- _Johnny._ Bravely occupy the door. You see a nun. _Papa._ A nun, child. What do you mean? _Johnny._ A nun is a holy but mistaken woman, Papa, that lives in a monastery, and worships graven images. [You see he had been _beautifully_ taught.] _Papa._ But what word, in the name of anachronisms, do you make a nun? _Johnny._ _Nonne._ O, I forgot, Pa, that's French. [Instead of being pleased that the child knew three languages instead of two, his Papa burst out laughing.] _Papa._ Try this:-- _Et malus celeri saucius Africo, Antennaeque gemant? ac sine funibus Vix durare carinae Possint imperiosius AEquor?_ _Johnny._ And celery sauce is bad for an African, And your aunts groan though there is no funeral, And they could not be more imperious If they had to endure a sea-voyage. _Myself._ Darling! Why don't you say something to encourage him, TOM? It's delightful. _Papa._ Yes, it's encouraging. Go on, Sir. ----_non tibi sunt integra lintea; Non di, quos iterum pressa voces malo._ _Johnny._ You have no large pieces of lint. Do not die, though they again press you to say apple. _Papa. Nil pictis timidus navita puppibus Fidit!_ _Johnny._ No sailor is frightened at the dogs in a picture he sees. _Papa._ _Fidit's_, he sees, eh? ----_Tu, nisi ventis Debes ludibrium, cave._ _Johnny._ If it wasn't for the wind, You ought to play in a cave. _Papa._ Ha! Well, here's the last; we may as well go through it. _Myself._ Papa! don't be so cross. _Papa._ Mind your letter-writing, will you? [But _I wasn't_ letter-writing. I was making notes.] _Nuper sollicitum quae mihi taedium._ _Johnny._ Lately a solicitor was a great bore to me. _Papa._ [To do him justice, he recovered his good-humour and roared.] A great bore, was he? They _are_ bores sometimes. Now then-- _Nunc desiderium, curaque non levis._ _Johnny._ I do not care for the light of the stars. _Papa._ Hang it, JOHNNY, how do you get at "stars" in that line? _Johnny._ _De_, of, _siderium_, dative, no, genitive plural of _sidus_, a star, Papa, and _levis_ is light.