TERSE DESPATCHES.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR:9 Sra,—Evidently Mr. W. Holmden knows nothing of the long correspondence headed "Peccavi" which appeared in the Times Literary Supplement and in the Observer of August and September, 1917. Let me refer him to it, as also to an article in the Eagle (magazine of St. John's College, Cambridge) of December, 1917, which is a fairly comprehensive resume of the whole question. The singular developments of the " Peccavi" legend are noteworthy. This fragment " Vovi " is an instance. On February 7th, 1856, Outram proclaimed the annexation of Oude. On March 22nd, 1856, Punch put in print the following couplet, which it is now generally agreed to attribute to the wit of Michael John Barry:—
" ` Peccavi—I've Scinde,' wrote Lord Ellen so proud; More briefly Dalhousie wrote, Vovi—I've Oude.'
"Vovi" thus, in a sense, is the child of "Peccavi"; and, if the palm of genius rests with Barry, the first "happy thought" is that of Miss Catherine Winkworth,* and for terseness, surely, we may hold that "honours are divided."—I am, Sir, &c.,
The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, S.W. 1 A. C. YATE.
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