How's your Latin ?

[Alan Welsford]

This apparent gem from the burial registers of St Michael and All Angels Church, Aston Clinton, Bucks.....

24 Feb 1735 William WELLS, Maltster and a rogue, de mortuis nil nisi bonum.

It's too many years since I studied Latin, and I have neither a grammar book, nor a dictionary available. (Yes I know they are probably on the web!...)

The best I can do without help is

"From his death, nothing but good" (!)

Am I close ?

[arthurk]

Literally it means "nothing but good of the dead", but putting the quote into Google brought up an article in Wikipedia, suggesting that it's an abbreviation of the phrase "de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est". To quote Wikipedia, "In colloquial contexts, it indicates that it is socially inappropriate to say anything negative about a (recently) deceased person."

So was the minister or clerk saying he wished he could write something negative, or warning others not to do so?

Arthur