Part 9
"The only quintessence," says this old writer, "that hitherto the alchemy of wit could draw out of names, is _anagrammatisme_ or _metagrammatisme_, which is the dissolution of a name, truly written, into the letters as its elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction, or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense applicable to the person named." Precise anagrammatists adhere strictly to these rules, with the exception of omitting or retaining the letter _h_ according to their convenience, alleging that _h_ cannot claim the rights of a letter; others, again, think it no injury sometimes to use _e_ for _æ_, _v_ for _w_, _s_ for _z_, _c_ for _k_, and contrariwise, and several of the instances which follow will be found variously imperfect. Camden calls the charming difficulty of making an anagram, "the whetstone of patience to them that shall practise it; for some have been seen to bite their pen, scratch their head, bend their brows, bite their lips, beat the board, tear their paper, when the names were fair for somewhat, and caught nothing therein,--yet, notwithstanding the sour sort of critics, good anagrams yield a delightful comfort and pleasant motion to honest minds."
Camden places the origin of the anagram as far back as the time of Moses, and conjectures that it may have had some share in the mystical traditions, afterwards called the "Cabala," communicated by the Jewish lawgiver. One part of the art of the cabalists lay in what they called _themuru_--that is, changing--or finding the hidden and mystical meaning in names, which they did by transposing and fantastically combining the letters in those names. Thus of the letters of Noah's name in Hebrew they made _Grace_, and of the Messiah's _He shall rejoice_. Whether the above origin be theoretical or not, the anagram can be traced to the age of Lycophron, a Greek writer, who flourished about 300 B.C.
Among the moderns, the French have most cultivated the anagram. Camden says: "They exceedingly admire the anagram, for the deep and far-fetched antiquity and mystical meaning therein. In the reign of Francis the First (when learning began to revive), they began to distil their wits therein." There is a curious anecdote of an anagrammatist who presented a king of France with the two following upon his name of Bourbon:
Borbonius, Borbonius, _Bonus orbi_; or _Orbus boni_;
That is, "Bourbon good to the world;" or "Bourbon destitute of good;" while on another celebrated Frenchman we have--
Voltaire, _O alte vir_.
Southey, in his "Doctor," says that "anagrams are not likely ever again to hold so high a place among the prevalent pursuits of literature as they did in the seventeenth century. But no person," he continues, "will ever hit upon an apt one without feeling that degree of pleasure with which any odd coincidence is remarked." In that century, indeed, the artifice appears to have become the fashionable literary passion of the day--the amusement of the learned and the wise, who sought
"To purchase fame, In keen iambics and mild anagram."
While Andreas Rudiger was yet a student at college, and intending to become a physician, he one day pulled the Latinised form of his name to pieces, Andreas Rudigeras, and borrowing an _i_, transposed it into _Arare Rus Dei Dignus_ ("Worthy to cultivate the land of God"). He fancied from this that he had a divine call to become an ecclesiastic, and thereupon gave up the study of medicine for theology. Soon after, Rudiger became tutor in the family of the philosopher Thomasius, who one day told him "that he would greatly benefit the journey of his life by turning it towards physic." Rudiger confessed that his tastes lay rather in that direction than to theology, but having looked upon the anagram of his name as an indication of a divine call, he had not dared to turn away from theology. "How simple you have been," replied Thomasius; "it is just that very anagram which calls you towards medicine--'_Rus Dei_,' the land of God (God's acre), what is that but the cemetery--and who labours so bravely for the cemetery as a physician does?" Rudiger could not resist this, returned to medicine, and became famous as a physician.
An anagram on Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle on the restoration of Charles II., forms also a chronogram, including the date of the event it records--
Georgius Monke, Dux de Aumarle-- _Ego Regem reduxi, anno sa_ MDCLVV.
In this anagram the _c_ takes the place of the _k_.
The old Puritan biographer, Cotton Mather, claims for John Wilson--the subject of one of his lives--the kingship of anagrammatising. "Of all the anagrammatisers," he says in the third book of his "Magnalia Christi Americana," "that have been trying their fancies for the 2000 years that have run out since the days of Lycophron, or the more than 5000 since the days of our first father, I believe there never was a man that made so many, or so nimbly, as our Mr. Wilson; who, together with his quick turns upon the names of his friends, would ordinarily _fetch_, and rather than _lose_, would even _force_, devout instructions out of his anagrams. As one, upon hearing my father (Increase Mather) preach, Mr. Wilson immediately gave him that anagram upon his name 'Crescentius Matherus,' _Eu! Christus Merces Tua_ (Lo! Christ is thy reward). There would scarcely occur the name of any remarkable person without an anagram raised thereupon."
This said John Wilson "forced instruction" out of his own name--first rendering it into Latin, Johannes Wilsonus, he found this anagram in it, "_In uno Jesu nos salvi_" (We are saved in one Jesus). This mode of Latinising names was common enough among those who liked this literary folly; thus we have Sir Robert Viner, or Robertus Vinerus, rendered "_Vir Bonus et Rarus_" (a good and rare man). The disciples of Descartes made a perfect anagram upon the Latinised name of their master, "Renatus Cartesius," one which not only takes up every letter, but which also expresses their opinion of that master's speciality--"_Tu scis res naturæ_" (Thou knowest the things of nature).
Pierre de St. Louis became a Carmelite monk on discovering that his name yielded a direction to that effect:
Ludovicus Bartelemi-- _Carmelo se devolvit_.
And, in the seventeenth century, André Pujom, finding that his name spelled _Pendu à Riom_, fulfilled his destiny by cutting somebody's throat in Auvergne, and was actually hung at Riom, the seat of justice in that province.
Occasionally when the anagram of a name did not make sense, there was added a rhyme to bring out a meaning. Thus, in a sermon preached by Dr. Edward Reynolds upon Peter Whalley, and entitled "Death's Advantage," every letter of the name is to be found in the first line of this verse:
"_They reap well_, That Heaven obtain; Who sow like thee, Ne'er sow in vain."
In this sermon Peter Whalley is also anagrammatised into _A Whyte Perle_--this would not be a bad one, if orthography were of as little consequence as many of the old triflers in this way used to account it.
We read that when Alexander the Great was baffled before the walls of Tyre, and was about to raise the siege, he had a dream wherein he saw a satyr leaping about and trying to seize him. He consulted his sages, who read in the word Satyrus (the Greek for satyr), "_Sa Tyrus_"--"Tyre is thine!" Encouraged by this interpretation, Alexander made another assault and carried the city.
In a "New Help to Discourse" (London, 1684), there is one with a very quaint exposition:
TOAST--A SOTT.
"A _toast_ is like _a sot_; or what is most Comparative, _a sot_ is like a _toast_; For when their substances in liquor sink, Both properly are said to be in drink."
It will be seen, however, that anagrams have chiefly been made upon proper names, and a reversing of their letters may sometimes pay the owner a compliment; as of the poet Waller:
"His brows with laurel need not to be bound, Since in his _name_ with _laurel_ he is crowned."
George Thompson, the well-known anti-slavery advocate, was at one time solicited to go into parliament for the more efficient serving of the cause he had so much at heart. The question whether he would comply with this request or not was submitted to his friends, and one of them gave the following for answer:
George Thompson, _O go, the Negro's M.P._!
This clever instance was given in "Notes and Queries" a short time ago:
Thomas Carlyle, _A calm holy rest_.
The following are additional instances.
Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Keeper-- _Is born and elect for a rich speaker_.
When, at the General Peace of 1814, Prussia absorbed a portion of Saxony, the king issued a new coinage of rix dollars, with their German name, _Ein Reichstahler_, impressed on them. The Saxons, by dividing the word, _Ein Reich stahl er_, made a sentence of which the meaning is, "He stole a kingdom!"
A good one is--
Henry John Templeton, Viscount Palmerston, _Only the Tiverton M.P. can help in our mess_.
If we take from the words, _La Revolution Française_, the word _veto_, known as the first prerogative of Louis XIV., the remaining letters will form "_Un Corse la finira_"--_A Corsican shall end it_, and this may be regarded as an extraordinary coincidence, if nothing more. Many anagrams were made upon the name of Napoleon by superstitious persons, as--
Napoleon Bonaparte {_Bona rapta, leno, pone._ {_No, appear not at Elba._
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. _Arouse, Albion, an open plot._
A very apt anagram is the one founded upon--Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, _I find murdered by rogues_.
EVIL.
"If you transpose what ladies wear, _Veil._ 'Twill plainly show what bad folks are; _Vile._ Again if you transpose the same, You'll see an ancient Hebrew name; _Levi._ Change it again, and it will show What all on earth desire to do; _Live._ Transpose the letters yet once more, What bad men do you'll then explore." _Evil._
The following are very apposite--
Sir Robert Peel, _Terrible Poser_. Christianity, _It's in charity_. Poorhouse, _O sour hope_. Soldiers, _Lo! I dress_. Notes and Queries, _A question sender_. Solemnity, _Yes, Milton_. Determination, _I mean to rend it_. Elegant, _Neat leg_. Matrimony, _Into my arm_. Misanthrope, _Spare him not_. Radical reform, _Rare mad frolic_. Melodrama, _Made moral_. Arthur Wellesley, _Truly he'll see war_. The Field Marshall the Duke, _The Duke shall arm the field_. Monarch, _March on_. Charades, _Hard case_. David Livingstone, _Go (D. V.) and visit the Nile_. Stones, _Notes_.
_THE ACROSTIC._
Acrostic is the Greek name given to a poem the first letters of the lines in which taken together form a complete word or sentence, but most frequently a name. The invention of this kind of composition cannot be traced to any particular individual, but it is believed to have originated on the decline of pure classic literature. The early French poets, from the time of Francis I. to that of Louis XIV., practised it, but it was carried to its greatest perfection by the Elizabethan poets. Sir John Davies has no fewer than twenty-six poems entitled "Hymns to Astræa," every one of which is an acrostic on the words, "Elizabetha Regina." Traces of something akin are to be found in the poetry of the Jews,--for example, the 119th Psalm,--and also in the Greek "Anthology." Here it may be noted that in Greek the word _Adam_ is compounded of the initial letters of the four cardinal points:
Arktos = north, Dusis = west, Anatolê = east, Mesembria = south;
and that the Hebrew word, ADM forms the acrostic of A[dam], D[avid], M[essiah].
It is hardly necessary to give many specimens of this kind of literary composition in these days, since there are so many periodicals continually giving acrostics and relative verses, and a very few instances may suffice. The following old verses were originally written in a copy of Parkhurst's poems presented by the author to Thomas Buttes, who himself wrote this acrostic on his own name:
"_T_he longer lyfe that man on earth enjoyes, _H_is God so much the more hee dooth offende; _O_ffending God, no doubt, mannes soule destroyes; _M_annes soule destroyed, his torments have no ende; _A_nd endles torments sinners must endure, _S_ith synne Gods wrath agaynst us doth procure.
_B_eware, therefore, O wretched sinfull Wight, _U_se well thy toongue, doo well, think not amysse; _T_o God praye thou to guyde thee by his spright, _T_hat thou mayest treade the path of perfect blisse. _E_mbrace thou Christe, by faythe and fervent love, _S_o shalt thou reyne with hym in heaven above.
Thomas Buttes havying the first letter of everie lyne begynnyng with a letter of his name."
A SONG OF REJOYSING FOR THE PROSPEROUS REIGNE OF OUR MOST GRATIOUS SOVERAIGNE LADY, QUEENE ELIZABETH.
"G Geve laude unto the Lorde, And prayse His holy name O O let us all with one accorde Now magnifie the same D Due thanks unto Him yeeld Who evermore hath beene
S So strong defence buckler and shielde To our most Royall Queene. A And as for her this daie Each where about us rounde V Up to the skie right solemnelie The bells doe make a sounde E Even so let us rejoice Before the Lord our King
T To him let us now frame our voyce With chearefull hearts to sing. H Her Majesties intent By thy good grace and will E Ever O Lorde hath bene most bent Thy lawe for to fulfil
Q Quite Thou that loving minde With love to her agayne U Unto her as Thou hast beene kinde O Lord so still remaine. E Extende Thy mightie hand Against her mortall foes E Expresse and shewe that Thou wilt stand With her against all those N Nigh unto her abide Upholde her scepter strong E Eke graunt us with a joyfull guide She may continue long. Amen."
The next is from Planché's "Songs and Poems:"
TO BEATRICE.
"_B_eauty to claim, amongst the fairest place, _E_nchanting manner, unaffected grace, _A_rch without malice, merry but still wise, _T_ruth ever on her lips as in her eyes; _R_eticent not from sullenness or pride, _I_ntensity of feeling but to hide; _C_an any doubt such being there may be? _E_ach line I pen, points, matchless maid, to thee!"
Mdlle. Rachel was the recipient of the most delicate compliment the acrostic has ever been employed to convey. A diadem was presented to her, so arranged that the initial of the name of each stone was also the initial of one of her principal _rôles_, and in their order formed her name--
_R_uby, _R_oxana, _A_methyst, _A_menaide, _C_ornelian, _C_amille, _H_ematite, _H_ermione, _E_merald, _E_milie, _L_apis lazuli, _L_aodice.
The following is an ingenious combination of acrostic and telestic combined:
"_U_nite and untie are the same--so say yo_u_ _N_ot in wedlock, I ween, has the unity bee_n_ _I_n the drama of marriage, each wandering gou_t_ _T_o a new face would fly--all except you and _I_ _E_ach seeking to alter the _spell_ in their scen_e_."
Edgar A. Poe was the author of a complicated poem of this class, in which the first letter in the lady's name is the first in the first line; the second, second in the second line; the third, third in the third line, and so on--
A VALENTINE.
(_Frances Sargent Osgood._)
"For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes, Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda, Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader. Search narrowly the lines!--they hold a treasure Divine--a talisman--an amulet That must be worn _at heart_. Search well the measure-- The words--the syllables! Do not forget The trivialest point, or you may lose your labour! And yet there is in this no Gordian knot Which one might not undo without a sabre, If one could merely comprehend the plot. Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering Eye's scintillating soul, there lie _perdus_ Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing Of poets by poets--as the name is a poet's, too, Its letters, although naturally lying Like the Knight Pinto--Mendez Ferdinando-- Still form a synonym for Truth. Cease trying! You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you _can_ do!"
_ALLITERATIVE AND ALPHABETIC VERSE._
There are some clever lines which illustrate this style on the Bunker Hill Monument celebration:
"Americans arrayed and armed attend Beside battalions bold, bright beauties blend, Chiefs, clergy, citizens, conglomerate,-- Detesting despots,--daring deeds debate; Each eye emblazoned ensigns entertain,-- Flourishing from far, fan freedom's flame. Guards greeting guards grown gray,--guest greeting guest. High-minded heroes hither homeward haste, Ingenuous juniors join in jubilee, Kith kenning kin, kind knowing kindred key. Lo, lengthened lines lend Liberty liege love, Mixed masses, marshalled, Monumentward move. Note noble navies near--no novel notion Oft our oppressors overawed old Ocean; Presumptuous princes pristine patriots paled, Queen's quarrel questing quotas, quondam quailed. Rebellion roused, revolting ramparts rose. Stout spirits, smiting servile soldiers, strove. These thrilling themes, to thousands truly told, Usurpers' unjust usages unfold. Victorious vassals, vauntings vainly veiled, Where, whilesince, Webster warlike Warren wailed. 'Xcuse 'xpletives, 'xtra queer 'xpressed, Yielding Yankee yeomen Zest."
PRINCE CHARLES AFTER CULLODEN.
"All ardent acts affright an age abased By brutal broils, by braggart bravery braced. Craft's cankered courage changed Culloden's cry; 'Deal deep' deposed 'deal death'--'decoy'--'defy!' Enough. Ere envy enters England's eyes, Fancy's false future fades, for Fortune flies. Gaunt, gloomy, guarded, grappling giant griefs, Here hunted hard, his harassed heart he heaves; In impious ire incessant ills invests, Judging Jove's jealous judgments, jaundiced jests! Kneel kirtled knight! keep keener kingcraft known, Let larger lore life's levelling lesson's loan; Marauders must meet malefactors' meeds. No nation noisy nonconformists needs. O, oracles of old! our orb ordain Peace's possession--Plenty's palmy plain! Quiet Quixotic quests; quell quarrelling; Rebuke red riot's resonant rifle ring. Slumber seems strangely sweet since silence smote The threatening thunders throbbing through their throat. Usurper! under uniform unwont Vail valour's vaguest venture, vainest vaunt. Well wot we which were wise. War's wildfire won Ximenes, Xerxes, Xavier, Xenophon: Yet you, ye yearning youth, your young years yield Zuinglius' zealous zest--Zinzendorf Zion-zealed."
AN ANIMAL ALPHABET.
"Alligator, beetle, porcupine, whale, Bobolink, panther, dragon-fly, snail, Crocodile, monkey, buffalo, hare, Dromedary, leopard, mud-turtle, bear, Elephant, badger, pelican, ox, Flying-fish, reindeer, anaconda, fox, Guinea-pig, dolphin, antelope, goose, Humming-bird, weasel, pickerel, moose, Ibex, rhinoceros, owl, kangaroo, Jackal, opossum, toad, cockatoo, Kingfisher, peacock, anteater, bat, Lizard, ichneumon, honey-bee, rat, Mocking-bird, camel, grasshopper, mouse, Nightingale, spider, cuttle-fish, grouse, Ocelot, pheasant, wolverine, auk, Periwininkle, ermine, katydid, hawk, Quail, hippopotamus, armadillo, moth, Rattlesnake, lion, woodpecker, sloth, Salamander, goldfinch, angleworm, dog, Tiger, flamingo, scorpion, frog, Unicorn, ostrich, nautilus, mole, Viper, gorilla, basilisk, sole, Whippoorwill, beaver, centipede, fawn, Xantho, canary, polliwog, swan, Yellowhammer, eagle, hyena, lark, Zebra, chameleon, butterfly, shark."
Of affected alliteration as used by modern poets, there is a very good imitation of Swinburne's style in Bayard Taylor's "Diversions of the Echo Club,"[9] where Galahad chants "in rare and rhythmic redundancy, the viciousness of virtue:"
THE LAY OF MACARONI.
"As a wave that steals when the winds are stormy From creek to cove of the curving shore, Buffeted, blown, and broken before me, Scattered and spread to its sunlit core. As a dove that dips in the dark of maples, To sip the sweetness of shelter and shade, I kneel in thy nimbus, O noon of Naples, I bathe in thine beauty, by thee embayed.
What is it ails me that I should sing of her? The queen of the flashes and flames that were! Yea, I have felt the shuddering sting of her, The flower-sweet throat and the hands of her! I have swayed and sung to the sound of her psalters, I have danced her dances of dizzy delight, I have hallowed mine hair to the horns of her altars, Between the nightingale's song and the night!
What is it, Queen, that now I should do for thee? What is it now I should ask at thine hands? Blow of the trumpets thine children once blew for thee Break from thine feet and thine bosom the bands? Nay, as sweet as the songs of Leone Leoni, And gay as her garments of gem-sprinkled gold, She gives me mellifluous, mild macaroni, The choice of her children when cheeses are old!
And over me hover, as if by the wings of it, Frayed in the furnace by flame that is fleet, The curious coils and the strenuous strings of it, Dropping, diminishing down, as I eat; Lo! and the beautiful Queen, as she brings of it, Lifts me the links of the limitless chain, Bidding mine mouth chant the splendidest things of it, Out of the wealth of my wonderful brain!
Behold! I have done it; my stomach is smitten With sweets of the surfeit her hands have enrolled. Italia, mine cheeks with thine kisses are bitten: I am broken with beauty, stabbed, slaughtered, and sold! No man of thy millions is more macaronied, Save mighty Mazzini, than musical Me: The souls of the Ages shall stand as astonied, And faint in the flame I am fanning for thee!"
The above reminds of the anecdote told of Mrs. Crawford, who is said to have written one line of her "Kathleen Mavourneen," on purpose to confound the Cockney warblers, who would sing it--
"The 'orn of the 'unter is 'eard on the 'ill;"
and again, in Moore's "Ballad Stanzas":
"If there's peace to be found in the world, A 'eart that was 'umble might 'ope for it 'ere!"
Or--
"Ha helephant heasily heats hat his hease Hunder humbrageous humbrella trees!"
In the number of "Society" for April 23, 1881, there appeared several excellent specimens of alliterative verse, in compliance with a competition instituted by that paper for certain prizes--the selected verses all begin with the letter _b_:
"Bloom, beauteous blossoms, budding bowers beneath! Behold, Boreas' bitter blast by brief Bright beams becalmed; balmy breezes breathe, Banishing blight, bring bliss beyond belief.
Build, bonny birds! By bending birchen bough, By bush, by beech, by buttressed branches bare, By bluebell-brightened bramble-brake; bestow Bespeckled broods; but bold bad boys beware!
Babble, blithe brooklet! Barren borders breach, Bathe broomy banks, bright buttercups bedew, Briskly by bridge, by beetling bluff, by beach, Beckoned by bravely bounding billows blue!" --_Sir Patrick Fells._
"Brimming brooklets bubble, Buoyant breezes blow, Baby-billows breaking Bashfully below.
Blossom-burdened branches, Briared banks betide, Bright bewitching bluebells Blooming bend beside.
But beyond be breakers, Bare blasts brooding black, Bitterly bemoaning Broken barks borne back." --_A. M. Morgan._
"Beverage by bibbers blest, Balmy beer--bewitching bane, British brewings, boasted best, Blunting Bacchus' brandied brain. Bonny bumpers brimmed by beads, Barley-born, bring blind relief, Bubbling Bass-brewed Burton breed Bland beguilement, bright but brief. Bar-bought beer--bah! bitter brine-- Barrel-broaching braves, beware! Bid Bavaria, benign, Better brews bold Britons bear." --_W. H. Evans._
Mr. Swinburne, of whose style there has been given an imitation, is not the only poet who is prone to alliteration--in fact, all poets are given more or less to it, though not to the same extent. When used excessively it is as disagreeable as any other excess, yet its occasional use unquestionably adds to grace and style.
Pope says on this point in the following lines, which are also alliterative--
"'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar."
We find this example in Tennyson:
"The splendour falls on castle walls, And snowy summits old in story; The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying; Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying."
Crabbe also used this ornament profusely, as: