226 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 100. 



and ringly sing those words in his ears, ' To thee 

 will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' " 

 &c. This case is different from those mentioned 

 above, in the respect that the words " state and 

 ringly" do occur in the printed edition of 1564; 

 but it scarcely need be observed that the words 

 " state & ringly " are a misprint for " flatteringlj'," 

 when it is added that Jewel himself, in his revised 

 edition of Lady Bacon's translation, in the Defence 

 of the Apology^ 1567 and 1570, reads: "for all 

 that his flattering parasites sing these words in his 

 ears." The original Latin is : " quamvis illi sua- 

 viter cantilentur ilia verba a parasitis suis." 



There are also various errors and several omis- 

 sions in the Oxford Jev/el, in the verification of 

 the numerous references. Among various notes 

 (I would however add) which are inaccurate, and 

 several that appear to me superfluous, there are 

 some which are most useful, as, for example, that in 

 vol. ii. p. 195., on the Gloss in the Canon Law, 

 " Our Lord God the Pope." Colet. 



ANAGRAMS. 



You have now completed the third volume of 

 "Notes and Queries," and, to the no small sur- 

 prise of all lovers of "jeux de mots," not a single 

 specimen of the genus Anagram has found its way 

 into your columns. To what are we to ascribe 

 such a circumstance ? The ancients were not 

 ashamed to indulge in this intellectual pastime, 

 and their anagrams, says Samuel Maunder, occa- 

 sionally contained some happy allusion. The 

 moderns have given unequivocal proofs of their 

 fecundity in the same line, and the auagrammatic 

 labours of the French nation alone would form 

 several volumes. Indeed, to that nation belongs 

 the honour of having introduced the anagram ; 

 and such is the estimation in which "the art" was 

 held by them at one time, that their kings were 

 provided with a salaried Anagrammatist, as ours 

 are with a pensioned Laureate. How comes it 

 then that a species of composition, once so popidar, 

 has found no representative among the many 

 learned correspondents of your popular periodical ? 

 Has the auagram become altogether extinct, or is 

 it only awaiting the advent of some competent 

 genius to restore it to its proper rank iu the re- 

 public of letters ? 



To me it is clear that the real cause of the pre- 

 vailing dearth of anagrams is the great difliculty 

 of producing good ones. Good anagrams are, to 

 say the least of it, quite as scarce as good epic 

 poems ; for, if it be true that the utmost efforts of 

 the human intellect have not given birth to more 

 than six good epic poems, it is no less true that 

 the utmost exertion of human ingenuity has not 

 brought forth more than half a dozen good ana- 

 grams. Some critics are of opinion that we do 



possess six good epic poems. Now, where shall 

 we find six good anagrams ? If they exist, let 

 them be exhibited in the pages of " Notes and 

 Queries." 



Indeed, it may be said that the anagram and the 

 epic poem are the alpha and omega of literature. 

 I am aware that by thus placing them in juxta- 

 position the contrast may have the effect of dis- 

 paraging the anagram. The epic poem will 

 naturally enough suggest the idea of the sublime, 

 and the anagram, as naturally, that of the ridi- 

 culous : and then it will be said that between the 

 two there is but a step. But let any gentleman 

 make the experiment, and he will find that, instead 

 of a step, the intermediate space will present to 

 his astonished legs a surface co-extensive with the 

 wide field of modern mediocrity. As for myself, 

 I have ransacked in search of anagrams every hole 

 and corner in ancient and modern literature, and 

 have found very few samples worthy of the name. 

 Reserving the ancients for future consideration, let 

 us see what the moderns have to boast of in this 

 respect. 



And first, what says Isaac Disraeli ? Anagrams 

 being literary curiosities, one would naturally ex- 

 pect to meet with some respectable samples of 

 them in that writer's Curiosities of Literature. 

 Yet, what do we find ? Among about a score 

 which he quotes, there is not one that can be 

 reckoned a tolerable anagram, while by far the 

 greater number are no anagrams at all. An ana- 

 gram is the change of a word or sentence into 

 another word or sentence, by an exact transposi- 

 tion of the letters. Where a single letter is either 

 omitted or added, the anagram is incomplete. Of 

 this description are the following, cited by 

 Disraeli : — 



" Thomas Overburie, 

 " O ! O ! base murther." 



" Charles James Stewart, 

 " Claims Arthur's Seat." 



" Martha Nicholson, 

 " Soon calm at heart." 



I next turned to Samuel Maunder and his 

 Scientific and Literary Treasury, little suspecting 

 that, in a repertory bearing so ambitious a title, I 

 should foil to discover the object of my search. 

 True, he quotes the anagram made byDr.Burney 

 after the battle of the Nile : 



" Horatio Nelson, 

 " Honor est a Nile." 



And this, it must be confessed, is one of the best 

 on record. The transposition is complete, and the 

 allusion most apposite. But, with that exception, 

 what does this pretended Treasury disclose ? A 

 silly attempt to anagrammatise the name of our 

 beloved queen ; thus : 

 "Her most gracious Majesty Alexandrina Victoria,^ 

 " Ah ! my extravagant joco-serious radical Minister!" 



