PUNNING 



i 



Daniel and reveal were in it, and 

 that was sufficient to satisfy her in- 

 spirations. The court attempted to 

 dispossess the spirit from the lady, 

 while the bishops were in vain rea- 

 soning the point with her out of 

 the Scriptures, to no purpose, she 

 poising text against text. One of 

 the deans of the arches, says Hey- 

 lin, shot her through and through 

 with an arrow borrowed from her 

 own quiver ; he took a pen, and at 

 last hit upon this excellent ana- 

 gram: 



Dame Eleanor Davies, 

 Never so mad a ladie I 



The happy fancy put the solemn 

 court into laughter, and Cassandra 

 into the utmost dejection of spirit. 

 Foiled by her own weapons, her 

 spirit suddenly forsook her ; and 

 either she never afterwards ven- 

 tured on prophesying, or the ana- 

 gram perpetually reminded her 

 hearers of her state and we hear 

 no more of this prophetess ! 



WILLIAM OLDYS. 



The following anagram on the 

 well-known bibliographer, William 

 Oldys, may claim a place among 

 the first productions of this class. 

 It was written by Oldys himself, 

 "and found by his executors in one 

 of his manuscripts : 

 "W. O. 

 In word and WILL I AM a friend to 



you, 



And one friend OLD IS worth a hun- 

 dred new." 



BURNEY'S ANAGRAM ON NELSON 

 "PENDU A RIOM." 



None of the anagrams of the 

 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 

 exceed in felicity Dr. Burney's on 

 Lord Nelson : " Horatio Nelson, 

 Honor est a Nilo." 



Of all the extravagances occa- 

 sioned by the anagrammatic fever, 

 when at its height, none probably 

 equals what is recorded of an ec- 

 centric Frenchman in the seven- 



FRENCH. 



195 



teenth centuiy, Andre Pujom. He 

 read, in his own name, the anagram 

 "Pendu & Eiom" (the seat of cri- 

 minal justice in the province of 

 Auvergne), felt impelled to fulfil 

 his destiny, committed a capital 

 offence in Auvergue, and was ac- 

 tually hung in the place to which 

 the omen pointed. 



ON NAPOLEON. 



The following anagram on the 

 original name of Napoleon I., the 

 most renowned conqueror of the 

 age in which he lived, may claim a 

 place among the first productions 

 of this class, and fully shows, in 

 the transposition, the character of 

 that extraordinary man, and points 

 out that unfortunate occurrence of 

 his life which ultimately proved 

 his ruin. Thus : " Napoleon Bona- 

 parte " contains " No, appear not 

 on Elba." 



TTJ DOCES. 



A singular pun is produced irt 

 the following words, which were 

 inscribed on a tea-chest : " Tu doces, 

 which is the second person singular 

 of the verb doceo, to teach, and, 

 when literally translated, becomes 

 Thou Tea-Chest:' 



PUNNING IN FRENCH. 



Mr. Moore records in his diary 

 of table-talk, as a specimen of French 

 punning, that the following was 

 among the Potierana lately pub- 

 lished : " II a 1' esprit seize" i.e. y 

 treize et trois (tres etroit). Mercer 

 (says he) told me of a punster, who 

 had so much the character of never 

 opening his mouth without a pun, 

 that one day, upon his merely ask- 

 ing some one at dinner for a little 

 spinage, the person stared, looked 

 puzzled, and said, " Je vous dcmande 

 pardon, monsieur, metis, pour cette 

 fois, je ne comprend pas." The 

 quickness of the French at punning 

 arises (Mr. Moore adds), very much 

 from their being such bad spellers. 



