, 1874-05-10

,,d presH made " himself, ne began the TOIh OF
t~noerap.y, printing only page at a time.
r,~tvc,y ,ye long years lie pursued bis e1traordi-
.,, iabcrs, and Ut Inst, in 1907, brought them to
,,cso. As each volume of the twenty six octave
~.,,r,as Of llis work contained about 500 pages,
~ rnus, baro imposed and distributed his types,
..d nut his press into operation $4,000 times, or
aa.s'acrablr more than three times day, omit
t;nc SUNDAYS. during tho long period Of his task,
., amount of toll without remuneration which
limos; stagccrs belief. Only fourteen copies
...-o rriu:ed. which i3 bound with his Own
,.,ds End q few OF which he deposited In the
-.,1;r ,;h1a, les OF London. He died at an ad-
x.,ced ace 10 1926, hoping to the last for fav-
a-,h1ereI die. IRON postelity, though his naaqnum
a,s-,,,aquu,,, in size only, aud. az Sheridan said
r G,;lou's history. "vo-luminols, not 1uni-
aco:"-vas utterly worthless.
INT j, is cot in the literary productions Of the
e;ceteeuth or nineteenth contury, but in those
~ tho sixteenth and seventeenth, that a1e to
In foupd some Of tho most signal
a1.r,n,as Of misdirected intellectual labor.
wo refer to those torturing expert
want. upou language called anagrams, chrome
1ams echoes, macafonies. boulsrin1es, acros-
t1ca naljpdromes, allteratiye verses, ETC., which
-re,e nou,ed furth in Goods, not by nero Zip
ran, jj}crz, CT ounces who deem themselves
~. Int often BY scholars OF brilliant abilities
I'D st,ain:pcnts. Weary OF the search after
idot. disguised with great speculations that
a,ded In doubt, and dissatisfied with wisdom
That brought no hearts ease, and knowledge
thst only Increased sorrow, the thinking men OF
thosa ages, like their predecessors Of more an
r1cnt tines, often employed their leisure mo-
,eu;s IN the composition OF labo11ous trldes,-
oagao conatu .nag,as nugas,-which Knocked
,be fruits u thei1 graver studies with come
thing OF fairy quaiDtness. Follies Of this
find date back, indeed, almost to the invention
Of letters The Greeks had their lypogram-
psists, who could write elaborate poems or
treatiscs from wLlch particular letter was ex-
c!uded. Both they and the Romano had their
l7rkinie poems, or reciprocal veraea, 80 written
that tho Lne was the same whether read back
ward or forward, as in tho following:
Roma, tibi, subito znottbus ibit amor.
Lope de Vega wrote Eve novels, the first with
ont an 1, tie second without 3, the third with
out T., and SO OIL. At one time, even long after
tbs revival Of learning, the grand merit Of
large part Of English and Scottish verse lay in
ITO ridiculous conceit OF all the words of q line
l,cginring with the same letter; atanothez time,
i: VIA favorise device to w1ite Latin verses Of
vhlSh every line began with the same syllable
tia. had concluded the preceding oue,-a kind Of
El,oe OF shuttlecock. in which one player sta
toned On tho left tossed line across the page
- a tecoad, who, passing with the velocity Of
thought to the same side, hurled another at
t!.:rd: and thus the match continued till he who
l"ean the sport put IA stop to it by making his
4. pcaranco on the opposite list. In this way tho
F. or, hapless poeta6ter was forced to hobble
C.: ing an averue, guarded on either eide by
20. of unreienting monosyllables, which, II his
N ;ttIesome fancy manifested anv inclination to
tc.nper according TO the freedom OF her owu
MI, brought her cnectunllg to her senses.
;3at, Of all the ridiculous shackles invented
b. the devo:ees Of these coxcombich arts, the
II. .lictions the shape, form, and length OF
ro LIE, were the most absurd and ludlcrons.
TEa-e arc n1any poems Of the sixteenth century
on which so1t of Chinese ingenuity seems to
la,o been expended; the lines being so drawn
in :ere, and stretched out there,-so cut, twist
Ell, and tortured in every conceivable way,-as
To have q rude, general resemblance to the most
faa asticai objects. OF course, it wss rare tri-
um.,h Of ingenuity when al amatory poem could
he squeezed into the shape OF heart, fan, or
lad::'a gown; still greater, perhaps, when
sou:.et On destiny could bo put into the figure Of
Il LII OF scissors; but when an anacreontic
con, be coa1ed into the form of wine glass, or
q u>:dtation On mortality into the shape Of m
l,ou:-glsss OF tombstone, the effect was abso~
lute:y overwhelming. One Benlowes, wit who,
tLo;y q, now forgotten, is said to have been .'ex-
ce atty loarued in his day." had wonderful
facii..F In this kind of literary carpentry
Eut, u, the author Of Hudibras, thus ironically
com1aends him in his tCharacter Of = Small
poe:": "There is no feat OF activity, nor gam
bol * Wit that ever WAS performed by man.
from him that vaults on Pegasus to him that
t1n; les through the hoop Of an epigran, but
Ec2! yves has got the mastery OF it. whether it
he Il: 3h-rope nit or low-rope wit. As for aAars
Ind yrdnids in poetry, he has outdone al men
In tb:.: way; for hs has made giidiron and
fryr span in verse. that, besides the likeness in
thapc, the very tone and sound OF the words did
ler1t ,t|y represent the noise made by these
ucn lis. such as Surtd9o loque71di"
In ,:her excrrciating exercise Of nit, which |
Tas II vogue in the sixteenth century.
especially with those who could not aspire to the
lofty art Of fshapedverse-m making, was the framing
Of Cnagrans. BY the ancents, anagram- |
>o,s1tg, OF tho transposins Of the letters OF |
es':h'a words so as to produce new words, |
T-a clasaed among the caballstic sciences;
isa it Was often thought that the
Qualities Of q mans mind, and his future dea !
Try e'uld be guessed at by anagrammatizing
the !e:ters Of his name. When this could be !
do1e n eucb q wsy as to bring forth word or
eantelee pointedly abusive to the original idea,
It *aE deemed marvellous feat, aud the happy |
VT Tas ready to SCREAM with JOY. In France, |
ssea 7eight Was attached to this jugglery with |
Letters, that Louis Kill. pensioneda professional
1:anF poser OF words. Occasionally name would
appear to defy al attempts to torture it into
1ne"Ln5, and the pains and throes Of the ana-
g:a1 natist while in labor, were sometimes ter
17bls to behold, An old writer speaks Of the |
unt :llty as It Il whetstone OF patience to them
tsst hall try the art" Addison gives most |
1soc'ons account Of one Of these word -torturers
"ho after shutting himself up for half year,
atd Aaving taLen certain liberties With the name
c. his mistress, discovered, on presenting his
snag7ln, that he had misspelled her surnamei
y Ach riEfortnna be was SO thunderReruck !