Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-02-08
Enignlas.

One vancouver consists in taking the |
letters of a word, adding to or sub
tracing from them, and seeing in
what way tho meaning becomes
changed thereby. OF this kind is the
enigma, my first two letters are a
man, my first three a woman, my first
four a brave man, nv whole brave
woman" This is a really excellent
analysis of the literal constituents of
Heroine. The following example is
attributed to Charles John Fox, and is
without much difficulty seen to relate
to glass:
"What is pretty and useful in various ways,
Tho 1t tempts some poor msrtals to shorten
Take one letter from it, and there will ap-
What youngsters admire every day in the
year;
Take two letters from it, and then without
doubt
Your what that is, if you don't find it out"
Canning's enigma is very neat. on
the effect Of adding the letter $50 to
the word "cares''-converting 4 plu-
raj into a singular, troubles into a
pleasure. One of the best enigmas of
this class was by Lord Macaulay, on
the word-but we will leave the dis
covery of the word to the ingenuity of
the reader:
"Cut off my head, and singular am;
Cut of my tail, and plural appear;
Cut off my head and tail, and, wondrous
feat,
Although my middle's left, there's nothing
What is my head, cut of? a sounding sea !;
What is my tail, cut off a rushing river /;
And in their mighty depth fearless play,
Parent of sweetest sounds, yet mute tor
ever"
The initials A E &c U formed an
enigma that lasted during many years
OF the reign OF Frederick the Third,
Elector OF Austria and Emperor of Ger
many in the fifteenth century. They
were inscribed on public buildings, on
regimental flags, on the backs of books
and on the imperial plate. "A solution
was found among the Emperor's pa
pers, after his death, in German and
Latin; and sufficiently boastful it GER
tainly was:
| "Alles Erdreich list Gsterreich unterthan.
Austria est imperare Orbit universe"
| Another form of o U enigma is that
clever production which was for long
time attributed to the late Professor
Whewell, but which is now said to
have been due to Rev. R. Edgerton
Warburton, although the reply may
have been Whewell's. It is based on
the near identity OF sound between
"cipher" and ':sigh for;'' on the fact
that cipher stands for zero, n0ught, 0,
or nothing; that cipher is also a mot
to or monogram; and that the exclama''
ton O (Oh y is shaped nearly like the
cipher 0. A lady is supposed to ask
for your cipher and motto, and you re.
ply as follows:
''UOaO, but o thee;
OOno o, but O 0 me;
Or else let o thy o go,
And give backOO1 o thee"
The lady responds thus:
"TdO your ., but O U not.
AOam /, and can't o your lot;
Isend you o and o your pain;
But D your Q o in vain"
The word sigh reminds us OF the fol-
lowing elegant trife:
81. came, though fetched it; when come il
was gone;
/ ask not 1 who saw tit could not he seen,
And yet might be telt by king or a queen.
AS kiss is next door to sigh, we ap
pend here pretty triplet by Sill
Thomas Wyatt, dated as far back az
the time Of Henry the Eighth:
"a lady gave me gift she had not,
And received her gift which took not,
And if she take it gain grieve not"
Effects of a ludicrous kind-all the
more ludicrous through being wholly
unexpected-are produced by present
ing in majestic or elegant form what
was originally a nursery rhyme, or
perhaps, humorous ditty. Ont
scarcely recognizes comic song, mucl
in favor some years ago, when dressed
up in the stanZas beginning: eff ha(
4 quadruped averse to speed,' &c
The elegant furnishing which JaCl
and Gill has received may be cited a.
another example:
"'Twas not on Alpine snow or ice,
But honest English ground,
Excelsior was their device;
But sad the tate they found,
The did not climb for love or tame,
But follow'd duty's call;
They were together in their aim,
But parted in their fall
The late Bishop Wilberforce, VIII
relieved more grave studies by occa
sional pleasantries of wit and humor
constructed an enigma on sman' b,
the employment Of a whole string o
words having two or more meaning
each: "A]l pronounce me wonder
full piece of mechanism, and yet few
people have numbered the strang'
medley Of which I am comprised.
have large box and two lids, tw'
caps, two musical instruments, mum
Der of weather-cocks, two established
measures, some weapons of warfare
and a great many little articles that ;
carpenter cannot do without. Their
have about me couple of esteemed
fishes, and a great many Of smaller
size, two lofty trees, and the fruit O.
an Indigenous plant; 4 handsome stag
and a great number of small kinds O.
game; two halls or places of worship
two students or scholars, the stairs o.
an hotel, and half a score Of Spanish
gentlemen to attend me; l have what
is the terror of the slave, also two dc
nestle animals and number of mega
tives." We should have said-bu
most readers will soon see this fol
themselves-that there are here MOI
only similar words with dissimila1
meanings, but also words have thu
same sounds though differently spelled
Many eniemas have been put fortl
with an announcement, that the all
thor would give prize Of sum Of
money to any person who would fin(
out the correct solution. 1t may bt
doubted that such liberality is any
thing more than bit of waggery
There was one which was attributed
sometimes to Lord Chesterfield, some
times to Miss Seward, and for a cor
rect solution OF which 700 wa: