Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-07-25
RIDDLES OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Anagrams and Acrostics Have Been known
Since the Days of the Psalmist.
It seems ridiculous that the people
who lived hundreds and hundreds Of
wears ago were more interested i'll puz-
zles than you and [ are today. This is
true nevertheless. The puzzles I refer to
are those in writing, although the an
clients probably occupied some of their
spare time with strange and puzzling
devices of wood and metal as we do.
What pleasure it is to solve the prob
lens in our favorite magazines or news
papers! 1t is very good exercise for ones
brains, too and where a prize is offered
to the fortunate boy OF girl who first
solves the puzzles of different kinds the
work is more pleasant still in the an
ticipation Of proving oneself a little
cleverer than the others and of receiv
ing the gift. We find that the acrostic
is the most ancient form of puzzling
mankind. Acrostic is Greek for a num-
ber of verses, the first letters of which
form a aword-sOmetimes name and
sometimes a sentence. The final letter
may form word, or, as Addison tells
us, the letters will even run down the
center of the verses as seam. The He
brew poets often made their verses run
over the entire alphabet. Twelve of the
psalms are written OIL this plan, the
most notable being the one hundred and
nineteenth. This has % divisions of
stanZas, corresponding to the % letters
Of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza is
formed of eight couplets, and the first
line of each couplet i'll the first stanza in
the original Hebrew begins with the
letter aleph, the second commences with
beth, the third with gimel and so on
through the alphabet The English di
visions of the psalms are called after
the Hebrew letter that began the coup
d lets. 1t was also customary to compose
verses ON sacred subjects after the fash
ion of Hebrew acrostics. This was done
with view to aid memory, and such
pieces were called abcedarian hymns.
The riddle is also of ancient origin.
The Proverbs of the Bible, or sayings
attributed to Solomon, are often in the
form of riddles Was it not the Queen
of Sheba who proposed riddles to Solo
mon? The Koran, the scriptural book of
the Mohammedans, also contains rid
dies, as do some books now in existence,
written in Arabic and Persian. The an
cient Egyptians also propounded rid
dies, and one of the seven wise men OF
Greece, who lived in the sixth century
B. c., was celebrated for his riddles in
verse Homer, the Greek poet, accord
ing to statement III Plutarch, died of
vexation at not being able to solve a
riddle In the middle ages riddles were
encouraged for amusement on winter
nights in the baronial hall and also in
the monastery In later days some of
the most brilliant men of letters contrib
uted to the list of riddles.
The anagram, or transpositiOn of the
letters in words or sentences, was much
in vogue in Greece in the olden times.
The Cabalists, Or Jewish doctors,
thought that the anagram always point
ed out a mans destiny, and if his name
written backward or transposed in any
way spelled word with meaning they
firmly believed it revelation. The fiat
terers of James of England proved his
right to the British monarchy as the de-
scendant of the mythical King Arthur
from his name Charles James Stuart,
which becomes ''claims Arthur's seat.
The best anagrams are those which have
in the new order of letters some sign1fi-
cation appropriate to that from which
they are formed When PLATE asked,
"Quid est veritas?" What is truth0,
he probably had no idea that his ques-
ton answered itself. But it did. The
transposition made it, Est vir qui
adest'' ut is the man who is here. An
agrams were written as early as $50 b.
c., and their name comes from the
Greek words ana. backward. and gram
ma, writing.-Philadelphia Press.
parEAn m Euch AcoSee3 VIM -