The herald., 1896-01-05
SOME FAMOUS PUZZLES


I would be a matter to attract attention.
| The Authenticity of the poem, however,
| was not seriously questioned, it being
probably skit thrown off by the poet for
| the amusement of the Misses Blount or
| some other of his lady friends, and not
considered of Importance enough to be
preserved in his published works The
| answer is the "keys of harpsichord'' or
piano, the "bloody ensign" being tn bit of
! red baise or felt which covers the head of
| the hammer, or did in the time of Pope.
The ''Lilliputian throng' is the row of keys.
/ 1t is a very pretty riddle Dean Swit did
not dlsdain to relax his mind With the COM
position of these slight puzzles, and several
of them may he found in his works. Here
is one of them:
I. with borrowed silver shine,
WHAT you see IS none OF mine,
Fl st show YOU but qua ter,
Like the bow that guards the Tartar;
The the half ana then the who.e,
Ever dancing lound the pole
And true II is chiefly owe
Ny beauty to the shades below.
The answer is 1.-THE moon" A riddle
that long went the rounds, claiming
Macaulay as its author, is as follows:
Cut off my head and singular act,
Cut oil my all Il plura | appear;
Cutoff m head and tail and wo drous fact
Although my middle's left there's nothing
there.
what is my head? sounding sea;
What is my tail? flow ng river
NJ ans dep his fearless stray.
Parent OF soitt st sounds, yet mute forever.
The answer is cod. But Macaulay was
not the author. Its authorship is unknown
Everybody is probably familiar with the
famous riddle on the letter H, the first
lines of which are:
Twas whispered in heaven, twas muttered in
hell,
This was long attributed to Lord Byron,
hut real 3IltNOr Miss Catherine
Fanshawe, who wrote several others al
most as good.
Mackworth Pread, one of the most brill
liant, but now almost forgotten poets of
the present century, wrote number of
fine riddles, one of which was the subject
of much discussion and many answers in
Harper's Magazine a good many years
ago, when the periodical was young.
1t is as follows:
Sir Hilary charged at Agineourt;
Sooth! twas an aw ful day;
And tho in that old ge OF sport
The ruflers OF the camp aud court
Had Ii tie time 10 pray,
'ris id Sir Hilary muttered there
Two syllables by way OF prayer;
My first ID all The brave and proud
Who see tom rroS sun;
Ny next, wi he cold and quiet shroud
Before today he done;
And bo together all blue eyes
That weep when u warrior nobly d es.
This is so beautiful that I shall leave the
answer for the youthful readers of The
Times-Herali to guess.
Miss Milford gave an answer in verse,
but her answer, though ingenious, was not
correct.
Even statesmen have not neglected this
form of relaxation, aid the following was
written by Char es lanes Fox.
Formed long ago, yet made today,
And most employed when others leep;
Wha few would wish to give away,
And none world wish to keep.
The answer is a bed, and the riddle is n
pretty example of a play on the meaning
of words.
But there are countless instances in Eng
lish Ii erature, and indeed in all Ii eratures,
of these ingenious puzzles. All nations
have been fond of them. and they abound
in the folk lore of every people, ohm n.
Crawford, in Chicago Tribune.