Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-09-14
AMUSING JOKES.
tome That Have Been Played on
Members of Scientific Societies.

NOlnlnS IS so IuHuy iLt Johei uS
the development of a practical joke or
hoax, and the most learned are some
times fooled in this way, to their great
discontinue. An amusing hoax was
perpetrated on the learned members of
the Dumfries Antiquarian society OF
London, when an alleged Greek charm.
body Of a Bedouin, was presented for
their inspection and admiration. 1t
was said to have been an heirloom in
the Bedouin's family for many centu-
ries and consisted of a scrap of skin on
which was Transcribed a mysterious
legend. 1t was circulated among the
members of the august body Of the An
tiquarian society until it fell into the
hands OF DR. Semple, who, amid much
amusement, deciphered the hleroglyph-
les as "Old Bob Ridley, O." the refrain
of an old song.
One Of the best Of these jokes was
practiced with considerable success by
an eighteenth century wit, who pro-
fessed to have unearthed an ancient
memorial slab on which this epitaph
was just decipherable:
BENE A. TIL. TIL. ISST
ONERE. POS. EFT.
H CLAUD. cos TER TRIP
E. SELERO. F. IMP.
IN. CT. ONAS, DO.
tn. HI. SC
ON. SOR. T. J. A. n. E.
In vain did archaeologists and lin
gusts rack their brains to find a solu-
tion Of this cryptic inscription, which
its discoverer ''humbly dedicated TO
the penetrating geniuses of oxford,
Cambridge, Eton and the learned So
ciety of Antiquaries," and it was only
when it had driven the cleverest men
| in England almost out of their wits
that the following reading was sug-
| gested by the hoaxer: Beneath this
/ stone reposeth Claud Coster, tripe SELL
er, Of Impington, as doth his consort
| Jane"
That, too, was clever, If rather
| heartless, joke which Stevens, the
Shakespeare scholar, played on Cough,
| known to posterity as the author of
"Sepulchral Monuments" Cough had
criticised a drawing by Stevens ra-
ther mercilessly, and the latter forth
with planned revenge which should
hold up antiquity to ridicule. Procur-
| ing a fat piece of stone, he scratched
on 1t, In Anglo-Saxon characters, the
| Inscription, Here Hardcnut drank a
| winehorn dry, stared about him and
died." and had 1t exposed In a shop
| which Cough was in the habit of visit
| ing.
A few days later Cough called at the
| shop, saw the slab, which, he was told,
had been found in Remington lane on
the supposed site of Hardicanute's pal
ace, and, oyerjoyed at his good fortune,
carried it of in triumph as discovery
of rare antiquarian value. La showed
| 1t with pride to his fellow members of
l the Society of Antiquaries, a paper
was written on It, a learned discussion
followed and the inscription was pub
lished in the Gentleman's Magazine.
Stevens triumph was complete when
he took the public into his secret and
laughed with them, but what his vic
TINS feelings and language were 1t
would not have been possible to ex-
press in print.
Something over fifty years ago the
ingenuity Of antiQuarians was tested
by a legend family traced on a time
worn slab of stone which, so its dis
coverer said, had been unearthed dur
ing some excavations in Cumberland.
This was the inscription:
TIL ISL. sAHAR. DNU. toe. RA
/ c. K.
But what language was 1t and what
could it mean? The accepted opinion
was that the legend referred in some
way to Hardicanute or Hardnut, but
beyond that speculation even was
dumb, until the wicked joker had the
effrontery to confess that he himself
had chiseled the inscription, of which
the true translation was: This Is n
hard nut to crack" And so it was
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