in its wanting four letters, to coincide strictly with the other; for after having predicted that a Corsican should put an end to the French Revolution, those four letters added to it, a most emphatic, though, alas! a vain "veto!"

Nugarum Amator is perfectly correct with respect to the great prevalency of the anagram among the effusions of "the wits of either Charles's day;" not one of them, according to Ben Jonson, but "pumped for those hard trifles;" a little bad spelling never stood in their way;-thus, one of them boldly asserts that car and crashaw are the same; but, gentle reader, take the proof:

"If you do say these anagrams not are,

Take crashaw, and invert it,-pshaw 'tis car!"

Another of the poets of this age concludes an amatory poem with the following couplet :

66

My heart thy altar is, my breast thy shrine;

;

Thy name for ever is-my breast's chaste valentine."

More is meant here than meets the ear, there is a posy, Mr. Editor, to this ring, and one which I doubt not its author would have called a posing posy; it must certainly have cost him an infinite toil of brain: it would not readily be guessed, perhaps, that in the words, "is my breast's chaste valentine," is contained an anagram of his fair lady's name, or "Maystress Elisabetha Vincent!!

"cedite Romani Scriptores, cedite Graii,"

"Homer and Virgil, hide your diminished heads ;' for when did you ever display such exquisite, such refined ingenuity, as this!! The learned reader who wishes to know more on the subject, may consult "Gulielma's Blancus," who has written an art of Anagrammatism; or the celebrated Lepsius, who has given a list of such as have excelled in it.

Of Chronograms I could only offer you a few dry pieces of Persian, for which you would scarcely thank me; the traveller, however, may examine the inscription on the bridge at Juanpore: it is chronogrammatic; and you may, if you please, insert this on the death of Nelson,-" Flebilis in certamine decessit!"-" He died lamented in battle!" This, according to the regular rules, expresses the date, or A.D. 1805.

On Amphibology, since Nugarum Amator speaks of the cautious ambiguity ever preserved in the responses of the ancient oracles, I will adduce for him an instance equally to the point as the one he has cited. A Roman general, on his being about to enter on a campaign, consulted the oracle as to its success, and received for answer-"Ibis-redibis— nunquam per bella peribis ;" this, of course, he interpreted," you shall go, you shall return,—— never by war shall you perish ;" and, accordingly, went away fondly calculating on the highest success. But, whether Apollo and the Fates had quarrelled, or to whatever cause it may be imputed, it turned out as though they had determined to

bring his prophecies into disgrace, for they unrelentingly allowed the general to be killed, and the whole army to be destroyed. On receipt of this intelligence, the friends of the deceased instantly posted off to the oracle, to reproach it with its fallacy; but the god was not so easily to be put to shame, he had not been so little chary of his reputation, as to trust it to such slippery dames as the Fates, but had, very prudently, like a Newmarket jockey, who takes the odds both ways, so framed his answer, that let whatever might be the event, he had predicted it. When, therefore, the general's friends began to taunt him for having deceived them, and related to him what had happened, his priests very calmly replied, that such was the event the oracle had predicted; for, said they, the response was,-"Ibis-redibis nunquam

-per bella peribis!" that is,-"You shall goyou shall return never,-by war shall you perish !" -and by war he has perished. On hearing this, the poor general's friends were fain to go awaymore than ever impressed with the conviction of the wonderful wisdom of the triumphant Phoebus.

Of devils' verses, or those which can be read backwards and forwards the same, I can add to Nugarum Amator's stock by the following Persian couplet :

شکر بتر از وي وزارت بركش شو همره بلبل بلب هر مهوش

of which the following is a paraphrastic translation: -"Sweetness shall find weight in the scales of government-let the nightingale ever dwell on the lips of the lover."

I cannot, Mr. Editor, take my leave of you without making one more attempt on my worthy friend the great Emperor,—and I think if you knew what trouble it has given me ("stultus labor,") you would excuse my offering the following anagram on Napoleon Bonaparte. I have the pleasure to address him thus-" plan on-atone b'a rope."-And that this hint may be prophetic is the wish of

Yours,

PHILO NUGARUM AMATOR.

CRITICISM ON A PASSAGE IN ST. JOHN.

MR. EDITOR,-It has frequently been suggested that a new translation of the Bible should be made; not only to correct the errors which the present one contains, but to adopt altogether a more modern and elegant phraseology. Against the latter proposition, however, the sense of the nation is almost unanimous; the most competent judges have declared themselves decidedly in favour of the version as it at present stands; and one of the

most able of these, Sir W. Jones, in adducing from it several instances of beauty and sublimity, clad as they are in the garb of primitive simplicity, challenges any modern periphrasis, any ornamented rounded periods, to give to the sense a closer expression, or one that produces a more striking effect. The present translation is indeed the most simple, the most pure, and the most perfect model that could have been chosen for the purpose to which it applies, namely, in general, a plain historical narrative, that needs not the meretricious glare of ornament to engage our attention and belief, but receives them from us as voluntary tributes; while, in energetic simplicity, it details a system of morality the most pure, and a chain of truths which but to read is impossible to doubt. But even were its language a little antiquated or defective, which it is not, yet still the prejudice, if it may be so called, that is entertained in its favour, should not lightly be outraged; even prejudices, if harmless and sanctioned by good feelings, deserve some respect; and though no sanctity exist in effect, yet if an innocently-entertained veneration be attached to any place or thing, it would be both cruel and indecent unnecessarily to violate it. But with respect to the errors that occur in the present version, the case is very different to correct these is not a mere matter of taste; it is not one in which the voice of prejudice is to be heard even were it raised; it is not