Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta
General
Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta
Literary curiosa; Literature -- Dictionaries
Among the curious things extant in relation to Luther is the covert
attempt of an ingenious theological opponent to make him the apocalyptic
beast or antichrist described in Revelation ch. xiii. The mysterious
number of the beast, “six hundred threescore and six,” excited the
curiosity of mankind at a very early period, particularly that of
Irenæus, in the second century, who indulged in a variety of shrewd
conjectures on the subject. But after discovering the number in several
names, he modestly says, “Yet I venture not to pronounce positively
concerning the name of antichrist, for, had it been intended to be
openly proclaimed to the present generation, it would have been uttered
by the same person who saw the revelation.” A later expositor,
Fevardent, in his Notes on Irenæus, adds to the list the name of Martin
Luther, which, he says, was originally written Martin Lauter. “Initio
vocabatur _Martin Lauter_,” says Fevardent; “cujus nominis literas si
Pythagorice et ratione subducas et more Hebræorum et Græcorum alphabeti
crescat numerus, primo monadum, deinde decadum, hinc centuriarum,
numerus nominis Bestiæ, id est, 666, tandem perfectum comperies, hoc
pacto.”
M 30 L 20
A 1 A 1
R 80 U 200
T 100 T 100
I 9 E 5
N 40 R 80
Total, 666.
It is but just to Fevardent, however, to observe that he subsequently
gave the preference to _Maometis_.
GALILEO’S LOGOGRAPH.
Galileo was the first to observe a peculiarity in the planet Saturn, but
his telescope had not sufficient refractive power to separate the rings.
It appeared to him like three bodies arranged in the same straight line,
of which the middle was the largest, thus, ⚬⚪⚬. He announced his
discovery to Kepler under the veil of a logograph, which sorely puzzled
his illustrious cotemporary. This is not to be wondered at, for it ran—
Smasmrmilmepoetalevmibvnienvgttaviras.
Restoring the transposed letters to their proper places, we have the
following sentence:—
Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi.
(I have observed the most distant planet to be threefold.)
PERSIAN RIDDLES.
Between a thick-set hedge of bones,
A small red dog now barks, now moans.
®“A human tongue!”®
®The answer rung,—®
A soul above it,
And a soul below,
With leather between,
And swift it doth go.
®On horse, with man a-straddle.®
®The answer is a _saddle_.®
CHINESE TEA SONG.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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