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
“All pronounce me a wonderful piece of mechanism, and yet few people
have numbered the strange medley of which I am composed. I have a large
box and two lids, two caps, two musical instruments, a number of
weathercocks, three established measures, some weapons of warfare, and a
great many little articles that carpenters cannot do without; then I
have about me a couple of esteemed fishes, and a great many of a smaller
kind; two lofty trees, and the fruit of an indigenous plant; a handsome
stag, and a great number of a smaller kind of game; two halls or places
of worship, two students or rather scholars, the stairs of a hotel, and
half a score of Spanish gentlemen to attend on me. I have what is the
terror of the slave, also two domestic animals, and a number of
negatives.”
§Reply.§—“Chest—eye-lids—kneecaps—drum of the ear—veins—hand, foot,
nail—arms—nails—soles of the feet—muscles—palms—apple—heart
(hart)—hairs (hares) temples—pupils—insteps—tendons (ten
Dons)—lashes—calves—nose (no’s.)”
CURIOSITIES OF CIPHER.
In 1680, when M. de Louvois was French Minister of War, he summoned
before him one day, a gentleman named Chamilly, and gave him the
following instructions:—
“Start this evening for Basle, in Switzerland, which you will reach in
three days; on the fourth, punctually at two o’clock, station yourself
on the bridge over the Rhine, with a portfolio, ink, and a pen. Watch
all that takes place, and make a memorandum of every particular.
Continue doing so for two hours; have a carriage and post-horses await
you; and at four precisely, mount and travel night and day till you
reach Paris. On the instant of your arrival, hasten to me with your
notes.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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