I have finished my song if it had but a tune, Nancy Dawson won’t do, nor the sweet banks of Yarrow, I vow I would sing it from morning till noon, So much am I charmed with the play of Pizarro. Porson’s fondness for Algebra was universally known, but perhaps a more singular proof of this can hardly be adduced than is exhibited in the following equation, composed by him in Greek. The original is comprized in one line. Τις ὁ αριθμος ον τεμνομενον εις δυο ανισεις μερεις η του μειζονος μεριδος δυναμις μετα του ελαττονος μεταλαμβανομενη ισος εσσεται του ελαττονος δυναμει μετα του μειζονος μεταλαμβανομενῃ. Required the number, which being divided into two unequal parts, the square of the greater added to the less shall be equal to the square of the less added to the greater. Let the numbers be _x_ and _y_. _x_² × _y_ = _y_² × _x_ _x_² - _y_² = _x_ - _y_ _x_ + _y_ = _1_. CHARADES AND RIDDLES. I. If Nature and Fortune had plac’d me with you, On my first, we my second might hope to obtain; I might marry you, were I my third, it is true; But that marriage would only embitter my pain. II. My first is the lot that is destin’d by fate, For my second to meet with in every state: My third is by many philosophers reckoned, To bring very often my first to my second. III. My first, though your house, nay your life, he defends, You ungratefully name like the wretch you despise; My second, I speak it with grief, comprehends All the brave, and the good, and the learn’d, and the wise. Of my third I have little or nothing to say, Except that it tells the departure of day. IV. The child of a peasant, Rose thought it no shame To toil at my first all the day; When her father grew rich, and a farmer became, My first to my second gave way: Then she married a merchant, who brought her to town; To this eminent station preferr’d. Of my first and my second unmindful she’s grown, And gives all her time to my third. V. My first is the nymph I adore, The sum of her charms is my second, I was going to call it my third, But I counted a million and more, Till I found they could never be reckoned; So I quickly rejected the word. VI. My first in ghosts, ’tis said abounds, And wheresoe’er she walks her rounds, My second never fails to go, Yet oft attends her mortal foe. If with my third you quench your thirst, You sink for ever in my first. VII. My first is expressive of no disrespect, Yet I never shall call you it while you are by; If my second you still are resolv’d to reject, As dead as my third I shall speedily lie. VIII. My first of unity’s a sign; My second ere we knew to plant, We us’d upon my third to dine, “If all be true that poets chant.” IX.