Clavis Acrostica. A Key to "Dublin Acrostics". I

Irish Jesuit Province

Clavis Acrostica. A Key to "Dublin Acrostics". ISource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 25, No. 285 (Mar., 1897), pp. 113-118Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20499093 .

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MARCH, I 897.

CLAWIS ACROSTICA.

A KEY TO " DUBLIN ACROSI ICS."

I.

AMONG the many feats connected with the unveiling of anony mities, on which this Magazine prides itself,the most startling

of all perhaps was the revelation which discovered bishops, lords justices, barons of the exchequer, stuff gowns, Queen's Counsel, and even presidents of ecclesiastical colleges, conspiring together to produce the dainty little quarto called "Dublin Acrostics." The dignitaries here specified do not indeed all appear in the plural number. We will not, however, enter at present into such particulars, but refer the reader for a full account of the

authorship of " Dublin Acrostics" to an article bearing that title

in our fifteenth volume (1887) at page 359. Some of these

revelations will be repeated from time to time in the series we are

now beginning, as few of our readers would be able to consult a

back volume ten years old. Of two of the most distinguished of these acrosticians the

present writer has some claim to be considered the literary re presentative. The foremost among them was the late Judge O'Hagan; and (strange to say) his friend Dr. 0. W. Russell, President of Maynooth College, contributed some of the most felioitous of the acrostics, Another very active member of the

band, the late Mr. Robert Reeves, Q.C., wrote oUt for us a key

VOL. XXV. No. 286 9



114 The Irish Monthly.

to the entire series, of which key, after a long delay, we now purpose to make full use. The best introduction will be the letter which accompanied Mr. Reeves' cahier.

3 Upper Ely Place,

8th April, 1887.

MY DEgAR SnI,-I have written out for you in a book, which I beg 3' our

acceptance of, the answers to all the Dublin Acrostics (except the 2nd light of No.

61, but which I yet hope to discover). I have also given you the names of all the

contributors, so you wiLl see that most of the authors have made their mark, more

or less, in their respective callings.

About twenty-three years ago, a very brilliant weekly was started in London,

under the title of The Owl. It was carried on by Lord Wharncliff, and some very

good scholars, his friends. It had great success, but was given up after a year or

so, as probably it had lost its interest with its originators. Each week the paper

contained a double acrostic, a species of puzzle of considerable antiquity, but which

had fallen into oblivion, but about this time again became fashionable; and the

paper opened its columns for solvers.

This contest created much interest at the Four Courts; and amongst the

competitors were the Lord Justice Fitzgibbon, then a young barrister, J. J. Kirby,

whose refinement and wit made him very welcome in Dublin society, the late Mr.

Thomas Harris, Q0., Robert Reeves, etc.

The acrostic mania then extended to the Munster and Leinster Circuits, and

Judge O'Hagan, then at the Bar, did not think it unworthy of his high literary

character to join with his professional br others in these literary trifles, originally

written for circulation amongst friends. A number of these double acrostics thus

accumulated, and it was thought that a little book of them might be published,

with a hope of success. When this became known, the original promoters were

assisted by some eminent men, such as Baron Fitzgerald, Dr. Russell of Maynooth,

Dr. Fitzgerald, Bishop of Killaloe, Denis Florence McCarthy, besides a few ladies

of literary culture, of whom Miss A. Browne, of Stouts Hill, Dursley. Gloucester

shire, has written the most and best.

The first e Aition of the work was sold very rapidly, and a second edition was

brought out which had a most successful sale. It may be said without vanity, that

this little book was far the first of a number of works of the kind. Some of the

acrostics are quite perfect little poems, while some of the lights are extremely

witty. A short time after the publication of the second edition it was ascertained that

some of the best of the acrostics were being published in Chambers' Journal as

charades, without even stating where they were taken from. Our Dublin publishers remonstrated, but informed Messrs. Chambers they might continue their practice, if they acknowledged the source-but they published no more.

" Jack and Gill " has been attributed to all the greal Oxford and Cambridge

professors ! The Atheneum, some years ago, in criticising a book of verses of Society,

said no collection was perfect without " Jack and Gill. I then wrote a line to

state who was the author, which they did not insert,'" " No Irish need apply!"

I hope you will make something out of this scrawl.

Yours truly,

R. REEVES.



Clavts Acrostica. 115

Two days later Mr. Reeves wrote to me

"I have a duplicate key; so pray keep the one I left for you. I am almost

positive that M. B. is Michael Joseph Barry,* most certainly not the other, of

whom the former said:

This namesake of mine my anger provokes

He's feed for my law and fed for my jokes.

The initials were fixed by the editors, and not by the conitributors -' C. W.,'

for instance, for Dr. Russell, etc. 1 wrote out the manuscript of most of the

acrostics for the printers, and the impression is very strong on my mind that I am

correct."

The extraordinary conduct of The Athenaeum in refusing to publish the Irish authorship of a jeu d'esprit which it had praised enthusiastically is paralleled by kl'e Quarterly Review of July 1895, which in an elaborate article on parody quotes Judge O'Hagan's famous acrostic and analyses it, yet vouchsafes no hint as to where it appeared or by whom it was written. For the benefit

of the readers who may like to attempt the solution of the other acrostics that will be set before them and who are as yet unskilled

in the art, we may give Slieve Gullion's glorified nursery rhyme. Is it right to consult for the unhappy man whose early education

was so grossly neglected that he has never heard how

Jack and Jill went up the hiUl

To fetch a pail of water;

But Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill went tumbling after.

Nay, there may actually be readers who know inot the youth that

oneo bore through the snow and ice of the Alps " a banner with

the strange device Excelsior.'

Though not o'er Alpine snow and ice

But homely English ground, "Excelsior " was our device,

And sad the fate we found.

We did not climb from love of fame

But followed duty's call;

United were we in our aim,

Though parted in our fall.

* One of the poets of The Nation, and a member of the Young Ireland party,

who subsequently renounced his early opinions. The other Michael Barry, who

was supposed to have got invitations and briefs intended for his'witty namesake,

was Professor of Law in the Queen's College, Cork.



116 The Irsh moWnthlu.

No wonder the Quarterly Revieu speaks of " the exquisite

conclusion " which translates pathetically the c tumbling after " of

the nursery rhyme. How many could discover Jack and Jill under this disguise? Most people would need the subsidiary ?'lights " that are furnished for this purpose. And here occurs

the only flaw in the piece, Jfor " Jill" is spelled " Gill" in the

first light; and indeed this could not be avoided. For the first

light is supposed to be an ingeniously adumbrated word whose first letter is the initial of the first acrostic-word, and whose last letter

is the initial of the second acrostic-word. Now no word can begin

with 3 and end with J; but J and G give you i g "which the

poet calls here " the crown of Irish mirth." - The second " light"

begins and ends with the second letters of Jack and Gill; and

accordingly " A poet or his place of birth " is Alfieri who was

born at Asti. What word begins with c ancd ends with 1/. Coral

does at any rate, and it is well described as " A pretty toy, a

hidden snare," for there are coral reefs as well as necklaces of

coral; and therefore ' a hidden snare " is only separated -by a

comma from the last light, " keel "

"Fatal to me and all I bear."

Before. I leave a Dublin Acrostic to be solved by the ingenious

reader himself, I will instruct the novice by another example. Mr.

Reeves in his letter spoke of several similar volumes. One exactly

like in form, printed by the same printer (R. Chapman) and

published by the same publishers (Hodges and Figgis), was called "Heath and Gorse: one hundred and forty one Double Acrostics." It appeared in 1866, the same year as the first edition of " Dublin

Acrostics,," to which it was vastly inferior. The motto on the titlepage is not bad:

ITnited yet divided, twain at once,

So sit two Kings of lBrentford on one throne."

We cannot interpret the various initials, " W.R.L.,"" L.H.S." etc. which are signed to these acrostics; but we know that the 0" of this collection is not the " 0" of "Dublin Acrosties."

One tell-tale signature caught our keen editorial eye-" M. la T."

That little la reminded us of one who contributed to our fifth

volume, just twenty golden years ago, three of the most graceful poems that have ever brightened even our fortunate pages. We



Clavis Acrostica. 117

found on consulting the best authority, that our conjecture was correct. Here was her conundrum:

These to each other are akin, they say.

It seems not so to me; to you it may.

Most people will call for a little additional help to determine what these two kindred things are. The additional help is furnished

by these lights: 1. Pray, turn it down, you see it smokes.

2. What Horace said of vulgar folks.

3. Oh, give me twenty yards of this,

4. And in this word I'll name my bliss.

Now, dear novice, these lights show that the two things that some consider to be akin are each spolled by four letters. Many school boys will guess that the second light refers to the hackneyed line, "Odi profanum vulgus et arceo "; and some housewives will say that, when a lampo smokes, it must be turned down a little, Putting that and that together, the two initials and the two finals are lo and pi; and at that stage an expert solver will jump at the con clusion that "c love" is akin to "pity." Perhaps ladies would understand the last two lights more quickly, as they know that the possession of twenty yards of velvet would throw them into an ecstasy. What we have called the two acrostic-words are sometimes called the " uprights ": because the solution of Mrs. La Touche's double acrostic would be written thus:

L am 1

O d I

V elve T

EcstasY

With these explanations volunteered for the sake of those who never have cracked a nut of this kind, we give without an answer

the first two of the little classic-quarto to which we propose to furnish a key. We hold ourselves in readiness to receive, and in

some way acknowledge (while introducing the next instalment) solutions by our ingenious readers to whom we may refer by their initials. It is well to add these further explanations from the original preface of " Dublin Acrostics."

The Double Acrostic is a riddle, the answer to which is to be found in two words of an equal number of letters. The first portion of the riddle points to the words themselves, which form the answer: the second portion (to which numbers are prefixed)



118 The Irish monthly.

points to certain other words, the initial and final letters of which form respectively the two principal words. Hence the name of Double Acrostic. These words are termed "' lights."

The two principal words may either be, as in the above instance, distinct words, having, however, some essential or accidental connexion, or else two words forming together a compound word, as in the ordinary charade. Whenever, in the following Double

Aorostics, the Roman numerals I., I., III. are found, the numeral III. refers to the whole.

No. 1.

Seaxch for my first the azure depths of heaven,

The wreaths of harebell and forget-me-not,

Or the dear eyes of one whose love is given

To smile upon thy home, and bless thy lot.

Search for my second in the bands of men,

Those rigid types of rule, and strongly bound,

Yet giving worlds of thought to tongue and pen,

In realms where boundless liberty is found.

BTht lo! my first and second joined in one

Armstrong ancd Whitworth cannot reach its skill;

Though vast the weight of each inventor's gun,

Yet these reports ,hall live when theirs is still:

For speech may falter, oaths may pass away,

Divisions rend each human resolution, Yet though our members perish day by day,

Each noble act outlives a dissolution.

1. Oh ! give me but a bit, and I am yours,

Though far away from my own native moors.

2. A prison-house, I cannot tell you where,

"Tis not in middle eaxth, or heaven, or air.

3. Once was I known the famous home of mysteries,

Before Miss Braddon wrote her thrilling histories. 4. The northern hunter's horn, a cheerful sign !

But I will give him back no horn of mine.

B.

No. 2.

I.

Double my first conveys what just will do.

II. My second bears surprise from me to you.

III.

Only one voice hath ever sung me true.

1. In pit profound.

2. " Her swamps around." R.



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Clavis Acrostica. A Key to "Dublin Acrostics". I