LITERARY

FRIVOLITIES.

INTRODUCTION.

TILITY is not always the chief object of literary labour, neither is "value received" always its aim and end; for in this kind of work, as in some others, difficulty and expected applause are frequently great incentives. With many writers, more particularly in former times, various curious styles of composition were much in favour-one, for instance, would have a predilection for composing verses with the omission in each stanza of a particular letter; others, again, would write verses in such a way as to enable their compositions to be read from the end to the beginning of the line, or vice versâ, as the reader chose; while a third vexed himself in the composition of alliterative, or, perhaps, monosyllabic poetry. Some old writers also amused themselves in devising combinations of

Latin words, which might be changed in their order and recombined, so as to form new sentences. Of one example of this species of literary trifling, a verse in honour of the Virgin Mary, it was asserted by its author that it would admit of twelve hundred changes, without suffering in sense or grammar. The verse was

"Tot tibi sunt dotes, virgo, quot sidera cœli ;"

which means

"Virgin, thy virtues are as numerous as the stars of the heavens."

The wonder is, in regard to these, how their indefatigable concocters found out the number of changes the words would admit; for, as regards another example, its author states that it would take ninety-one years and forty-nine days to perform the changes, at the rate of twelve hundred daily the total number of which the words are capable amounting to "thirty-nine million nine hundred and sixteen thousand eight hundred!" This wonderful verse is as follows:

"Lex, grex, rex, spes, res, jus, thus, sal, sol bona lux, laus!

Mars, mors, sors, fraus, faex, Styx, nox, crux, pus, mala vis, lis!"

which may be rendered