THE PALINDROME.

ALINDROMIC, or Reciprocal Verses (Gr. palin, backwards; dromos, a running) is the name given to verses which read the same either backwards or forwards. They are the most difficult of all the literary frivolities we have yet met with their composition requiring considerable skill and invention, yet having no useful purpose. The English language is not very well adapted for this kind of Jump-Jim-Crowism, and only a few examples are to be met with; it is more common, however, in Latin and Greek, and there are a number in these languages. There is, indeed, a curious and rare volume in Greek of this nature, being a poem by "Ambrose Hieromonachus Pamperes, with Scholia and all the Histories contained in it; being of great use to those who study it deeply. Now first published, 1802, at Vienna in Austria, at the Greek printing press of George Bendotes." This work consists of one

hundred and sixty pages, the first eight containing the dedication to the Emperor of All the Russias, Alexander I. There is also an Introduction, giving directions how the book is to be read, also an epigram praising the Greek writers, affirming that in all of them will be found wisdom. Then comes the poem itself, consisting of 416 verses, and an equal number of scholia on these verses each verse being explained by a commentary, introducing notices of great men, kings, poets, mythological characters, and others. The arrangement of the words is of course frequently forced, the allusions obscure, and the sense difficult to discover, but they are by no means what are called nonsense verses, for by close attention, and with the aid of the notes, every one of them may be construed. The poem, each line of which is a complete palindrome, commences thus

"Onax es o, ethete te Theos ex ano,"

signifying

"O King, who was thus placed by God from above." This poem by Pamperes was written on the words the Empress Catherine uttered when some of her chief officers were put to death, and her troops destroyed by the Poles. On hearing the unex

pected news she was in the deepest grief and could not rest. She immediately called together her counsellors, and began her speech

"Rypara, anomata, ata mona, ara pyr," &c.

"How cruel, mean, and unlawful are these things that I have heard. How full of impiety is this unexpected and unlawful loss. Nothing else is required for revenge except fire," &c.

Of the few palindromes in the English language, one represents our first parent introducing himself to Eve in these words

"Madam, I'm Adam.”

Taylor, the Water Poet, made several attempts at constructing palindromes, but could arrive at nothing better than—

"Lewd did I live, & evil did I dwel ".

not altogether perfect, however, inasmuch as if the last word was properly written, the reciprocity would fail. Something similar is this other

"Live was I ere I saw evil."

Another English one has reference to Napoleon,

who is supposed to say—

"Able was I ere I saw Elba."

These last two are very complete, as each word remains intact, which in palindromic verses is not always the case-the component letters frequently running into different words in the reverse reading. The following Latin example preserves this kind of completeness:

"Sator arepo tenet opera rotas."

There are a number of names which are palin-
dromic in the English language, and it is some-
what curious that they are mostly feminine, as-
Eve, Anna, Hannah, Ada, Madam, and others.
The following enigma is founded on like words :-
"First find out a word that doth silence proclaim,
And backwards and forwards is always the same;
Then, next, you must find out a feminine name,
That backwards and forwards is always the same;
An act, or writing, or parchment, whose name
Both backwards and forwards is always the same;
A fruit that is rare, whose botanical name
Read backwards and forwards is always the same;
A note used in music, which time doth proclaim,
And backwards and forwards is always the same ;
The initials or terminals equally frame

A title that's due to the fair married dame,
Which backwards and forwards is always the same."

The words sought for are-Mum, Anna, Deed,
Anana, Minim, whose initials and endings equally