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I'm found in yellow, white, and red,-
(Nor more be said upon that head ;)
I'm often in the papers found,
Then make more noise than all around.
Though sprung from sire most slow, I ape
All travellers,-oft have touched the Cape;
Born where hot suns hold fierce control,
I'm always warmest near the Pole.

3.

I'm in the highest circles known,
And in the lowest noted,

And trusted, for my truth is shown
Whenever I am quoted.

I sailed around the world with Cook,
Who wholly did engross me;
And though advised, what pains he took
In every point to cross me.
Though much at sea, no fight I've seen,
Kept mostly under hatches;
By land in battles I have been,

And still can show my scratches.
And strange it is, though old I grow,
And age leaves lines and traces
In every feature-even so,

More perfect still my face is.
Nine lives have cats, yet may be drown'd,
I live though daily martyr'd;

I'm bound, I'm hang'd, and I'm cut down,
And even drawn and quarter'd.
I very often make a match,

Although I never marry;
And love as often lifts the latch,
And will no longer tarry.
Reverse me now-a shuffling knave!
An implement of evil!

Sly trickster-hold-you well behave;
I know how to be civil.
I've brethren three-one in light sport
To other's hearts is cruel;
One (for we all are of the Court)

There sports the brightest jewel.
One wears, indeed, a sombre hue,
Yet is no less a knave, sir;
Tho' ever holding up to view

What minds you of your grave, sir.
I'm armed like Hercules, and mean
To be no vain pretender;
And tho' a captive to no queen,
I make all hearts surrender.
"Off with his head"—of Buckingham
'Twas said; so mine dissever,
And straight you'll find out that I am
And hope to be—yours ever.

4.

Have you my first, in perfect state?
You've no bad speculation;
'Tis silent, yet is thought to speak-
Is keen in observation.
My second's a commanding air,
My first it keepeth under;
What Homer made a Jovial thing,
That oft denoted thunder.
My whole is suited to a hair

Both to my first and second;
Without it would the gentlest she
A barefaced jade be reckon'd.

5.

My two first letters show the man,
So do my five-to whose last three
Are owing many a plot and plan

Of wisdom, wit, and knavery.

My four first would exhort in vain
If their three last should be dead letters;
My five last all the world contain,

And even bind the sea in fetters.

I'm quite at home in letters six,—

To friendship warm, to coldness hateful; And still th' inconstant heart I fix, That without me would be ungrateful.

6.

My first is of most ancient date,
My second of to-day;
My first my second rules, and bids
It come, and pass away.

Yet so that where my first is not,

My second cannot be;
My second is both long and short,
And in my first's degree.

My first, although it never stirs,
Seems ever in a race;
Rises perhaps, but never sits-

My second runs apace.

My first had never feet; but once,

Tis said, was known to stand; ; And by that act, my second won, Brought blessings on the land. My whole is a most precious thing, Yet often vilely spent,

.

And e'en though thrown away, returns To give your heart content.

7.

The greatest contrasts mark my first-
"Tis praised, abused, the best, the worst;
Preferred before the good and great,
Yet with the beggar at your gate.
At Court admitted-oft with fear
Lest it should reach a monarch's car;
Yet courts of law it much frequents
In search of flaws and precedents,
Good, vicious, false, and true-in brief,
Favours the plunder'd and the thief.
Is truth itself-a very lie,-
Loud-tongued, and silent in the eye,
Or gently whispers in a sigh
The lover's charm. O lady fair,
Of the known faithlessness beware;
Yet should my first your lover make,
My second be, or second take
Precedence first, then drop behind,
And the two things be one combined-
Accept the promise of his tender,
And to his heart your heart surrender.

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My whole the theme of Grub Street bardsno bride,

Yet few the weddings she does not provide; A mantua-maker, yet doth ne'er a pin stir, And will for ever be a noted spinster.

9.

My first, by help of needle fine, you cross all o'er and o'er,

'Tis blue, green, yellow, red, and white, and black, I think no more;

My second is what all men are, and one alone was not;

What most would have-a fool, the wise, the sober, and the sot;

Yourself, if you're a gentleman, king, beggar, orphan, heir:

My whole is changeful as the wind, it is both here and there,

And ranges all the world, and takes new manners everywhere;

'Tis hot, 'tis cold, 'tis wet, 'tis dry; fish, flesh, fowl, love and treason

Are in it, and are not in it, and so is rhyme and reason.

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12.

Cut off my head-look in your glass,
Oh! what complexion, red and white;
I make your sparkling eyes surpass

The precious ray of diamond bright-
Your lips to redden with delight.
Cut off my tail-my head repair,

Now take it, Chloe, to thy breast;
Though it will double all thy care,

And thou but give it half that nest,
Thy fondest love it will attest.

Cut off at once both head and tail,

Behold a word which shows the will, What many wish to do, and fail,

Of those who spare, and those who kill, In war, peace, arms, in arts, and skill. Restore, dear maid, the severed parts,

The change declares what I would do
Around your very heart of hearts;

If Hymen would but let me woo ;—
And you and I were one, not two.

13.

There are two words that you and I
Make bold and loud, or soft and sly—
Both mischievous-and oft we go-
Together set 'gainst friend or foe-
Yet different courses we pursue:
For when there's any danger, you
Go off-and I in secret lurk,
And keep my legs for surer work.

14.

I am certainly very handsome, and ought to be married, for the birds on St Valentine's Day are not more given to pair than I am. And many a lady offers me her hand-besides, I have received several love-letters; but, alas! one too many, and that has destroyed all my affection. Since then I have been on and off with many-have even gone to the altar-and have there been cast off at a moment's warning; the very priest has refused to unite me. Yet, still, all seek a match for me, hold out their arms to receive me, and yet I am single.

15.

Beyond the earth, above the skies,
Seen and unseen by mortal eyes
Am I-yet come within the span
E'en of the little hand of man.
Cut off my head-my flight so fleet,
Is measured only now, by feet.
Remove two letters of my name,
I fly at kings with deadly aim,
Yet take no democratic side.
To courtly persons close allied-
To be above them all, my pride.
Fair dame, my honour high thou knowest,
As when I touch thy hand thou showest;
When cut by thee, oh then I'm lowest.
No lands have I, in breadth or length,
Yet in the game-laws is my strength;
With every pack, whene'er they meet,
You find me, and I'm seldom beat.
Without me, much is lost-to win me
They strive in vain, who are within me.

Though one, not always one, in name,
As noticed by the trump of Fame;
One name assumed-I'm jewelled bright,
One marks me stoutest in the fight;
Though proud as Tory, Peer, or Whig,
One name, I own, is infra dig.
Again I change my reputation,
And win all hearts by the mutation;
Thus in three parts to find me out,
The first may give much room for doubt;
But step by step, and sure and slow,
Follow that second, and you'll know.
The third's a guide-but will escape,
By changing colours, face, and shape;
But oft uncall'd, will come to hand,
And then is mostly at command.
And with his blind eye in the middle,
A cyclop may with ease be led ;
And show that spot will serve good stead
To teach you how to solve the riddle.

16.

My dawn of life was fair to view,

Joy came with each succeeding morrow, Until, alas! I met with you;

You turn'd my every joy to sorrow.
Enchanter fell, behold thy deeds;
My lily-roseate face is clouded,
The flowers I wore are now but weeds,
In blackness all my beauty shrouded.
Depart, depart for losing you,

A brighter day will chase my sadness;
Say thy farewell-and soon adieu (a dew)
Will change my tears to drops of gladness.

17.

What days were they, when I was not,
For such there were, 'tis said, I wot;
And yet before that time, good Madam,
I stood in very front of Adam.

And when all creatures to him came,
Stepped forth, and was the first to name.
Yet I confess the truth which says,
Tis plain, I was not in those days.
Yet I bethink me well, nor doubt me,
There never could be days without me.
And ever I, as in the past,

As long as there's a world, shall last;
And wheresoe'er is man and speech
Shall I be heard, my voice shall reach.
Then, pray, what wretched days were those,
When I was not, as men suppose?

18.

My first is the last of a long race of kings; My second, oh, that is the strangest of things! For 'tis up in the air, and 'tis down in the sea,

It crawls on the ground, and 'tis over the

tree.

My whole is ubiquitous, all the world over, From New York to Liverpool-Paris to Dover

Is at Petersburg, Berlin, at Rome, and Vienna;

Perhaps was with Ceres's daughter at Enna. For as still in remembrance of Enna's soft bowers,

It has the same love and attraction to flowers;

A Proteus, in changing position and shape, It reaches the Pole, and it doubles the Cape. 'Tis proud, and 'tis humble, as peacock and daw,

Is clothed in purple, or lying in straw. Capricious and sly, it all colours can showNor Cupid himself has more strings to his bow.

You love it so well, my dear Chloe, this minute

Your tongue, head, and heart, are set on it, or in it.

19.

My first and second are so fond a pair,
That where one is, you'll find the other there.
Indeed, so much united, that each one
Without the other's lost, or quite undone.
Both given to dress, and going thus together,
My first is better dressed for foulest weather,
And yet my second is a perfect beau;
Nor lags behind, how fast soe'er they go!
Yet, should my first sole arbitress review
And change her state, inclin'd to buckle to,
My second on that instant will deny,
Refuse the knot, and shun the marriage tie.
Nay, though he seemed to love the very
ground,

That my first treads on, is not to be found.

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I was in our First Parents' guilt,
But not with Noah in the flood-
With Cain, when on the earth he spilt
His brother Abel's righteous blood.
In sin I was, when sin began:

In love I live not, but in strife;
Yet, strange to say, I'm not in man,
Nor angel-but in every wife.
I'm not in man, nor in man's breath,
Yet in his every ill, and evil;
In life pursue him, and in death,
Torment with widow, wife, or devil.

24.

I'm great, I'm small, I'm high, I'm low-
All secrets learn, yet nothing know.
Tho' full of wit, most bright and burnish'd,
In th' upper storey badly furnish'd-

For there's no emptier thing than I,
But then you shun my company.
Sometimes with noise I roar and rave,
Am sometimes silent as the grave.
I'm kept by rich, I keep the poor,
And ne'er was turned from any door-
My goods oft pawn'd, and money spent
'Tis hard, indeed, to pay my rent.
I'm sometimes sick, with scarce a shred;
But better if I keep my bed.
Oft where I am, the wretched pine.
I am where gold and jewels shine;
Tho' I have eyes oft lovers gaze at,
Yet the bright sun so shoots his rays at,
I'm blinded, and see nought that passes,
Tho' not without the use of glasses.
Sometimes so mean, I've scarce a rag-
Now so superb, I'm fashion's brag.
I shine by day, but more by night,
And shut my eyes to let in light-
Now turn me round, I'm darken'd quite.
-A man, and not a man-my birth,
Primeval, and, like his, of earth;
My wide domain small profit yields,
My best revenues are my fields.
I strut the stage with jealous scowl;
I brave the tempests as they howl;
Am much less given to fair than fowl.
And when in moody fits I toss me,

How few there are who love to cross me!

25.

My first, it is of either sex,
My second's quite the ton-
My whole's a man,
Whose shortest span

An infant's is-ding, dong.

26.

We are three cousins strangely born,
And form'd as if in Nature's scorn,
And in fantastical caprice,

For we have but one leg a-piece.
Tho' one of us has scarce a leg,
One nothing better than a peg.
The third's is less a leg than toe,
And not to stand on-but to go;
Just like a founder'd horse a-skipping
A most unslackened pace by whipping.
One only has a voice-a sound
Like hollow muttering underground,
Between a whistling and a drumming,
And thus her tune is always humming,
Better her dancing time to keep,
Then drones and whirls herself to sleep,
Till lost her breath, with staggering pace,
She swerves and falls upon her face.
All equally alike in figure-
One tapering, one in body bigger;
One, before action, tightly laced,
Even with a cord about the waist,

Which off is thrown, when in the ring
She enters with a wondrous fling;
And what you'll think most strange to be,
We have no joint, we bend no knee,
Tho' few can move so fast as we.

Now, turn me round-put tail before
The head-I may have legs, even four,
Or three; two seldom, often none,
But never, as I reckon, one;

I sometimes have an arm, a long one,
Which for defence needs be a strong one;
For I'm much given to heats and broils;
And then the blood within me boils;
I spare no bones, and well can batter,
And woe to those whom I bespatter;
Yet oft I'm cool provokingly,
And show some tact for irony.
So, friend, beware lest you be diddled,
I am not fond of being riddled;
And one of my sure diagnostics
Is looking black upon acrostics.

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Two words I am, which don't unite
Except to make this riddle right;
My first is what the lawyers write

To head a case, a suit, a plea;
My second's loud, prepares for fight,
A broken head too oft his fee.
Thus both are given to lead to action;

This killed by verdict soon as spoken; That with as little satisfaction

Is silenced when his head is broken. Read backward, and you will not doubt, Riddles, and murder, too, "will out."

1.

SOLUTIONS OF THE RIDDLES.

Who finds his level falls below His own good estimation, But engineers their level make Oft on the highest station.

In level see the letter v,
(Numerical the riddle);

For though five letters make the name,
You find five in the middle.

Turned round, still level level is, But head and tail dissever, That little less will stand for eve, A little more for ever.

2.

Love laughs at locksmiths, it is said,

But wedlock, man's strong bond and woman's,

There's nothing less than Death can break,
Or House of Lords and Doctors' Commons.
Your comb of shell, of tortoise made,
That breaks Aurelia's locks apart,
Is envied, when it breaks, to weave
A snare to catch the gazer's heart.

3.

Good sir, your riddle means a map,
Projected by Mercator,
With geographic circles drawn,
Gradating from th' equator.

When Captain Cook sailed round the world,
To save him from mishap, sir,

No doubt he took, crossed o'er and o'er,
In thought and act, a map, sir.
To get a look from Captain Cook,
Was that a map might boast of,
On which, when he discovered land,
He noted down the coast of.
You lay a siege-and by your map
Know every strong redoubt, sir;
You spring a mine, and might blow up
Yourself and men without, sir.
A face is not improved by lines
Engraved by Age's meter,
But Age and Age's lines improve,
And make a map completer.
A map survives a cat's nine lives,
However clearly martyred,

Is bound, and hanged, and then cut down,
And ever drawn and quartered..
A map of lands, to have and held,

Has made full many a match, sir,
Where Love has seen the couple in,
Then lifted up the latch, sir.
Reverse the word, play well your cards,
You have a potent knave, sir;
Yet when you bid him civil be,

He knows how to behave, sir.
You tell, by names, his brother knaves,
The P from Pam you sever,
Which makes subscription mine; 1 am,
Believe me, sir, yours ever.

4.

It were a folly to deny

A speculation in the eye,

And 'tis as clear an eye can speak

In language sure as Sappho's Greek;
Yet, tho' it speaks, is mostly under
A brow that looks, if speaks not thunder;
Such brow as Homer gave to Zeus
When he was pleas'd, as was his use,
'Mong gods and men to play the deuce.
Thus eye and brow, tho' seeming two,
United execution do.

Like thunder first, announced by flashes,
One kills by frowns, one kills thro' lashes;
And yet they do so surely pair,
They suit each other to a hair.
The eye-brow-what would beauty be
Without one?-like-why let us see!
Its eyes like jewels badly set,
A house without a parapet,

A window without architrave,
The sea without a curling wave-
The finest features, lacking eyebrow,
Would not be worth a single flyblow;
Beauty herself, without its aid
To lend the modesty of shade,
No better than a barefaced jade.

5.

Two letters, H and E, denote
The man as plainly as his coat;
Five letters show him by his Heart,
And their three last his wit in Art.
Your five last letters Earth we find,
Which doth the sea in fetters bind,
Then add the letter H to Earth,
And you are quite at home in Hearth.
And Hearth implies a grate above,
To warm your friendship and your love,
And keep both from that "coldness hateful,"
Giving a grate to make you grateful;
And thus your riddle I unfold,
In all six letters, truly told.

6.

What is much older than the Sun
Would puzzle man to say-
He makes the present moment new
Because he rules the Day.

"Tis he makes day-by his degrees
To be both short and long;

And tho' he moves not, seems to run

His course as giant strong.

'Tis thus we say, the sun shall rise

And never sit, but set;

That day flies very fast indeed,
Is every day's regret.

The sun was ne'er described with feet,
Yet once was seen to stand;
And then the glorious day was won

By Joshua's chosen band.

The first and second-Sun and day-
Together joined, present
Sunday, your comfort or your sin,
According as 'tis spent.

7.

Your first is Plea, a beggar knave
In city and at court,
True-false-'tis at the Chancery bar
The lawyer's special sport.

But it is not in courts of law
A plea is ever sure,
Which sure your riddle's second is-
Or can the whole secure.
But when a plea is softest heard

In whisper or a sigh,
Or in a look-oh! then 'tis sure,
And Pleasure must be nigh.

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