CHRONOGRAMS.
(Vol. viii., p. 351. &c.)
The banks of the Rhine furnish abundant examples of this literary pleasantry: chronograms are as thick as blackberries. I send you a dozen, gathered during a recent tour. Each one was transcribed by myself.
1. Cologne Cathedral, 1722; on a beam in a chapel, on the south side of the choir:
"pIa VIrgInIs MarIæ soDaLItas annos sæCV-
LarI renoVat."
2. Poppelsdorf Church, near Bonn. 1812:
"paroChIaLIs teMpLI rVIxIs æDIfICabar."
3. Bonn; on the base of a crucifix outside the minster, on the north side. 1711:
"glorifiCate
et
portate DeVM
In Corpore Vestro.
1 Cor. 6."
4. Bonn; within the minster. 1770:
"CapItVLVM
patronIs pIe
DICaVIt."
5. Aix-la-Chapelle; on the baptistery. 1660:
"sacrvM
paroChIaLe DIVI johannIs
baptIstæ."
6. Aix-la-Chapelle.—St. Michael: front of west gallery. 1821:
"sVM pIa CIVItatIs
LIberaLItate renoVata DeCorata."
7. Aix-la-Chapelle, under the above. 1852:
"eCCe
MIChaeLIs
aeDes."
8. Konigswinter; on the base of a crucifix at the northern end of the village. 1726:
"In VnIVs VerI aC In
CarnatI DeI honoreM
posVere.
———
Joannes Petrus Mümrer et
Maria Gengers Conjuges
2 dā Septembris."
9. Konigswinter; over the principal door of the church. 1828:
"es Ist seInes MenCher WohnUng sonDem eIn
herrLIChes haUsz Unseres gottes, i. b. d. ker.
er. 29. c. v. i."
10. Konigswinter; under the last. 1778:
"VnI sanCtIssIMo Deo, patrI atqVe
fiLIo spIrItVIqVe sanCto."
11. Konigswinter under the last. 1779:
"erIgor sVb MaX. frIDerICo konIgsegg antIstIte
CoLonIensI pIe gVbernante."
12. Coblenz.—S. Castor; round the arch of the west door. 1765:
"DIro MarIa IVngfraV reIn
Las CobLenz aubefohLen seIn."
Of these, Nos. 9, 10. and 11. are incised on one stone, the letters indicating the chronograph being rubricated capitals; but in No. 10. the second I in "filio," and the first I in "spirituique," though capitals, are not in red. I shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who can supply a complete or corrected copy of the following chronogram, from the Kreutzberg, near Bonn. The height at which it was placed, and its defective colour, prevented me from deciphering the whole; nor do I vouch for the correctness of the subjoined portion:
"sCaLa IesV pr
nobis passI. a..
CLeMente aVgVsto
. . . . . .
antIstIte
CoLonIensI pIe
aVgVst
pretIosi
eXstrV."
Some parts of this inscription might be conjecturally supplied; but I prefer presenting it as I was able to transcribe it. The staircase in question was erected by the Elector Clement Augustus, in or about 1725, in imitation of the Scala Santa at Rome. (See Murray's Handbook.)
W. Sparrow Simpson.