THE BISHOP OF OXFORD’S RIDDLE.
I have a large box,1 two lids,2 two caps,3 two musical instruments,4 and a large number of articles which a carpenter cannot dispense with.5 I have always about me a couple of good fish,6 and a great number of small size;7 two lofty trees,8 and four branches of trees;9 some fine flowers,10 and the fruit of an indigenous plant.11 I have two playful animals,12 and a vast number of smaller ones;13 also, a fine stag,14 and a number of whips without handles.15
I have two halls or places of worship,16 some weapons of warfare,17 and innumerable weather-cocks;18 the steps of a hotel;19 the House of Commons on the eve of a division;20 two students or scholars,21 and ten Spanish gentlemen to wait upon their neighbors.22
To these may be added, a rude bed;a the highest part of a building;b a roadway over water;c leaves of grass;d a pair of rainbows;e a boat;f a stately pillar;g a part of a buckle;h several social assemblies;i part of the equipments of a saddle-horse;j a pair of implements matched by another pair of implements much used by blacksmiths;j several means of fastening.k
Be thou my FIRST in study or in play,
Through all the sunny hours which make the day.