Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun

by Various

The initial letters of this sentence are

M	= 1000;	D	= 500;	I	= 1;	C	= 100;	I	= 1; and	I	= 1; or, MDCIII = 1603.
1		2		3		4		5		6

Gustavus Adolphus, Sweden's great hero, commemorated one of his victories, obtained in the year 1632, by a medal on which was struck the following chronogrammatical inscription:—

C

h r

I

s t

V

s

D

V

X;

ergo

T r

I

V

M

p h

V

s.[3]

3

6

4

2

4

5

6

4

1

4

In this chronogram all the letters representing the Roman numerals have been brought into use, which arranged in the order set forth by the figures printed beneath them, read as MDC = 1600; VVVV or 4 × 5 = 20; X = 10; and II or 1 × 2 = 2; or, 1632.

These illustrations afford a fair insight into the construction and design of the Chronogram proper. A few illustrations of this riddle in its more modern form now follow:—

Write one thousand down, quite plain,

Then half of two, then add again

Fifty and one's final letter;

You can then do nothing better