Vincent V. M. Beede, R.T.F.
Answers to the Antiquary Puzzle.
We hope you solved many of the riddles propounded by the Antiquary and his visitor, but if you did not you must not despair, for they were difficult ones. Here are answers to them:
1, 1779; 2, A spirit supposed to appear at the death of a member of the Prussian family of the Hohenzollerns; 3, Boston, Mass.; 4, Gibbon; 5, Cane; 6, Haydn; 7, Spar; 8, Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh; 9, Boneset.
10, January, derived from janua, "a gate"; 11, Gneiss (nice); 12, Scarabæus; 13, A meteoric stone; 14, The British Museum; 15, Ishmonie, in Upper Egypt; 16, Palmyra; 17, An old satirical name for London; 18, The Bank of England; 19, From Morglay, "sword of death," the famous sword of Sir Bevis of Southampton; 20, Oliver Cromwell.
21, An edition of the Bible published at Oxford, in 1717, in which the title of the Twentieth Chapter of Luke was given as "The Parable of the Vinegar"; 22, Charles I, of England; 23, Democritus of Abdera; 24, Heraclitus; 25, Ruby (rue-bee); 26, Moonstone; 27, Daly, the manager of a Dublin theatre, wagered that a word of no meaning should be the talk and puzzle of the city within twenty-four hours. The word QUIZ was chalked and pasted on the walls of Dublin, and the desired effect was produced; 28, Coal; 29, Thoth; 30, The cryptogram is solved by allowing the first half of the alphabet to equal the second half, in order—that is, let A-N, B-O, C-P, etc. The verse will read:
Within this narrow portal dim,
In jewelled casket brought from far,
Has lain for thirteen centuries
King Arthur's sword Escalibar.