250
NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. m. APH.L i, mi.
The tables of letters given in Chambers* s,
though closely resembling those of John.
Peter (not Peters, as in the magazine),
are not absolutely identical in detail.
The writer does not fully indicate the nature
of the " clue " which he obtained from the
' Arithmetic.' I have examined Solomon
Lowe's book (' Arithmetic in Two Parts,'
Lond., 1749). On p. 39 he gives this pro-
blem : " What number of hexameter and
pentameter verses, may be made out of the
following lines [i.e., groups of words] ? "
Then follow six groups of nine words each
for the hexameter, and five other groups
of nine words each for the pentameter. To
construct an hexameter any one word is
taken from the first of the six groups. Five
other words are then added, one from each
of the following groups. The result is a line
that will scan, and that contains sense of a
sort. The pentameters are formed by a
similar method from th.e words in the other
set of groups. The answer to the problem,
to quote Solomon Lowe, is :
" In the Hexameter there being 6 lines [= groups of words] and 9 words in each line, the square cube of 9 gives 531441. In the Pentameter there being 5 lines and 9 words in each line, the sursolid or 5 th power of nine gives 59049. In all 590490."
As the author of the article in Chambers' s points out, this does not include all the varieties which might possibly be constructed with these words. Solomon LoM'e continues :
" N.B. To give this feat an air of mystery the
author, John Peter (Sept. 29, 1677), distributed
the letters of these words into tables And to
strengthen the paradox he called the piece Artificial Versifying," fcc.
The work of John Peter bears the follow- ing title :
" Artificial Versifying | A New Way | To Make | Latin Verses. | Whereby | Any one of Ordinary Capacity, | that only knows the A. B.C. And can count 9 I (though he understands not One Word of Latin, | or what a Verse means) may be plainly taught | (and in as little time as this is reading over) how to make Thousands of Hexameter and Pen- tameter Verses which shall be True Latine, True | Verse and Good Sense. | The Second Edition. | Wherein the Old Structure of Hexameters is quite | taken do\vn, and in its place a more Compact One | raised ; to which is adjoyned a New Model of Pen- | tameters | By the same Hand of John
Peter^~ o j^r W s." (London, printed by T. J. fur John Sims, 1678.)
The licence is dated October 15th, 1677. At the end cf the booklet is an advertise- ment of the author's almanac for 1678. The ' D.N.B.' ignores John Peter. The B. M. Catalogue describes him as " physician."
It will be seen that this verse-making by machinery resolves itself into ringing changes
on a limited number of words. Each lino
is complete in itself. Verses in any tongue
could be constructed on the same principle.
Those who gird at the practice of verse -
writing in a " dead language " have no
occasion here to blaspheme. It is difficult
to see what connexion there can be between
a machine to illustrate a mathematical
problem such as the above and an automaton
chess-player. With regard to the latter,
is not one alleged automaton known to have
concealed a living person ?
EDWARD BENSLY.
There are some pretty full accounts of the process of making Latin hexameters by machinery at 1 S. xii. 470 ; 2 S. i. 57 viii 5H. W. C. B.
On p. 37 of vol. vii. of The Illustrated London News (19 July, 1845) is an account, with an illustration, of " The Eureka," a machine " for composing Hexameter Latin Verses," then being exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. The account is too long to quote, as it would take about three columns of ' N. & Q.' DIEGO.
[MB. ALECK ABRAHAMS and U. also thanked for replies.]
WARWICK LANE AND ITS HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATIONS (11 S. iii. 121, 193). MR.
WILLIAM MERCER'S interesting reply does
not convict me of error. In stating that
after Warwick's death on Barnet Field "all
the honours and possessions of the NeviJls
fell into the hands of the ill-fated Clarence,"
I referred to the hereditary estates of the
Nevills. It is not clear from MR. MERCER'S
reply .whether the manors mentioned by
him were comprised in the Tibetot or
Montacute estates. The latter formed the
inheritance of Alice, sole daughter and heiress
of Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury,
who was killed at the siege of Orleans in
1428. Alice Montacute inherited from her
father the baronies of Montagu and Mon-
thermer, and married Richard Nevill, third
son of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, who w&s
created Earl of Salisbury by patent in 1442
and was beheaded in 1460. His eldest son,
the Earl of Warwick, possessed, jure matris,
the baronies of Montagu and Monthermer,
which on his death fell into abeyance
between his two daughters Anne, who
married firstly Edward, Prince of Wales,
and secondly King Richard III., and died,
leaving no descendant ; and Isabel, the wife
of George, Duke of Clarence, whose issue
inherited the right to the baronies. Most,
