Double Entendre.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR AT ROME. COPY OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY CARDINAL RICHELIEU TO THE

First read the letter across, then double it in the middle, and read the first column. SIR,-Mons. Compigne, a Savoyard by birth, a Friar of the order of Saint Benedict,

is the man who will present to you
this letter. He is one of the most
meddling persons that I have ever known
has

He

to

;

has long earnestly solicited me
give him a suitable character,
which I have accordingly granted to
his importunity; for, believe me, Sir,
I should be sorry that you should be
misinformed of his real character;
as some other gentlemen have been,
and those among the best of my friends
I think it my duty to advertise you
to have especial attention to all he does,
nor venture to say any thing before him,
in any sort; for I may truly say, there is
none whom I should more regret to see
received and trusted in decent society.
And I well know, that as soon as you
shall become acquainted with him
you will thank me for this my advice.
Courtesy obliges me to desist from
saying any thing more on this subject.

as his passport to your protection, discreet, the wisest and the

least

or have had the pleasure to converse with.
to write to you in his favor, and
together
together with a letter of credence
his real merit, rather I must say, than to
his modesty is only exceeded by his worth,
wanting in serving him on account of being
I should be afflicted if you were
misled on that score, who now esteem him,
wherefore, and from no other motive
that you are most particularly desired,
to show him all the respect imaginable,
that may either offend or displease him
no man I love so much as M. Compigne,
neglected, as no one can be more worthy to be
Base, therefore, would it be to injure him.
are made sensible of his virtues, and
you will love him as I do; and then
The assurance I entertain of your
urging this matter to you further, or
Believe me, Sir, &c. RICHELIEU.

A LOVE-LETTER.

The reader, after perusing it, will please read it again, commencing on the first line, then the third and fifth, and so on, reading each alternate line to the end.

To MISS M

-The great love I have hitherto expressed for you
is false and I find my indifference towards you
-increases daily. The more I see of you, the more
you appear in my eyes an object of contempt.
-I feel myself every way disposed and determined
to hate you. Believe me, I never had an intention
-to offer you my hand. Our last conversation has
left a tedious insipidity, which has by no means
-given me the most exalted idea of your character.
Your temper would make me extremely unhappy
-and were we united, I should experience nothing but
the hatred of my parents added to the anything but
-pleasure in living with you. I have indeed a heart
to bestow, but I do not wish you to imagine it
-at your service. I could not give it to any one more
inconsistent and capricious than yourself, and less
-capable to do honor to my choice and to my family.
Yes, Miss, I hope you will be persuaded that

-I speak sincerely, and you will do me a favor

to avoid me. I shall excuse you taking the trouble
-to answer this. Your letters are always full of
impertinence, and you have not a shadow of
-wit and good sense. Adieu! adieu! believe me

so averse to you, that it is impossible for me even
-to be your most affectionate friend and humble
servant.

INGENIOUS SUBTERFUGE.

A young lady newly married, being obliged to show to her husband all the letters she wrote, sent the following to an inti. mate friend. The key is, to read the first and then every alternate line only.

-I cannot be satisfied, my dearest friend!

blest as I am in the matrimonial state, -unless I pour into your friendly bosom, which has ever been in unison with mine, -the various sensations which swell

with the liveliest emotion of pleasure,
-my almost bursting heart. I tell you my dear
husband is the most amiable of men,

-I have now been married seven weeks, and
never have found the least reason to

-repent the day that joined us. My husband is
both in person and manners far from resembling
-ugly, cross, old, disagrecable, and jealous

monsters, who think by confining to secure-
-a wife, it is his maxim to treat as a

bosom friend and confidant, and not as a
-plaything, or menial slave, the woman
chosen to be his companion. Neither party
-he says, should always obey implicitly;
but each yield to the other by turns.
-An ancient maiden aunt, near seventy,

a cheerful, venerable, and pleasant old lady,
-lives in the house with us; she is the de-
light of both young and old; she is ci-
-vil to all the neighborhood round,

generous and charitable to the poor.

-I am convinced my husband loves nothing more
than he does me; he flatters me more

-than a glass; and his intoxication

(for so I must call the excess of his love)

-often makes me blush for the unworthiness

of its object, and wish I could be more deserving

-of the man whose name I bear. To

say all in one word, my dear, and to -crown the whole-my former gallant lover is now my indulgent husband; my husband

-is returned, and I might have had

a prince without the felicity I find in

-him. Adieu! may you be blest as I am un-
able to wish that I could be more

-happy.

DOUBLE-FACED CREED.

The following cross-reading from a history of Popery, published in 1679, and formerly called in New England The Jesuits' Creed, will suit either Catholic or Protestant accordingly as the lines are read downward in single columns or across the double columns :

The author of the following Revolutionary double entendre, which originally appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper, is unknown. It may be read in three different ways,-1st. Let the whole be read in the order in which it is written; 2d. Then the lines downward on the left of each comma in every line; and 3d. In the same manner on the right of each comma. By the first reading it will be observed that the Revolutionary cause is condemned, and by the others, it is encouraged and lauded :

Hark! hark! the trumpet sounds, the din of war's alarms,
O'er seas and solid grounds, doth call us all to arms;

Who for King George doth stand, their honors soon shall shine;
Their ruin is at hand, who with the Congress join.

The acts of Parliament, in them I much delight,
I hate their cursed intent, who for the Congress fight,
The Tories of the day, they are my daily toast,
They soon will sneak away, who Independence boast;
Who non-resistance hold, they have my hand and heart.
May they for slaves be sold, who act a Whiggish part;
On Mansfield, North, and Bute, may daily blessings pour,
Confusion and dispute, on Congress evermore;

To North and British lord, may honors still be done,

I wish a block or cord, to General Washington.

The Cento.

A CENTO primarily signifies a cloak made of patches. In poetry it denotes a work wholly composed of verses, or passages promiscuously taken from other authors and disposed in a new form or order, so as to compose a new work and a new meaning. According to the rules laid down by Ausonius, the author of the celebrated Nuptial Cento, the pieces may be taken from the same poet, or from several; and the verses may be either taken entire, or divided into two, one half to be connected with another half taken elsewhere; but two verses are never to be taken together.

The Empress Eudoxia wrote the life of Jesus Christ in centos taken from Homer. Proba Falconia, and, long after him, Alexander Ross, both composed a life of the Saviour, in the same manner, from Virgil. The title of Ross' work, which was republished in 1769, was Virgilius Evangelizans, sive historia Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi Virgilianis verbis et versibus descripta.

Subjoined are some modern specimens of this literary confectionery, called in modern parlance