  Legs I have, but seldom walk; I backbite all, yet never talk. A flea. I came to a field and couldn’t get through it; So I went to a school and learned how to do it. Fence. My first I hope you are, My second I see you are, My whole I know you are, Wel-come. My first’s a dirty little brute, My second’s at the end on’t; My third like many an honest man, Is on a fool dependent. Pig-tail. By equal division—I know I am right— The half of thirteen you’ll find to be eight.
My number, definite and known, Is ten times ten told ten times o’er; One-half of me is one alone, The other exceeds all count and score. Thou-sand. Which reads backwards and forwards the same; It expresses the sentiments warm from the heart, And to beauty lays principal claim. Eye. The cat did my first with a curl of her tail, When the game she had made quite secure By means of my second and not of my whole, As she ought to have done, I am sure. Pur-chase. Pray tell me, ladies, if you can, Who is that highly favored man, Who though he has married many a wife, May still live single all his life? A clergyman. Can you tell me why a hypocrite’s eye Can better descry than you or I, On how many toes a pussy cat goes? A man of deceit can best count-er-feit; And so, I suppose, can best count her toes. Without my first you’d look very strange, My second you much want to be; My whole is what many a lady has worn, At a ball, an assembly, or play. Nose-gay. And those who yield will surely find Two others ready to enforce The punishment that comes of course. X-S and D-K (excess and decay). My first doth affliction denote, Which my second is destined to feel. My whole is a sweet antidote That affliction to soothe and to heal. Wo-man! My first of anything is half, My second is complete; And so remains until once more My first and second meet. Semi-circle. My first makes company, My second shuns company, My third assembles company, My whole puzzles company. Co-nun-drums. Safe on a fair one’s arm my first may rest, And raise no tumult in a husband’s breast; To those who neither creep, nor run, nor fly, The want of legs my second will supply. My whole’s a rival of the fairest toast, And when I’m liked the best I suffer most. Muf-fin. The beginning of eternity, The end of time and space, The beginning of every end, The end of every race? Letter E. Your initials begin with an A, You’ve an A at the end of your name, The whole of your name is an A, And its backward and forward the same. Anna! We are airy little creatures, Each have different forms and features; One of us in glass is set, Another you will find in jet; A third, less bright, is set in tin, A fourth a shining box within; And the fifth, if you pursue, It will never fly from you. Vowels. My first a baby does when you pinch it; My second a lady says when she doesn’t mean it; My third exists and no one e’er has seen it; And my whole contains the world’s best half within it. Cri-no-line. I’m most employed while others sleep; What none would like to give away, Yet no one likes to keep. Bed. What’s that? What’s that? Oh! I shall faint, Call, call the priest to lay it! Transpose it, and to king and saint, And great and good you pay it. Spectre; respect. How shall the following be read? Yy u r yy u b I c u r yy 4 me. Answer.— Too wise you are, Too wise you be; I see you are Too wise for me. How shall the following be read? U o a o, but I o thee; O o no o, but O o me; Then let my o thy o be And give o o I o thee. Answer.— You sigh for a cipher, but I sigh for thee; Oh! sigh for no cipher, but oh! sigh for me; They let my cipher thy cipher be; And give sigh for sigh, for I sigh for thee. There is a lady in the land With twenty nails on each hand, Five-and-twenty on hands and feet, This is true without deceit. Answer.— There is a lady in the land With twenty nails; on each hand Five, and twenty on hands and feet, This is true without deceit. |
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