Tomorrow’s meeting is all about Regency Charades. We’ll be having a presentation by Mark Turner who runs the blog Pray Tell Me which is full of these word games. Here are a few samples:
Charade No. 31
Oh! dear loved first, without thy useful aid,
This my charade would never have been made.
My second modern misses think the fashion,
By giving way to an imprudent passion;
My whole in Homer’s Odyssey you’ll find,
A noble pattern for all womankind.
Charade No. 30
When Strephon tells his tender tale,
To Celia, young and gay,
Without my first, the melting strains
Would die unheard away:
But if the gentle nymph inclines
His passion to approve;
By them, ere long my second’s sought,
To crown their virtuous love.
Possest [possessed] of this, ’tis ten to one,
Before the year goes round,
Attending near her lovely cheek,
My tout-ensemble’s [whole] found.
Jane Austen Society of North America - New Jersey Region 