Napoleon Bonaparte did no say, “Able was ns ere I observed Elba,” return the expression is often attributed come him. This popular palindrome – a native or phrase that reads the same backward and also forward – very first appeared in 1848, 27 year after napoleon’s death. Someone named “J.T.R.” came up with the Elba line, in addition to “Snug & life was i ere ns saw war & guns.” (1)
Napoleon top top Elba by Horace Vernet
According to a periodical released in 1821, the year Napoleon died, there to be at the time just one recognized palindrome expression in English. Also that to be “only procured by a quaintness of order in one word, and also the substitution the a figure for another: Lewd did ns live, & evil i did dwel.” (2)
Anagrams were much more common. These are words or phrases formed by rearranging the letters of an additional word or phrase. In centuries past, anagrams were occasionally thought to have mystical significance. Through the 19th century, they were generally a kind of word play. Together folklorist H.B. Wheatley wrote, “though anagrams and also all type of pat upon words room in themselves trivial, over there is no doubt that, on the presumption the recreation being essential in a life the toil, the mind will at times find amusement and delight in trifles….” (3)
Georgians and also Victorians specifically enjoyed cognate anagrams, in which the anagram is connected in some means to the initial word or phrase.
You are watching: Able i was ere i saw elba
Napoleonic anagrams
A variety of anagrams were made from popular names the the Napoleonic Wars.
Napoleon Bonaparte – Bona rapta pone leno (Robber lay under thy steal goods)
Napoleon Bonaparte, sera-t-il consul à vie? (Will he be consul for life?) – Le peuple bon reconnaissant votera oui (Recognizing good, the people will poll yes.)
Napoleon, Empereur des Français – Un pape serf a sacré le noir demon (A serf pope has crowned the black demon.)
Arthur Wellesley, battle each other of Wellington – Let well foil’d Gaul secure her renown
Arthur Wellesley – truly he’ll see war
Field Marshal the fight it out – The battle each other shall arm the field
His grace the battle each other of Wellington – well fought, K
Horatio Nelson – respect est a Nilo (Honour is native the Nile)
Prince Regent – G.R. In pretence
Princess Charlotte Augusta that Wales – P.C., her august gyeongju is lost! O, deadly news
Patriotism – O, ’tis a Mr. Pit (William Pitt the Younger to be a British prime Minister throughout the Napoleonic Wars)
Opposition – O toxicity Pit
French transformation – Violence operation forth
“If we take the letter of words veto (which was the precursor the the revolution) native La transformation Française, we shall discover that the continuing to be letters, once transposed, will type the sentence Un corse la finira.” (A Corsican will finish it)
La Sainte Alliance (the holy Alliance) – La Sainte Canaille (the holy Rabble) (4)
Other 19th-century anagrams
Alterations – practiced tailors
Astronomers – Moon-starers, or no an ext stars
Breakfast – Fat bakers
Catalogues – obtained as a clue
Charades – tough case
Constitution – It cut onion last
Democratical – Comical trade
Determination – I median to rend it
Elegant – neat leg
Gallantries – all great sins
Hysterics – His collection cry
Ireland – Erin lad
Lawyers – sly ware
Masquerade – Queer together mad
Matrimony – right into my arm
Melodrama – make moral
Midshipman – mental his map
Misanthrope – spare him not
Mourning – O, grim nun
Old England – gold Land
Paradise shed – enjoy sad toils
Paradise regained – Dead respire again
Parishioners – i hire parsons
Parliament – Partial men
Penitentiary – Nay, i repent it
Potentates – Ten tea pots
Prerogative – Rover eat pig
Punishment – ripe thumps
Soldiers – Lo! i dress
Solemnity – Yes, Milton
Sovereignty – ’Tis ye govern
Sweetheart – There we sat
Telegraph – great help
Understanding – Red nuts and gin (5)
Napoleon’s puns
Napoleon no much given to indigenous play, though he did gain naming Claude Victor Perrin (“beau soleil”) the duke of Belluno. Among Napoleon’s companions in exile on St. Helena related the following anecdote.
It was stated by among our people that the owner of one of the houses…on the island…said, ‘It is reported that you complain up yonder and also consider yourselves unhappy (he spoke of Longwood), but we space at a loss to make it out; for it is said that you have actually beef every day, while us cannot acquire it however three or four times a year, and also even then we pay because that it in ~ the price of fifteen or twenty pence a pound.’ The Emperor, that laughed heartily…observed, ‘You chandelier to have actually assured him the it price us several crowns.’ Crowns in English, and also in several languages the the continent, means also a piece of money.
I it was observed latterly that it to be the only pun I had till then heard from the Emperor’s mouth, but the person to whom ns made the remark said he had actually heard the his having made a comparable one, and on the same subject in the isle of Elba. A mason to work in some structures which to be to be built by the Emperor’s order had fallen and also hurt himself; the Emperor wishing come encourage that assured him the it would be the no consequence. ‘I have had,’ stated he, ‘a lot worse autumn than yours; yet look in ~ me, i am on my legs, and also in an excellent health.’ (6)
This resilience stands him in good stead in Napoleon in America.
You might likewise enjoy:
10 things Napoleon never ever Said
Charades with the battle each other of Wellington
How the 20 concerns Game came to America
Caricatures of Napoleon on Elba
How go Napoleon escape from Elba?
Pauline Bonaparte ~ above Elba
Humour in the 19th Century: 200-Year-Old Jokes
The Gazette that the Union, golden Rule and also Odd-Fellows’ family members Companion, Vol. IX (New York, 1848), p. 30.“On Palindromes,” The brand-new Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Vol. II (London, 1821), pp. 171-172.H. B. Wheatley, Of Anagrams (London, 1862), p. 142.Ibid., pp. 86, 96-97, 135-137.See more: Fear Of Peanut Butter On Roof Of Mouth ), Arachibutyrophobia: What Is It And Err
Ibid., pp. 140-141.Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné las Cases, The Life, Exile and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon, Vol. II (London, 1835), pp. 164-165.