Puzzle Fans !

Historic puzzle with a double meaning: the solution

Sorry for the recent hiatus. The author of this blog was IMMERSED in a garage clean-out and yard sale this last weekend and then inconvenienced by a small “bug” probably contracted from the many wonderful people who stopped by to generously PAY for the honor of hauling off the detritus from 34 years at this property.

So … by way of sharing the solution to this puzzle, allow me to once more emphasize that, as Gilbert Vale’s 1844 commentary observed, this two-stanza poem was published at a time when speech was NOT free and many publishers and writers rotted in jails, dungeons, or were “transported” out of the country to Australia, Tasmania, and occasionally to the Americas. (hark … #JulianAssange, #EdwardSnowden, and others). And I quote:

"When radicalism ran high in Great Britain, and men were presented for treason and libel, the following loyal ode appeared, we presume as an atonement for past offenses. We believe we have published it before, but it deserves a reprint: besides it is furnished from the scrap book of a lady, and will serve for the scrap book of others. Our readers must find the double mode of reading. G. V."

LOYALTY

The pomp of court, the power of kings,
I love above all earthly things,
I love my country, but my king
Above all men his praise I sing;
The royal banners are display’d
And may success the standard aid

I fain would banish far from hence
The Rights of Man and Common Sense,
Destruction to his odious reign,
That plague of princes, Thomas Paine,
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
Of France, her Liberty and Laws.

Beacon 3:38 Third Series
3 August 1844
p. 300

Here is the solution. There are two stanzas. Take the first line of stanza one and add it to the first line of stanza two. Do the same with the second line in stanza one; combine it with the second line of stanza two; and so on. Here is the result:

The pomp of court, the power of kings,
I fain would banish far from hence.
I love above all earthly things,
The Rights of Man and Common Sense.

I love my country, but my king
Destruction to his odious reign.
Above all men his praise I sing
That plague of princes, Thomas Paine.

The royal banners are display’d;
Defeat and ruin seize the cause,
And may success the standard aid
Of France, her Liberty and Laws.

Voila !! An object-lesson from times every bit as dangerous as ours.