Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/581

ANAGNI. families still have homes here. The cathedral of Santa Maria dates from the eleventh century, and contains many interesting antiquities, Papal and other. Vergil speaks of the ancient Anagnia, at one time the capital of the Hernici, as "wealthy Anagnia." Pop., 1881, 8023; 1901, 10,059.

AN'AGRAM (Gk., ana, backward + , gramma, writing). The transposition of the letters of a word, phrase, or short sentence, so as to form a new word or sentence. It originally signified a simple reversal of the order of letters, but has long borne the sense in which it is now used. The Cabalists attached great importance to anagrams, believing in some relation of them to the character or destiny of the persons from whose names they were formed. Plato enter- tained a similar notion, and the later Platonists rivaled the Cabalists in ascribing to them mys- terious virtues. Although now classed among follies, or at best among ingenious trifles, ana- grams formerly employed the most serious minds, and some of the Puritan writers even commend- ed the use of them. Cotton Mather, in his elegy on the death of John Wilson, the first pastor of Boston, in New England, mentions:

His care to guide his flock and feed his lambs By words, works, prayers, psalms, alms, and anagrams.

The best anagrams are such as have, in the new order of letters, some signification appropriate to that from which they are formed. It was a great triumph of the mediæval anagrammatist to find in Pilate's question, "Quid est Veritas?" (What is truth?) its own answer: "Est vir qui adest" (It is the man who is here). Anagrams, in the days of their popularity, were much em- ployed, both for complimentary and for satirical purposes; and a little straining was often em- ployed in the omission, addition, or alteration of letters, although, of course, the merit of an anagram depends much upon its accuracy.

Isaac D'Israeli (Curiosities of Literature, Vol- ume III.) has a chapter on anagrams, which, as an exercise of ingenuity, he ranks far above acros- tics. Among a great many considered by him worthy of record, are the following: the mis- tress of Charles IX. of France was named Marie Touchet; this became Ie charme tout ("I charm every one"). The flatterers of James I. of Eng- land proved his right to the British monarchy, as the descendant of the mythical King Arthur, from his name Charles James Stuart, which be- comes claims Arthur's seat. An author, in dedi- cating a book to the same monarch, finds that in James Stuart he has a just master. But per- haps the happiest of anagrams was produced on a singular person and occasion. Lady Elea- nor Davies, the wife of the celebrated Sir John Davies, the poet, was a very extraordinary char- acter. She was the Cassandra of her age, and several of her predictions induced her to imagine that she was a prophetess. As her prophecies in the troubled times of Charles I. were usually against the Government, she was at length brought by them into the Court of High Commis- sion. The prophetess was not a little mad, and fancied the spirit of Daniel was in her, from an anagram she had formed of her name,

Eleanor Davies. Reveal, O Daniel!

The anagram had too much by an l, and too little by an s, yet Daniel and reveal were in it, and that was sufficient to satisfy her inspirations. The Court attempted to dispossess the lady of the spirit, while the bishops were in vain reasoning the point with her out of the Scriptures, to no purpose, she poising text against text; one of the Deans of the Arches, says Heylin, shot her through and through with an arrow borrowed from her own quiver; he took a pen, and at last hit upon this excellent anagram:

Dame Eleanor Davies. Never so mad a Ladie!

The happy fancy put the solemn court into laughter, and Cassandra into the utmost dejection of spirit. Foiled by her own weapons, her spirit suddenly forsook her, and either she never afterward ventured on prophesying, or the anagram perpetually reminded her hearers of her state, for we hear no more of this prophetess. On a visit to King's Newton Hall, in Derbyshire, Charles II. is said to have written on one of the windows, Cras ero lux (To-morrow I shall be light), which is the anagram of Carolus Rex.

Anagrams have now gone out of fashion, or rather have been relegated to the puzzle column of the magazine for the household. And yet even in this century, writers have formed their pen-names by recombining the letters of their real names. For example, Bryan Waller Proctor is still called Barry Cornwall; add poet, and the anagram becomes complete. Besides D'Israeli, cited above, consult Wheatley, On Anagrams (Hartford, 1862).

AN'AHEIM. A city in Orange Co., Cal., 27 miles southeast of Los Angeles; on the Santa Ana River, and on the Southern California Railroad (Map: California, E 5). It is in a fertile valley, manufactures beer, wines, and brandies, and has fruit canning and drying interests, and a large trade in oranges, lemons, walnuts, and farm and dairy products. The water works and electric light plant are owned and operated by the municipality. Anaheim was settled by fifty German families in 1857 on cooperative principles, and in 1878 was incorporated as a town. An interesting account of its early history is given in Nordhoff, Communistic Societies of the United States (New York, 1875). Pop., in 1890, 1273; in 1900, 1456.

ANAHUAC, a'na-wiik'. A Mexican term applied to the great central plateau of Mexico, which comprises nearly half of the total area of the Republic. Roughly speaking, it lies between 15° and 31° N. lat. and long. 95° and 110° W.; while its altitude ranges between 6000 and 9000 feet. The plateau is the granary and stock-raising centre for the country, whose chief cities are mainly situated upon it. The name Anahuac was the Aztec term for all Mexico.

ANAÏTIS, a-nii'i-tis. The ancient Persian goddess of waters, whose worship was widely spread in the East in early times. The Avesta (q.v.) celebrates her praise as the celestial stream Ardvi Sura Anahita "the lofty, mighty, and undefiled," and describes her descent from the heavens, as well as the worship that is due her. She appears as Anahata in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Persian king Artaxerxes II. (fourth century B.C.). Her name as, Anaïtis, is in Strabo, Plutarch, and elsewhere, and she became familiar in Greece as Venus Anahita (, Aphrodite Anaïtis). Consult: Windischmann, Die Persische Anahita oder