[Ads-l] Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba

[Stephen Goranson]

Eightheeth Century Collection online
has
Lewd I did live & evil did I dwel

Sept. 1793, The Kentish Register, p. 59. Letter to the Editor, and including the John Taylor, Water-Poet attribution, who was said to have offered a money reward (50l. [?])for a better English example.
SG
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2021 4:23 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba

Classical Journal, 1819, p365 [HathiTrust] gives an earlier version, without the &, without the extra L, without the attribution to Taylor (who, or a contemporary, arguably, could have used the short spelling dwel):

Lewd I did live, evil did I dwel.

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/



________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of James Eric Lawson <jel at NVENTURE.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2021 2:38 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba

The "'water poet' Taylor" was John Taylor, died 1654 according to this
account:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027615551&view=1up&seq=484&q1=water*20poet__;JQ!!OToaGQ!-u9b9w-iqKxA-E-I76T76YMi6C4LDR_SuQCRAb2P1HtF5ymeoM-rDosrPnaWyElN$

J.T.R. is a tougher nut to crack. My efforts bore no immediate fruit.

On 4/5/21 10:47 PM, Pete Morris wrote:
> It's arguably the most famous palindrome in English. It is
> certainly the first one I  ever heard. When my father introduced
> me to the concept at a young age, this is the example he used.
>
> According to wikiquote:  (Section on Napoleon)
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France*Misattributed__;Iw!!OToaGQ!-u9b9w-iqKxA-E-I76T76YMi6C4LDR_SuQCRAb2P1HtF5ymeoM-rDosrPiRu-yI_$
>
> <<<         The earliest publication yet located of this famous  palindrome
>  is in the "Witty and Whimsical" section of The Saturday Reader, Vol. II,
> No. 30 (31 March 1866), p. 64:
>
>         It is said that Napoleon, when asked by Dr. O'Meara if he really
> thought he could have invaded England at the time he  threatened to
> do so, replied in the following ingenious anagram [sic]: — "Able was I
> ere I saw Elba." The reader will Observe that it reads the same backward
>  or forward.
>>>>
>
> Here's an earlier citation from July 8 1848, which credits the person
> who may have created it, and another  ingenious example.
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://tinyurl.com/fvu29s2d__;!!OToaGQ!-u9b9w-iqKxA-E-I76T76YMi6C4LDR_SuQCRAb2P1HtF5ymeoM-rDosrPr9AjgUD$
>
> Their friend J.T.R. of Baltimore draws their attention to the following
> created by the "Water poet Taylor",which had drawn considerable attention.
>
> "Lewd did I live & evil I did dwell"    [shame about the extra l ]
>
> J.T.R. responded with two of his own:
>
> "Snug & raw was I ere I saw war & guns"
> "Able was I ere I saw Elba"
>
> The editors are slightly critical of his use of & instead of 'and', but
> find his second effort to be near perfection.
>
> Perhaps some further study of back issues might reveal the full names
> of Taylor and J.T.R.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

--
James Eric Lawson

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