Anagoge, and Anagogy

[Gr. from ana, up, and agoge, a leading.] An extraordinary elevation of mind. The mystical interpretation of the Scriptures; one of the four ordinary modes of interpretation, in distinction from the literal, allegorical, and trop oological. Anagogical, a. Mysterious; elevated. Anagogically, adv. In a mysterious sense. Anagog'ics, n. pl Mystical interpretations. An'agram, n. [Gr. an a gramma, from ana, back, and grapho, I write.] The change of one word or phrase into another, by the transposition of its letters. The most proper and most difficult species of A. is that which is formed by the reading of the letters of a word or words backward; as, evil, live. "Live, vile, and evil, have self-same letters; He lives but vile, whom evil holds in fetters." A le perfect A. is that which is made by the transposition of letters ad libitum . The composition of A. formed a favorite exercise of ingenuity in the 16th and 17th centuries. But, perhaps, never was A. more appropriate than that made by Dr. Burney on the name of the hero of the Nile, just after that important victory took place: HORATIO NELSON, "Honor est a Nilo." They are frequently employed satirically, or jestingly, with little aim beyond that of exercising the ingenuity of their authors. Of all the extravagances occasioned by the anagrammatical fever, when at its height, none probably equals that which is recorded of an eccentric French man, André Pujom. He read in his own name the A "pendu à Riom" (the seat of criminal justice in the province of Auvergne), felt impelled to fulfil his destiny, committed a capital offence in that province, and was actually hanged in the place to which the omen pointed. Anagrammatic, ANAGRAMMATICAL, a. Belonging to, or forming, an anagram. Anagrammatically, adv . In the manner of an anagram.