Shugborough Inscription: Wordplay for the Lords and Ladies (Paperback or Softback)

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The Shugborough Inscription: Wordplay for the Lords and Ladies presents three unique solutions to the mysteries of the Shugborough Monument, each with historical and linguistic implications. The first solution, DOUOSVAVVM, is a testament to the fleeting nature of life and the enduring power of language, solved using wordplay: anagrams, palindrome, and a macaronic phrase. The second solution, a geometric construct incorporating the nine dots that follow each letter except the letter V forming the planet Saturn, a replicate of Thomas Wright's illustration of Saturn in An Original Theory, reveals Thomas Wright of Durham as the monument's designer. The third solution, a Baconian-inspired anagram of Et In Arcadia Ego, not only unveils the hidden secret of Poussin's painting The Arcadian Shepherds but also reveals an anagram, the archaic Latin deai defined as goddesses, Greek Gaia described as Earth's goddess, and Greek Ceto, daughter of Gaia, represents a primordial sea goddess. Deai, Gaia, and Ceto match the reverse side of a 1678 memorial medal dedicated to Admiral George Anson, which his brother Thomas Anson designed. On one side of the medal, an Admiral, George Anson, gazes forth from a bust image. However, the reverse side holds genuine intrigue: a Goddess (Deai) gracefully perches on the back of a sea monster (Ceto) on an Earth orb (Gaia). This alludes to the author of the Shugborough Shepherd's inscription, Thomas Anson, and the monument's dedication to his brother, Admiral George Anson, establishing a sense of historical continuity and relevance.