Log24

The Only Pretty Ring Time

On May 14 five years ago, the night Sinatra died, the Pennsylvania (State of Grace) lottery evening number was 256:  see my note, Symmetries, of April 2, 2003.

On May 14 this year, the Pennsylvania lottery evening number was 147.  Having, through meditation, perhaps established some sort of minor covenant with whatever supernatural lottery powers may exist, this afternoon I sought the significance of this number in Q's 1939 edition of the Oxford Book of English Verse.  It is the number of "It was a Lover and his Lass," a song lyric by William Shakespeare.  The song includes the following lines:

In the spring time,
    the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing,
    Hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

For the Sinatra connection, see
Metaphysics for Tina.

The selection of Q's book for consultation was suggested by the home page of Simon Nickerson at Jesus College, Cambridge University, and by the dedication page of Q's 1925 Oxford Book of English Prose, which names Nickerson's school.

Ian Lee on the communion of saints and the association of ideas:

"The association is the idea."

For translation of the Greek phrase in Q's 1925 dedication, see

Greek and Roman Grammarians
on Motion Verbs and Place Adverbials

Malcolm D. Hyman
Harvard University
January 4, 2003