nice'; and NOW you tell us that it means 'some NICE Cakes are NEW'!
Can it mean BOTH?"

The question is a very thoughtful one, and does you GREAT credit,
dear Reader! It DOES mean both. If you choose to take x (that
is, "new Cakes") as your Subject, and to regard No. 5 as part of a
HORIZONTAL oblong, you may read it "some x are y", that is, "some
new Cakes are nice": but, if you choose to take y (that is, "nice
Cake") as your Subject, and to regard No. 5 as part of an UPRIGHT
oblong, THEN you may read it "some y are x", that is, "some nice
Cakes are new". They are merely two different ways of expressing
the very same truth.

Without more words, I will simply set down the other ways in which
this upright oblong might be marked, adding the meaning in each
case. By comparing them with the various cases of the horizontal
oblong, you will, I hope, be able to understand them clearly.

You will find it a good plan to examine yourself on this table,
by covering up first one column and then the other, and 'dodging
about', as the children say.

Also you will do well to write out for yourself two other tables--one
for the LOWER half of the cupboard, and the other for its RIGHT-HAND
half.

And now I think we have said all we need to say about the smaller
Diagram, and may go on to the larger one.

_________________________________________________