A 950,541
ARTES
VERITAS
LIBRARY
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
J
照​燒
​TUEBOR
QUERIS PENINSULAM AME NAM
CIRCUMSPICE
1.
N
103
T43

Thicknesse, Philip
A
TREATISE
ON THE
ART OF DECYPHERING,
AND OF
WRITING IN CYPHER.
WITH AN
HARMONIC ALPHABET.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR W. BROWN, THE CORNER
OF ESSEX-STREET IN THE STRAND.
M DCCLXXII.

BL
697674
21TAHЯT
я т
Healey shorthand

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
Lord Viſcount BATEMAN,
BARON of CULMORE,
913
Mafter of the Buck Hounds, and one of his
Majefty's moft Honourable Privy Council.
99m noqu bernst
ed
My LORD, to sho
ad of youod adı bsd oved
HOUGH the follow-
Ting fheets contain no-
thing of my own, which may
prove worthy of your Lord-
fhip's notice; yet, there are
fome contrivances of other
men, which want nothing
of ingenuity to recommend
them. I therefore beg leave
a
to

DEDICATION.
to infcribe this Treatife to
your Lordship, in grateful
acknowledgement of the
many favours you have con-
ferred upon me, during the
courſe of the many years I
have had the honor to be
Your LORDSHIP'S
Moft obedient
ons and devoted
humble fervant,
PHILIP THICKNESSE.
Quoitca, Monmouthshire,
May 29, 1772.

Gen,hib,
Spec, BX, Purchase
City Book
12-30-43
48628


TH
HE candid reader is defired to correct
the many literal, as well as greater
errors, he will find in the following Sheets.
The Author could urge many reaſons to
intitle him to fome indulgence on that fcore,
befide the great diftance of his abode from
the prefs; nor has he affixed the high price
of the performance, from any idea of its
worth or merit, but for reafons of a lefs
felfish nature.
PREFACE

A
批
​PREFACE.
I
T may juftly be remarked, that
many of the moft effential Difco-
veries, made by the earlier Ages;
and which we at this Day reap the
benefit of, are enjoyed by Millions, who
never confider the Inconvenience and
difficulties, they would be expofed to
without them. Men write to their ab-
fent Friends from their Chimney Corner,
receive their Anfwers in the fame Place,
hear Men fpeak who have been dead a
thousand Years, and leave their own Sen-
timents recorded, for thofe who are to
live a thousand Years hence, as if it
were nothing to be wondered at! The
Frequency, and the eafy Attainment of
Reading
A 2

iv PRE FACE.
Reading and Writing, has almoft worn
out of the mind of man, how won-
derful the contrivance is.
THE Romans, amidst all their Arts,
were deftitute of the greateft of modern
Conveniences, which we enjoy almoft
without perceiving it. We have Win-
dows and Glafs Doors which let in the
Air, and the Light, at the fame Time
that they fhut out, the Injuries and In-
conveniences which attend them, and
exhibit to us, even in the interior Parts
of our Houfe, the variegated View of
Nature, which transform the Winds, the
Frofts, and the Tempefts, into a mag-
nificent moving Picture before our Eyes.
The Peafant, in thefe our Days, is
thought miferable, who wants a Luxury
which a Roman Emperor was a Stranger
to! The Invention of Letters, and the
Art of Printing, duely confidered, feem
to have had fomething more than hu-
man in it.
WHO the Authors of thefe rare In-
ventions were is uncertain, but it is moſt
likely,

PREFACE.
V
likely, the hint was taken from the
Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and yet how poor
was that Method of conveying their
Sentiments? for though we cannot, at
this diſtance of Time, decypher thoſe
Monuments of Antiquity perfectly; yet,
by what we do know, it is very evident,
that method was vague, confined, un-
certain, and incapable of conveying
hiftorical Events. Plutarch fays, there
was a Temple in Egypt dedicated to Mi-
nerva, on the Front of which was painted,
an Infant, an old Man, a Hawk, a
Fiſh, and a Sea-Horſe. The Mean-
ing of which, he fays, is," YOUNG
"and OLD know GOD hates Impu-
"dence." But the true meaning may
be this; The Infant, which is the first Fi
gure, reprefents Man's firft Entrance
into the World; and the old Man im-
plies the going out of it: The Falcon,
GOD; the Fish, Hatred, becaufe
they hated Fish bred in the Sea, which
fymbolized Typhon; and by the River-
horfe, Murder, Impudence, Violence,
sd
and

vi
PREFACE.
and Injuftice; for they fay he killeth
his Sire, and ravifheth his own Dam,
which may import, O you that enter
the World, and go out of it, know, that
GOD hateth Injustice! and yet neither may
be any thing to the purpoſe, as it can-
not but be very difficult for Men at this
Day, to explain certainly; what many
Men of their ownTime and Nation, muft
have differed in the Senfe of.
AFTER the Invention of Letters
were thoroughly known, and ufed by
the Learned of all Nations, it is natural
to conclude, that particular Men, to ſerve
private purpoſes, would contrive fome
fecret Manner of correfponding, by
which they hoped to carry on Plots un-
diſcovered, or to give Intelligence either
to, or from a City befieged. And it was
for many Ages believed, that fuch a cor-
refpondence might be carried on by Con-
federates, inexplicable to any other Per-
fons; but fuch is the Craft of Man!
that it is fcarce poffible for a Letter
in Cypher to be written, fo as not to
be

PREFACE.
vii
be decyphered, without any Clue, but
a clofe application to the Letter itself;
and that too, though it were writ
in a Language, the Decypherer does
not underſtand.
A diftant Relation of mine, of the
Name of Blencowe, was the firſt Man
who had a fixed Salary from Government
as DECYPHERER. And as the manner
he got it, would do Honour to the Me-
mory of the Minifter who gave it him,
I am forry the Minifter's Name, as
well as the Fact, is out of mine; but
upon my Relation hearing that fuch an
employment, with a fixed Salary annexed
to it, was to be fettled; he repaired un-
known, and unrecommended, to the
then Secretary of State, and afked it.
The Secretary feeing a Stranger, and
hearing a requeſt fo contrary to the
ufual Etiquette of fuch bufinefs, afked
him what his pretenfions were to the
employment he required? becaufe,
Sir, faid he, I am qualified for that
which I aſk. Are you, replied the
Minifter

viii PREFAC E.
Minifter; then decypher thefe two letters!
letters which had lain fome Time be-
fore him unexplained, for want of fuch
a Perfon; and which, perhaps, occa-
fioned the refolution of having an efta-
bliſhed Decypherer. In a few days the
Letters were brought to the Minifter,
properly and evidently explained, and
my Relation thereupon had the Ap-
pointment. And though this Matter
of Decyphering, as well as writing in
Cypher, is now very commonly practifed,
yet, I have met with fome Men, even of
Senfe and Learning, who have doubted
the poffibility of decyphering a Letter fo
written; and rather think the decypherers
make out fomething plaufible; and not
being eafily detected, pafs themſelves off
as Men who poffefs an Art, not to be ac-
quired. In the following fheets it fhall
be my endeavour, not only to fhew the
poffibility of it, but even to enable
thofe very Men who doubt it, or any
Man of common capacity, to read a
letter, written in Cypher, in a few
Shini
hours:

PREFACE.
ix
hours; nay, perhaps, in a few minutes,
though the Epiftle be compofed of four-
and-twenty arbitrary Characters, made
by the Writer, which the Reader had
never ſeen before; and though this be
the eafieft Method of writing in Cypher,
and confequently the readieft to be ex-
plained, yet it is what a Man of good
fenfe, who has never confidered the
Matter attentively, will at firft think
very difficult; but in a few hours
confideration, be as much furpriſed as
pleaſed, at the unfolding of this feeming-
ly occult Art. I have not the vanity to
think myfelf capable of inftructing thofe
who already practife this Art, but
of leading thoſe who doubt it, or who
may find a rational Exerciſe for the
mind (and particularly young people)
into an habitude of thinking; for it
cannot be doubted, but that any one Rule
laid down, for a methodical Way of
thinking, on any one Subject, will ena-
ble the mind, to employ itſelf afterwards,
much better, on all other Occafions; and
therefore,

x PREFACE.
therefore, I would recommend this Kind
of Study to very young Gentlemen, as
an entertaining, edifying, and innocent
Amuſement at prefent; and of more
Importance to their riper Years, than
they are aware of. If it be objected,
that bad ufes may be made by a know-
ledge of the Art of writing in Cypher,
I answer, fo may writing without; a
man who cannot write, cannot commit
a Forgery; but if he is difpofed to be
diſhoneſt, he may break open a Houſe.
Storb
3001
(algeng
bes
bandgob

mont get od va 201
A
TREATISE
ON THE
Art of Decyphering, &c.
N order to write with fecrecy and
fafety in Cypher, the firſt care muft
how can
be to avoid fufpicion; the next, that it hat be done
be difficult to decypher if fufpected; even Vain,
and laftly, that it be ſo contrived, as to paperes
be fit for diſpatch, and the fenfe easily be suspected
made out, by thofe who are entruſted
with the key. And if fuch a method 29. 36.73
can be contrived, to write fecretly with 79,88
all theſe advantages, and yet be fo cun-
ningly done, as to elude the Decypherer's
art, it may then be justly confidered an
ingenious contrivance, whereby the moſt
dangerous correfpondence may be car-
ried on by wicked-difpofed people; or
the

[ 12 ]
the moft fafe, ufeful, and neceffary in-
telligence, may be fent from foreign
Embaffadors and Generals to their own
country; as well as the private inftruc-
tions of their Princes to them, without
a poffibility of being difcovered, tho'
the meffenger (which is often the cafe)
ſhould be murdered on the road, and his
diſpatches taken, for that purpoſe.
However, to avoid fufpicion, is a very
effential confideration; for when an in-
tercepted letter is fo writ as not to
be intelligible; yet, it explains itfelf
fo far, as to inform the intercepter,
that it conceals fomething, which his
curiofity alone urges him to difcover;
and when that is fet about in good
earneft, if the writer has been guilty of
treafon or murder, he will be in great
danger of meeting with his juft reward;
for there is fcarce any thing writ in Cy-
pher, however ingenioufly contrived,
which in thefe days, can lie long hidden
for want of a Decypherer, tho' perhaps
there are too few who have made this
their fludy.
EVERY

[ 13 ]
EVERY thing which comes from a fuf-
pected hand, fhould be carefully exa-
mined, for a very wicked defign may
be conveyed in a letter, which, at firft
reading, may feem an innocent epiftle,
from one friend to another; and yet,
upon a clofer examination, may appear
to have an hidden meaning, of the moſt
evil tendency. How far it may be right
or wrong to publifh a treatife on this art,
I am neither able, nor in a fituation, to
determine; but what has encouraged me
to believe it will be of ufe, is, that the
great Lord Bacon, in his ADVANCEMENT
of LEARNING, complains, that the art
of Decyphering is wanting; and has
himſelf given one of the moft ingenious
methods of writing in cypher, and the
moft difficult to be decyphered, of any
yet contrived. His authority, therefore,
juſtifies this my feeble attempt, wherein
I fhall not only mention thofe feveral
methods of fecret writing practifed in
former ages, as well as the latter, but alſo
point out fome rules to be obferved, in
order

[ 14 ]
order to decypher them; which, if care-
fully attended to, will enable any perfon,
of common capacity, to read a letter in
a very ſhort time writ in common cypher.
THE Abbot Trithemeus, in recommen-
dation of his Polygraphy, afferts, that he
who underftands his mother tongue only,
may, by the knowledge of this art, come
at the fenfe of an epiftle writ in Latin;
and though that is not strictly true, yet
it is certain, that a man who underſtands
no other language than Engliſh, may be
able to reduce a letter, writ in Latin
Cypher, into proper order by being well
acquainted with the rules of Decypher-
ing; and when that is done, it will prove
a very powerful excitement to the De-
cypherer, to know the meaning of thofe
letters and words he has been at fuch
pains to dredge from their obfcurity. It
may be faid, that this art fhould be
known, and practifed only by Officers
of State, or the Generals who command
an army; but may not a private centinel
fave an army, or a city, by decyphering
In
to all Officers, even
vers, even Ensign
should be Engine
ears. 51

[ 15 ]
;
an intercepted letter? Great under-
takings require fudden action and
if cypher is to be carried first to
the General, and then to a Secre-
tary of State, before it can be under-
ftood, the defign may, and will, moft
likely, difcover itself first, by an effectual,
and perhaps fatal, execution. Thofe
who have treated on this fubject, even
fo lately as within an hundred or an
hundred and thirty years, have imputed
witchcraft to belong to this art! Thanks
to the power and wildom of an Engliſh
Parliament, who have driven all thoſe
evil doers, either into the Orkneys, or
confined them among the highlands in
Scotland, or the mountains in Wales;
for though I live among the latter, I
am under no apprehenfion of being car-
ried to the Trying-pool; yet I lately faw
a conjuring book at Abergavenny, in the
poffeffion of a bookfeller, which could
not be worth one penny, but for which
he aſked a guinea and a half, and declared
he gave twenty-feven fhillings for it! at
the

[ 16 ]
the requeſt of a tradefman who wanted
to know who tole his working tools; and
a worthy clergyman, in my neighbour-
hood, was lately under ftrong apprehen-
fions of being ruined, for having read
the burial ſervice over a poor harmleſs,
inoffenfive old woman, fome who either
do, or who ought to know better (but
whom he knew to be his enemies) had
made many enquiries about the de-
ceafed; and whether there was not,
upon fome part of her body, a tet
whereby fhe gave nouriſhment to her fa-
miliar. That fuch abfurd notions ſhould
remain amongſt the lowest dregs of the
people in every country, is not to be
wondered at; but that Magiftrates, and
men of rank and education, fhould give
ear to fuch idle tales, is a mortifying re-
flection, as it may tend to many great
and unforeſeen mifchiefs, if the common
people's fufpicions have the leaft encou-
ragement from thofe they think wifer
than themſelves, and they always take
riches

[ 17 ]
riches for wifdom. There is no faying
that the firft old woman they meet, mut-
tering to herfelf, which is a common and
natural infirmity attending age, poverty,
and living alone, may not die, the moft
violent, and dreadful of all deaths! i. e.
by the hands of an enraged, or fuper-
ftitious rabble.
THAT the art of fecret writing, or of
fecret information, is of great antiquity,
is very certain; of what antiquity, is not
very material now to enquire: however,
thoſe who have leifure, and learning fuf-
ficient, may fee what Polybius has cited,
from ancient authors, who quotes Æneas,
Cleomenes, and Democritus: befide thefe,
as Biſhop Wilkins obferves, Julius Afri-
canus, and Philo-Mechanicus, two ancient
Grecians, have alfo treated of this fub-
ject; and the military fignifications, in
ufe among the Romans, are mentioned
by Vegetius and Frontinus: there is like-
wife a volume writ upon the farne fubject,
by Janus Gruterus, commonly thought
to be the work of Cicero and Seneca. But
in latter times are the Abbot Trithemius,
B
Bap-

[ 18 ]
Baptifta Porta, Ifaac Caufaban, Selenus,
Voffius, and many others, in various lan-
guages; and among the reft, the im-
mortal Lord Bacon, in his work, fo
juftly called, the Advancement of
Learning, has thought it a matter wor-
thy of his ferious attention. It will
be quite fufficient for the purpofe, to
commence this enquiry, by examining
the fecret ufe made of the Lacedemonian
Scytale, faid to be the invention of Ar-
chimedes.
For this purpoſe there were provided
two round ftaves, equal in length and
fize; one of which was left in the cuf-
tody of the magiftrates; and the other
was taken by the General, who com-
manded abroad: fo when the Magif-
trates had any private inftructions to fend
the General, or the General any fecret
information to convey to the Magiftrates,
the method was, to wrap a narrow piece
of parchment round the ftaff, in a fer-
pentine revolution, fo that the edges
might meet clofe together; and then
write their letters upon both the edges,
half

[ 19 ]
half the character on each fide; and
thus, when the parchment was unrolled,
there appeared nothing but imperfect
pieces of letters, but which were eafily
put together upon a ftaff of the fame
fize, and read by the confederate party:
but notwithſtanding the feeming dif-
ficulty of reading a fcrole, fo writ, with-
out the ftave, there are many ways by
which it might be made out, as Scaliger
in a few words clearly demonftrates, for
fays he, only twift the paper, or parch-
ment, fo that both pieces of the first
divided letter may be joined, and that
will give the true circumference of the
feytale to frame another by; but I
wonder Scaliger did not think of a much
more ready method, and that is, by
cutting the fcrole quite through the
middle between the half letters, and
then, by applying the two broken edges
of the letters together, on a table, the
letters will appear perfect, and confe-
quently the reading be expofed. JULIUS
CAESAR'S method was, to take the d for
thea, and the e for b, and thus
changing
B 2

[ 20 ]
91
changing the order of the alphabet,
rendered his epiftles, as he thought,
inexplicable to all, but thofe to whom
he intrufted the key. AUGUSTUS
CESAR put b for a, c for b, and two
xx's for a.
By the firft method the
words JULIUS CESAR would appear
thus:
myhmyw fhwdu
Julius Cefar
By this it appears, that the leaft alte-
ration of the alphabet, will render the
well known ufe of the letters, in their
proper order, quite as uncouth; nay,
rather perplex a young decypherer more
than any new invented alphabet of ar-
bitrary characters; becauſe the examiner
will not readily diveft his mind of the
proper power of the letters he fo well
knows the ufe of. In the plate annexed
I have given a fpecimen of a fentence
lately fent me, compofed of arbitary
characters, and which I fhould have read
in lefs time than they were writ, had not
the laſt letter, of the laft word but one,
been wrong, which fhould be two ftrait
lines

[ 21 ]
lines inſtead of one, as the fecond letter
of the fecond word, is,
AND this it was which rendered it dif-
ficult to make out the fenfe, even after
I had got moft of the words complete.
Now whoever will fit down, and confider
ſeriouſly the above characters, (I mean
one who has never before made any en-
quiry into this matter) will, in half an
hour's time, however he may be perfuaded
at first fight of the difficulty of reading it,
be agreeably convinced to the contrary:
obferving, that the laft letter of the laft
word but one is wrong, but I chofe to
give it, as I received it; not that there
is any peculiar art ufed either in the fenfe
or in the compofition of the characters,
but as it will fhew the juftness of the
following remarks :---Firft, then, ob-
ferve, that the fair maker of this alpha-
bet (for it was done by a lady of rank).
or the maker of any other, who has not
well confidered the matter, will natu-
rally begin with a character to reprefent
a, and fo on down to z; therefore the
Decypherer muft avail himself of this
advan-

[ 22 ]
advantage, among many others, and
conclude, that thofe letters which are
moft fimple, are neareſt the beginning
of the alphabet; and confequently, that
thofe which are made up of many
ftrokes, and moſt complicated, are to-
wards the latter end, becauſe as the
maker proceeds, his invention must go
to work, and inftead, perhaps, of one
ftroke, to reprefent a letter, he muft
unite two or three: this is an obferva-
tion I have often made, and have fcarce
ever feen a new invented alphabet that
had not this weakness in its compofition;
and the ſpecimen here annexed, is a
ftrong confirmation of it. However,
as an expert practitioner in this art,
would most likely take the staff by the
other end, it will be neceffary to be ap-
priſed of it. The next thing to obferve
is, what letters occur ofteneft, and thoſe
you may conclude are vowels, and that
which is moft frequent, to be an e---as e
in Engliſh occurs oftener than any other
letter. Where you find characters
doubled in the beginning of a word, it
will

[ 23 ]
will be neceffary to confider whether it
be not fome Welch word as Lloyd, Llan-
daff, or Aaron, Eel, Jilt, Vulture, &c. In
a word of three letters, beginning and
ending in the fame characters, fome
vowel is probably between, as did, or
'e're; but e is eafily difcovered; and
that one letter being obtained, is of in-
finite confequence towards recovering
with it the other twenty-three.
IN English, the e is continually em-
ployed, as in fee, be, ever, fpeed, need,
deference, excel, excefs, &c. though this
will not hold good in Latin, as e, and i,
are equally frequent in the latter, and
next to thefe, a, and u; but o, not fo
frequent as any of them. When you
meet with a character doubled, in the
middle of a word of four letters, as you
will perceive it to be in the above cy-
pher, it will be neceffary to confider
what words of four letters are fo fpelt.
It is probable the vowels e or o, are thefe;
as meet, feel, good, book, look, &c. In
polyfyllables, where a double character
ap-

[ 24 ]
appears in the middle of a word, it is
for the moſt part a confonant; and if fo,
the preceding letter is always a vowel.
In confidence, therefore, that the eaſy
cypher here given, will be foon difclofed,
by any perſon who will beftow half an
hour's confideration upon it, I fhall
leave it to speak for itfelf, and not tempt
an impatient fcholar to turn to the fo-
lution, or to apply to the Lord Mayor
of London, for the fenfe of it.
OBSERVE alfo, that i, in Engliſh, never
terminates a word, nor a or u except in
fea, you, or thofe, and thus by comparing
the frequency of the letters, you will ge-
nerally find e occur the ofteneft: next, o,
then a, and i; but u, and y, are not fo
often uſed as fome of the confonants.
Among the vowels, e and o are often
doubled; the reft fcarce ever: and e,
and y, often terminate words, but y is
lefs frequent, and confequently eafily
diftinguiſhed.
To find out one confonant from ano-
ther, you muſt alfo obferve their fre-
quency,

[ 25 ]
1.
quency, d, h, n, r, s, t, and next to
thofe, c, f, g, l, m, w, in a third rank.
may be placed; b, k, p, and laftly q, x,
z. This remark, however, belongs to
English; for in Latin the confonants are
1, r, s, t; next, c. f, m, n; then, d, g, h, p,
q; and laftly, b, x, z. But the firft dif-
ficulty is to come at the knowledge of
three or four letters, therefore where a
word of four letters hath the firft and
fourth the fame, it is moft likely to be
that; to prove which look for another
of four letters, beginning with the two
firft, and ending with two others, and it
will probably prove to be this; and
more efpecially if you find another
with three letters, beginning with the
firft two, for in that cafe it muſt be the;
now having found out in any part of the
Cypher theſe three words (that) (this)
and (the) place them over the characters
which you know to be t, h, a, in s, en
and then confider what letters are defi-
cient, and what the words, from the num-
ber of letters which compofe them, are
moft

[ 26 ]
moft likely to be; and you will find fuch
ready and ſurpriſing intimation from the
above fix deferters you have apprehended,
that you will foon be in poffeffion of the
whole battalion. Where words of two
letters appear of the fame characters,
differently placed, it is moft likely one
is on, the the other n o, fo o f, and for,
and from, difcover and convict each
other; and t h are very often ufed in the
beginning of English words, as, the, that,
this, them, thefe, their, thrust, thwart,
&c. &c.
TH
CHAPTER II.
HE Earl of Argyle's method of
confounding the fenfe of his letter
by altering the place of the words, was
at that time thought inexplicable; and I
have ſeen many methods laid down to
explain it; but the readieft way is to
mark the concurrence of PROPER words,
I

[ 27 ]
1
know
not
the
ground's
our
friends
have
gone upon
which
hath
occafioned them
to
offer
fo
little
money
as
I
hear
neither
know
I
what
affiftance they
do
intend
to
give
and
'till
I
know
doth
I
will
neither
refufe my fervice
nor
do
fo
much
23
object against any
thing is
refolved 'till
I
firft hear what
Mr.
red
or
any
you
fend
fhall
fay
only
in
the
other
mean
time
I
refolve
to
let
you
know
as
much
of
the
grounds I
go
on
as
is
poffible at
this
diſtance
and
in
this
way
I
did
truly
in
my
the
very leaft
fum
I
propofition mention
thought could
do
our
bufinefs effectually not
would bave thought requifite in
half
of
what
I
an
other

jun&ture, &c.
WHEN Argyle
had
writ a letter
thus,
of which the above is a part of one, he
filled up the ſpaces with any words
which occurred, and then it appeared
thus:

[ 28 ]
I gone fo I and refufe object first you
time much is way the our would have bufi-
nefs very I poffible of I fend here against my
'till what little upon KNOW NOT which
money affiftance I fervice any what shall re-
folve THE at did leaft effectually thought
requifite not fum truly this GROUNDS to fay
Mr. thing nor know they as hath grounds
occafioned I do both do is red only let I dif-
tance in I half in an of thought my and go
you in or refolved fo I intend he or them
OUR FRIENDS, &c. &c. &c.
Now as I obferved above, mark but
the concurrence of proper words, and ef-
pecially if they be at equal diftances
(and fo his letter is writ) then the num-
ber of words between thefe is the co-
lumn; and thus the bufinefs is done;
there may indeed be a proper coinci-
dence by chance, but if you lay hold of
fuch only as are equidiftant; they muſt
develope the matter where the writer
goes down one column and up another.
And this is a much readier and certain
method, than that laid down by Falconer.
THE

[ 29 ]
THE immortal Lord Bacon, the great-
eft man Britain, or perhaps any other
nation, ever produced, has given us a
fecret way of correfpondence, and to di-
vert fufpicion, by inferting of nulls; he
fays, "As for the fhifting of examina-
"tion, there is ready prepared a new
"and profitable invention to this pur-
66
pofe, which feeing it is eafily procured,
"to what end fhould we report it as de-
"ficient? The invention is this: that
"you have too fets of alphabets, one
"of true letters, the other of non-figni-
"ficants; and that you likewife fold up
"two letters, one of which may carry
"the fecret, another, fuch as is probable
"the writer might fend, yet without
"peril: now if the meffenger be ſtrictly
"examined concerning the Cypher, let
"him prefent the alphabet of nonfigni-
"ficants, for true letters; but the alpha-
"bet of true letters for non-fignificants:
66
by this art, the examiner, falling upon
"the exterior letter, and finding it pro-
bable, fhall fufpect nothing of the in-
<< terior letter.
THE
11
9"

[ 30 ]
THE publication of this art, in fome
meaſure defeated the ufe of it, but yet,
without any alphabet, fuch writing is
decypherable, for if two alphabets are
ufed, the number of characters will fhew
it.
Trithemius, in his letters to Arnoldus
Bofticus, mentions fo many extraordi-
nary methods of fecret information,
that Frederick the 2d Prince Pala-
tine, caufed his original M. S. to be
burnt, and lucky it was, in thofe
days, that the author did not burn
with them; and yet, thofe wonderful
propofals Trithemius aftonished the
world with might be performed without
any of thofe fupernatural affiftances he
was fuppofed to command. He informs
Bofticus that his firft book contains more
than an hundred ways of fecret writing,
without fufpicion, and without any
tranfpofition of the letters; and that no
man by human induftry, can know, or
even fufpect, the enveloped meaning of
his letters, without being taught the art
by

[ 31 ]
by him.
Notwithſtanding thefe bold
Un-
affertions, I am convinced that an or-
dinary capacity in thefe days, who had a
little confidered the matter, would foon
have convinced him of his error.
couth hard words were chiefly what he
ufed to diſguiſe his meaning: indeed he
alfo afferted, that he could convey in-
formation by fire to any one inftructed
in his art, at an hundred miles diſtance;
and that part of his art might, in the
opinion of the Prince Palatine, be confi-
dered more wonderful than any, and de-
termine him to burn his books of witch-
craft. Yet, in war time, this manner of
correfpondence, is practifed every night
by the Spaniards at St. Roak (a high
fituation near Gibraltar) to inform the
Governor of Cadiz, not only of the
number of men of war lying at anchor
in the bay of Gibraltar, but what number
have failed either out of the bay, up the
Mediterranean, or out of the Streights
mouth. I believe, indeed, they went no
farther than this; but they might, by
the

[ 32 ]
the fame rule, have informed the Go-
vernor of Cadiz, that General Hargrave
was more intent on getting money, than
on defeating their intelligence; for had
the General caufed the fame fort of lights
to have been exhibited from the fignal
houfe on the top of Gibraltar hill, at
the fame time that the Spaniards fhewed
theirs, their method would have been ut-
terly diſconcerted: and yet aftoniſhing
to believe it! this has been a conftant
UNINTERRUPTED practice of the Spani-
ards, during every war, fince the Engliſh
have been in poffeffion of that important
place! Indeed the Governor may fay,
What have I to do with the number of fhips
in the bay, or with marine affairs? and it is
more than probable that an Admiral, who
commands a fleet there, might quarrel
with the Governor for meddling with his
department! and yet poor ENGLAND
abounds with fuch Generals, and fuch
Admirals too. But had Marshal Saxe,
or Lord George Germaine, been Gover-
nor of Gibraltar at thofe times, I am
con-

[33]
convinced the Spaniards at Cadiz would
have had no information from St. Roak,
but what was conveyed by an ordinary
meffenger, or by exprefs. They are fo
aware of being defeated, by fhewing the
SAME number of lights, as there are
King's fhips in the bay, that there is no
forming any judgement by that; but by
taking down conftantly every night, for
fome weeks together, the lights they did
fhew, and the diftance of time between
each light, or lights, I was convinced they
thereby reprefented the alphabet, and
that they conveyed their information by
letters of fire: indeed I had in fome mea-
fure acquired their method, but not un-
derſtanding Spanish, and fearing a court
martial and a Cafhierment, if I had in-
formed the Governor of my difcovery,
I have referved it to this hour of fafety,
being, thank God, out of the reach of
every fpecies of ignorance and incapacity,
but that of my own; for I do infift upon
it, that a Governor fo ignorant or indolent
as not to defeat fuch a kind of corref-
C
pondence,

[ 34 ]
pondence, would be wicked, or foolish
enough, to puniſh any officer who prefumed
to dictate to him!
THESpaniards by thofe lights not only ex-
preffed letters, but figures alfo; fowhen they
only meant to ſpecify the number of men
of war in the bay, two lights might fignify
the No. X, four XX, &c. The failing of
the whole fleet out of the ftreights mouth,
might be fhewn by one continued fire burn-
ing, as I have often feen it, for fome time
together; and up the Mediterranean, by
two fires: yet every information of this
kind may be defeated, and even falſe
alarms given to the Spaniards at Cadiz,
by a Governor, who would take half the
trouble to ferve his country, which he
does to enrich himſelf, and diftreſs thoſe
under his command; for the worſt civil
government, is infinitely fuperior, to moſt
called military. I have known a Gover-
nor of Gibraltar, fend a Genoefe in war time
over to the Spanish fide, to buy him fome
potatoes, which the Spaniards had taken in
an

[ 35 ]
an Irish veffel, and hang the poor Genoefe,
without trial, when he returned, for a
crime the man could not have been guilty
of, had not the Governor, by fending him
there, led him into it. After having ex-
plained this matter, and fhewn how eafily
the Spaniards may, for the future, be dif-
concerted in this particular inftance, I am
afraid I have done them an effential piece
of fervice; for tho' I can eafily fuppofe
that 'e're long General Elliot may become
the Governor of Gibraltar; yet I am con-
vinced he is too wife, and too great a man,
to regard what I may fay upon this, as
little, as what I have faid to him, upon a
former occafion.
Trithemius goes further in the art of fe-
cret information, than any other has yet
pretended to; for he afferts he can convey
his fentiments at pleaſure, to a clofe pri-
foner three miles under ground, tho' he be
kept in the ftricteft cuftody.
Schottus, and many others, have em-
ployed much unneceffary time to difcover
C 2
by

[36]
11
by what means fuch information could be
conveyed to a man under ground! but if
it can be done, it muſt be effected by cer-
tain founds made in, or upon, the earth
above; but it is moft likely his words are
enigmatically propofed, and therefore al-
lowance must be given for that; indeed
it is likely, Trithemius might think it
practicable by magnetic powers; for it
has been faid, that two needles touched by
the fame loadſtone, and moving like the
mariner's compafs in a circle, wherein the
letters of the alphabet are defcribed,
would fympathife with each other, at
however great a diſtance they were;
but this, Schottus, and other naturalifts,
have clearly demonftrated, to be impracti-
cable at a greater diftance, than a few feet
afunder.
THE firft and chief art of fecret inti-
mation in theſe days, is, to prevent fufpi-
cion, as fcarce any kind of correfpondence
can be carried on by cypher, but what
may be unfolded without the key: a
meffage may be conveyed by a piece of
fewing

[ 37 ]
fewing thread tied full of knots, and that
twiſted about a ſmall parcel, fent to the
confederate, as I fhall fhew hereafter; fo
likewife by mufical notes, both which
methods are mentioned by Biſhop Wil-
kins; but then a maſter of mufic might
contrive fo to write by mufical notes,
that they fhall not only convey the
harmony, but the words alto. Bishop
Wilkins has given a fmall fpecimen of
writing by mufical notes; but the want of
time, and harmony to them, would create
fufpicion, and that would foon produce a
diſcovery.
THE manner of fecret information by a
knotted thread, or by marking a white
thread with ink, I have carried on a cor-
refpondence with; and it is to be done by
the following method, which I mention as
the moſt fimple, for it may be greatly im-
proved.---Take two pieces of wood like
a flat ruler, a foot or more long, and an
inch broad, divide, from within about a
quarter of an inch of each end, the ruler
into twenty-four equal diſtances, and on
C 3
thefe

[ 38 ]
thefe write, as in the plate annexed the
twenty-four letters; then fix two large
pins in the hole which is to the left of
a, and on the right of z, and tie a noofe in
the end of the ftring, and hitch it over
the pin near a. Now, if you would fig-
nify,
Fly, we are no longer fafe,
do it thus:---Bring the thread on from the
right hand pin, and over the letter f,
either tie a knot, or black it with ink;
then mark a knot at l, and then aty; here
the firft word is taken without a return
of the ftring, fo continue to wind round
the thread, and mark down the letters,
'till the fenfe is compleat. Your confe-
derate muſt have a rule of the fame
length and divifion, and upon receiving
the ftring, he winds off the letters, mark-
ing them down as his ruler picks them up;
but if the knotted ftring be once fuf-
pected to convey any private intimation,
a decypherer will find no difficulty in
making out the fenfe it conveys, by re-
ducing the knots into an alphabet of his
Own

[ 39 ]
own, by taking all the feveral diftances
between the knots, or other marks of dif-
tinction, or between a few of them, if
the thread be long. This alfo is men-
tioned by Bishop Wilkins, and is to my
certain knowledge practicable, as well as
decypherable; for a gentleman of Har-
wich, a few years fince, fent me a knotted
thread, encloſed in a paper, without any
key or clue, than letting me underſtand,
it conveyed fome fort of information; and
and I foon difcovered, it was to let me
know, that one of the packets which go
between that town and Holland, was caft
away, upon the Dutch coaft.
BISHOP Wilkins, in his fecret and fwift
meffenger, fays, It is very obfervable
what Vallefius relates of Pet. Pontius,
who, by an unheard of art, taught the
deaf to ſpeak; firft teaching them to
'write the name of any thing he ſhould
point to, and afterwards provoking
them to fuch motions of the tongue, as
might anſwer the feveral words: and,
it is probable,' fays the Bishop, that
this invention, well followed, might
6
C
be

[ 40 ]
be of fingular ufe, to thoſe who ſtand in
need of fuch helps, though certainly
that was far beyond it (if true) which is
related of an ancient Doctor Gabriel
Neale, that he could underſtand every
word, by the meer motion of the lips,
without any utterance.' But it is im-
poffible that fhould be done, with any
degree of certainty, for the VISIBLE MO-
tion is often the fame, in the uttering
different letters and words, as b and p;
pronounce, mutton, and butter, and you
will find the lips have exactly the fame
motion; and that the difference in found
arifes, from the breath paffing through
the nofe, in the former, and through the
lips in the latter; and found is what no
eye can perceive; and confequently, it is
impoffible, to teach one born deaf to
fpeak, though they may be taught, to
write. I have feen a lady, who was born
deaf, write down in her common place-
book, upon the entrance of a grey eyed
ftranger, who vifited the family,----
Puppies Eyes; and having mentioned the
teaching a deaf perfon to read and write,
it

[ 41 ]
it may not be improper to inform thofe,
who by age or accident have loft their
fight, how they may be able nevertheleſs
to write very diftinctly. Let any com-
mon joiner make a flat board, about
fourteen inches long and twelve wide,
in the middle of which let a place be funk
deep enough, when lined with cloth,
to hold only, two or three fheets of fool's-
cap paper, which muft quite fill up the
ſpace; over this muſt be fixed a very thin
falfe frame, which is to cover all but the
paper, and faſtened on by four little pins,
fixed into the lower board: and acroſs the
lower frame, juft over the paper, muft
be a little flider, an inch and a half
broad, which must flip down into fe-
veral receffes made in the upper frame,
at proper diftances for the lines, which
ſhould be near an inch afunder; and this
ruler, on which the writer is to reft
his fourth and little finger, muft be made
full of little notches, at a quarter of an
inch diftance from each other; and
thefe notches will inform the writer, by
his little finger dropping from notch, to
notch,

[ 42 ]
*
notch, how to avoid, running one letter
into another. When he comes to the end
of the line, he muft move his flider down
to the next groove, which may eafily be
fo contrived with a fpring, to give warn-
ing, that it is properly removed to the
fecond line, and fo on. I would not,
by this hint, to inftruct the blind to write,
have it understood, that I mean to dif-
credit Mr. Pinchbeck's Nocturnal Remem-
brancer, or that I took the hint from that
ufeful Toy, having above twenty years ago,
affifted a gentleman, then, and now living
at Southampton, with fuch an apparatus
for writing as defcribed above. Nor
would I have it fuppofed, that like the
man who afking the ufe of fpectacles, and
on being told they were to read with, was
furpriſed that he could not, by applying
them to his nofe, as others did, make out a
fingle word, 'till the optician's amaze-
ment produced the following pertinent
queftion, Whether he ever could read
without fpectacles?
The writer muft ufe a fountain pen.
Bath Transactions
Saunderson
Persian Prince
CHAP.

[ 43 ]
bid
BIS
C
C
CHAPTER III.
ISHOP WILKINS, in his chapter
relative to a language confifting of
tunes and mufical notes, without any ar-
ticulate found, fays, "If the mufical in-
ftrument that is ufed to this purpoſe, be
able to exprefs the ordinary notes, not
only according to their different tones,
but their times alfo, then may each let-
ter of the alphabet be rendered by a fin-
gle found, whence it will follow, that
a man may frame a language, confifting
only of tunes, and fuch inarticulate
founds, as no letters can exprefs, which
kind of fpeech, is fancied to be ufual
amongst the lunary inhabitants; who,
as Domingo Gonfales hath difcovered, have
contrived the letters of the alphabet
upon the notes after fome fuch order."
But the fpecimen the Bishop has given by
writing GLORIA DEO SOLI by minums,
on mufical lines, will inftantly appear to
any
SGREEN
J. LATRASH

[ 44 ]
any one, the leaft converfant with mufic;
that being without harmony or time, it
muſt have no meaning, or that fome hid-
den matter is thereby difguifed. I fhall
therefore endeavour to write down an al-
phabet by mufical notes, in fuch a manner,
that even a maſter of mufic fhall not fuf-
pect it is to convey any meaning, but that
which is obvious; and I am perfuaded an
alphabet of mufical notes may be fo con-
trived, that the notes fhall not only con-
vey the harmony, but the very words
of the fong, fo that a mufic-mafter
(which is too often his defign) may in-
ftruct his female pupil, not only how to
play upon an inftrument, but how to
play the fool at the fame time, and im-
pofe upon her parents or guardians, by
hearkening to his folly, impertinence, or
wickedness. When a mufick-mafter
has once taught his female pupil to un-
derſtand a mufical alphabet, and the will
permit him to carry on a fecret correfpon-
dence, he may fend her daily, a leffon
which fhe may repent having learnt, as
long as the lives.
IN

[ 45 ]
In the plate annexed, I have given a
mufical alphabet, and under it a fpecimen
to explain more fully my meaning. If a
mufick-mafter be required to play it, he
will certainly think it an odd, as well as
a very indifferent, compofition; but nei-
ther he, or any other perfon, will fufpect
that the notes convey alſo the two follow-
ing harmonious lines from Dr. Goldfmith's 79
Poem, The Deferted Village.
"Near yonder cops where once the garden fmil'd,
"And ſtill where many a garden-flower grows wild."
Now it may be fo ordered, that the
plain notes, i. e. the crotchets and mi-
nums alone, compofe the alphabet, and
that neither flatts nor fharps, nor the
fmaller notes between, (which may be
placed as mere graces, and meant
to deceive) have any thing to do
with the reading; fo that the Decy-
pherer would not fo readily know how
to proceed, and many people there
are, who will think it impoffible to be
made out without the key; yet I am per-
fuaded,

[ 46 ]
fuaded, one who poffeffes a very mode-
rate turn for fuch bufinefs, would read it
in a very fhort time.
Ir the words of a fong, could be thus
conveyed by the notes, as well as the air,
it would, exclufive of the contrivance,
be of infinite fervice and eafe, to ladies who
fing: indeed it ſeems, to thofe who are not
acquainted with mufic, almoft inconceiv-
able, how a perfon at firft fight, fhall be
able to read the bafs and trebble cliff,
together with the words, and play two
parts, and fing one, at the fame time.
It is certain that two muficians might, by
a very little application, carry on a corref-
pondence with their inftruments: they
are all in poffeffion of the feven notes,
which exprefs a, b, c, d, e, f, g; and
know by ear exactly, when either of thoſe
notes are toned; and they are only to fet-
tle a correfpondence of tones, for the re-
maining part of the alphabet; and thus a
little practice, might enable two fiddlers to
carry on a correfpondence, which would
greatly aftonifh thoſe who did not know
how

[ 47 ]
how the matter was conducted. Indeed
this is no more, than what is called
dactylogy, or talking on the fingers, which
I have feen done, and underſtood as quick,
and readily almoft, as common conver-
fation.
THOSE who are acquainted with Lord
Bacon's great depth of capacity, will readily
agree with me, that a fecret method of
writing contrived by a man of his amaz-
ing penetration, muſt be fuperior to all
others, as indeed it is, and contains the
higheſt degree of Cypher. I fhall there-
fore lay before the reader his invention of
writing.
OMNIA PER OMNIA
FOR performing this, you must have
a bi-literary alphabet, and a bi-formed
alphabet; then write down the fecret mef-
fage on a paper a-part; you are to fuppofe
that all the letters in the firſt alphabet ex-
prefs a, and thofe in the ſecond b; to the
interior letter, which Lord Bacon calls
bi-literate, you fhall fit a bi-formed ex-
terior letter, which fhall anfwer the other,
letter

[ 48 ]
letter for letter; and afterwards fet it
down. Let the exterior example be,
Ma-ne-re te vo-lo do-nec v-en-ero.
ups And the interior be,
FUGE.
Example.
F
U
G
E.
Aabab baabb aabba aabaa
Manere te volo donec venero.
Further Example.
All things do happen according to our
defires the particulars you fhall underſtand
when we meet at the appointed time and
place of which you must not fail by any
means the fuccefs of our affairs does much
depend upon the meeting that we have a-
greed upon.
Interior Letter.
Fly, for we are difcover'd, I am forced
to write this.
The above Example further illuftrated.
Aabab ababa babba aabab abbab baaaa
L Y FO
F
R
babaa

F
L[ 49 ]
babaa aabaa aaaaa baaaa aabaa aaabb sheep
WORE AR E D
abaaa baaab aaaba abbab baabb aabaa
I S Coin O
VogE
baaaa aaabb abaaa aaaaa ababb aabab
R
DIA M F
abbab baaaa aaaba aabaa aaabb baaba
One R
D T
abbab babaa baaaa abaaa baaba aabaa
O W
CE
RI
baaba aabbb abaaa baaab
TE
You're
T H
I S.
IN the above Cypher it is to be cb-
ferved, that the outward writing muft
bear a quintuple proportion to the inward.
Therefore to decypher the above, you
muft firft find out whether two or three
alphabets are uſed, and this will be dif-
covered by the different kinds of letters
which compofe the outward writing;
fuppofe one alphabet to be a, the other
b, and the third c, then take out the
three letters as if they only were inferted,
and then it falls under the fame method
of decyphering it, as the firft fpecimen I
D
have

[ 50 ]
9
have given, for it is nothing to the pur-
pofe, whether your fuppofitions and the
writer's, be the fame or not; for if you
fuppofe always an a for his b, the opera-
tion will be equally the fame.
I cannot here quit my Lord Bacon,
without making one remark, which,
though it is painful to reflect on, and
indeed reflects a little on his memory,
yet it is too true and ftriking a proof, of
his not being above practiſing thofe arts,
which moft lawyers make ufe of. The
above method of fecret writing is cer-
tainly the moft ingenious of any ever
invented, and yet it was invented and
published too, by that great man: what
then muſt we think of him, who, when
Attorney General, at the tryal of the
Earl of Somerfet, mentions this kind
of fecret writing as an aggravation of the
Earl's crime, concerning the poifoning of
Sir Thomas Overbury? where, fpeaking
of the Earl's former intimacy with Sir
Thomas, Nay, (fays he) they were
grown to fuch an inwardness, as they
'
• had

[ 51 ]
had Cyphers and fargons for the King and
Queen, and all the great men ;' things
feldom ufed, but either by Princes and
their Embaffadors, and Minifters, or
by fuch as work or practice againft, or
at leaft upon, Princes.' But may it not
be neceffary, that every means, by which
a fecret correfpondence can be carried on,
fhould be publifhed, provided there is at
the fame time a clue given, how to come
at it? For no man, however expert he
may be in other matters, can readily fet
about reading a letter, written in Cypher,
who has not previouſly confidered the
matter; yet I muft confefs, most authors,
who have writ upon this fubject, except
Biſhop Wilkins (who was a very good
man) have acknowledged, that the pub-
liſhing fuch an art, would be detrimental
to the public. And Trithemius thought
it neceffary to make an apology for
printing his fix books of Polygraphy:
but, on the other hand, let it be confi-
dered, of what importance to a ftate it
may be, to have more than ONE MAN
D 2
able
14

[ 52 ]
able, upon any urgent occafion, to read
letters written in Cypher.
THERE were infinite pains taken, much
time loft, and perhaps the life of a King
too, for want of a ready decypherer of
thofe letters writ by the Earl of Argyle,
during the confpiracies carried on in
Scotland; and yet one of thofe letters,
of which a part is given above, and which
occafioned fo much pains and lofs of
time to unriddle, would now be reduced
to the true fenfe, in a very few hours; not
becauſe men are now more wife, but be-
caufe more men have of late confidered
the matter thoroughly. Indeed I am of
laid open opinion, that the fon of a decypherer,
bee, ibis
even untaught, will more readily ac-
quire his father's art, than the fon of any
other man, of equal abilities; and if
this be true, no cenfure can juftly fall on
the Biſhop of Bath and Wells, for pro-
curing the reverfion of his employment
to his fon.
THAT in general, the fon of a mufi-
cian, exclufive of the advantage he has
of

[53]
of an able mafter at hand, will learn to
play on any inftrument, at a younger
age than other children, I have known
many inſtances of. There is a profeffor
of mufick now living, who, when a very
little boy, and not much bigger than
the fiddle he played upon, aftonifhed me
fo much, when I first heard him, that I
could not help faying, I was certain his
father was by profeffion a muſician; --he
was fo; but I was at the fame time af-
fured, that he never took any pains to
teach his fon, and the boy, befide play-
ing well on the fiddle, accompanied it
by whiſtling through his teeth (a practice
entirely his own) fo that his fiddle and
whistle together, was quite equal, to moft
fiddles accompanied with a tabor and
pipe! and the genius of the offspring for
the particular profeffion of the father,
is not only to be obferved amongst the
human fpecies, but in brutes alfo. I
had once a Newfoundland dog, who hav-
ing his early education on board of a
man of war, was there taught to do
D 3
many

[ 54 ]
many things, which I will not venture
here to relate, and only obferve, that a
puppy, which he produced even from a
a greyhound bitch, inherited many of
his tricks untaught. Heretofore a cri-
minal convict who could read and
write, faved his life: but I apprehend
the art is now too common, and that it
occafions many to lofe their lives, by
having been taught writing, and reading,
inftead of ploughing, and fowing. Bifhop
Wilkins tells a pleaſant ſtory of a negro
flave, who being fent with a letter and a
baſket of figs, and the flave's aftoniſhment,
when he found, that the letter informed
the perfon to whom they were fent, that
he had eat a part of them on the way;
and who, upon a future occafion, hid the
letter under a ſtone while he purloined
the prefent, with no better fuccefs: and
I have myſelf heard a negro fay, with
aftoniſhment, That *Becerara make pen,
and pen make paper talk! and this puts
* A white man.
me

[ 55 ]
me in mind of a fmart reply, made by a
little negro boy to his mafter, who, find-
ing him a child of good parts, frequently
converfed familiarly with him; but yet
when he committed a fault, gave him a
note to carry to the overfeer of his
plantation, directing therein, that he
fhould be whipped. The boy perceiv-
ing the conftant and fatal confequence
of carrying a bit of paper to the
overfeer, took a favourable occafion
to question his mafter about it; and
why, when he carried a bit of
paper, and at no other time, the over-
feer treated him with fuch feverity? The
mafter then informed him, that the pa-
per talked fo, and fo, to the overfeer, be-
caufe he was idle, and neglected his
work; why mafter, faid he, I never
fee you work !---no, not with my hands,
it is true, faid the mafter; but I work
with my head, which is much more la-
borious work than yours. So the next
time the boy was fent with a paper to
the overfeer, he threw it away, and being
afked by his mafter, what the overfeer
faid

[ 56 ]
faid to him? Nothing, replied the boy,
for I did not go to him, having this time
worked with my head too. But to re-
turn to the matter of fecret writing, and
the art of difclofing it. Now having
given the most difficult method, i. e. of
Lord Bacon's writing omnia per omnia, I
fhall only briefly mention a few others,
treated of by Bifhop Wilkins, Falconer,
Schottus, &c. many of which may be
almoft as foon read as written. vo
CHAPTER IV.
ONE
NE very ingenious method which
Schottus faid he had from Count
Gonsfield is, what would fruftrate the
method given of decyphering above.
This is done by difpofing the letters of
the alphabet in a line or a circle, over
which they place any number of figures
in this manner :
436
abcdefghiklmnopqrftu wxyz
You then write the fecret intention
on a paper, and over the top of the let-
7911am aid yd be
ters

[ 57 ]
ters place the number of figures agreed
on, let the words be thefe:
The Governor of the city is beyond cor-
ruption, fo that we may conclude there is
nothing of bribery will ferve the turn.
Which words, according to the ex-
ample will ſtand thus:
436 43643643 64 364 3643 64
The Governor of the city is
364364 3643643643 64 3643 64 364
beyond corruption, fo that we may
36436436 43643 64 3643643 64 364-
conclude, there is nothing of bri-
36436 4364 36436 436 4364.
bery will ferve the turn.
OBSERVE what figure ftands over the
the first letter of the writing, viz. T,
with the figure 4, then count forward as
many letters, and write down the fourth,
which from t will be x; then fee what
figure will be over the fecond letter h,
which is figure 3; count forward from
h three, and it will be k; then write
down the fixth letter from e, and it will
be k alfo; and fo proceed, always ob-
ferving,

[ 58 ]
ferving, that the letters in the writing, are
fecretly communicative, to the figures
above it, until you come to the end of
the epiftle, which will then ftand thus:
Xkk kqahtfrt ti wnh eoxa ow dkbqfg
etvtafworp yr wndw bh ofb etqegyfk
xkkug ow ptxkoqui ti dxmdkvlk zlqo
vkvxk xkk xxxq.
To decypher this, tranfcribe the Cy-
pher out of the epiftle, keeping the lines
and letters at fuch a distance, that you
may place over each, a figure above it;
then endeavour to find out the number
of figures in the key, which must be en-
quired into by feveral fuppofitions.
Suppofe the number of figures to be
three, then place them above the Cypher
in this order.
123 12312312 3I
xkk kqahtfrt ti, &c. &c.
Now obferve, where the fame characters
and the fame figures happen to fall toge-
ther, and you will find, that it expreffeth
the fame power, as in the example, and that
k, with the figure 3 placed over it, has
the power of e, through the whole writ-
ing;

[ 59 ]
ing; and that x, with the figure i over
it, fignifies t; but the fame letter, when
its figure is altered, cannot exprefs the
fame power, for q, with 2, r, with 1,
and t with 3, exprefs feverally, o,
in the writing. Therefore, one and
the fame letter, will be expreffed by dif-
ferent characters, fo contrary to the first
Cypher, laid down in the former part of
this treatife; for here you will find, as in
the first word of the above Cypher, that
k not only ſtands for h, but e alfo, fo that
you may be certain when any character
is double in a writing of this nature;
different characters, are expreffed by that
letter. Having made thefe, and other
general remarks, proceed to difco-
ver particular fyllables or words, and
having got one, you will foon find, with
it, the true numbers that are contained in
the key, or at leaft fome of them, which
will help you to the reft, obferving,
that in your ſeveral operations, you
muſt count the letters backwards; fince
in general, the Cypher is written forwards;
yet,

[ 60 ]
yet, as I have remarked above, both
ways fhould be tried. 3d es sodingh
BISHOP WILKINS obferves, that the
difference of characters in the world, is
part of the general curfe upon their once
one tongue; and from the fame reafon
we may infer, that the different methods
of writing thofe characters are fo too.
THE Oriental languages are writ from
the right hand to the left only; the
Ethiopic and Armenian proceed as ours
do, from the left to right, as well as
Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and
German. At first the Greeks writ from
the left hand to the right, and then from
the right to the left, forward and back-
ward as the ground is ploughed; fo that
an epiftle fo writ, might perplex a
little, a fpecimen of which is given by
Biſhop Wilkins, thus:
smol flest to 10 yea
2001
T

[ 61 ]
Til
W
h
t
1
S
e S e u
CECTC
eld fr e
f 0 0
tei
hh u uf 1
toh p
a o t
1
ot
tha p
e h t n u
P
h n
t
e
tdc
f
f 1
fo
r
go
1
t d
e n
n 1
e i id f
a
O
f
i
e
c
1 c
obfw f
y
f m t a i e pd
e n e a be ege e
HERE the reader muft begin at the
first letter t, and take the letters down
from the top to the bottom, and then go
up the next row, and fo on, and he
will find the reading to be,
The peftilence doth ftill encreafe amongst
us; we fhall not be able to hold out the fiege
without fresh and Speedy fupply. This is
faid to be the practice of the Chineſe.
I have obferved above, that a long
letter writ in cypher is eafier made out
than a few words only, and this arifes
from the frequency of the vowels, and
the repetition of the fame words, there-
fore a fentence contrived wherein the
feweſt letters are employed, will be the
moft

[ 62 ]
moft difficult to read, as the following
ſpecimen will evince, which is compoſed
of only one third part of the alphabet,
and writ according to Cafar's method,
taking the b for a, the c for b, and fo
on.
bcdefghiklmnopqrftu wxyz X
abcdefghiklmnopqrftuwxyz
h, untke, he, h, dnwke, aws,
h, dnwke, mns, boc, he, he, dnwke,
mns, gnx, dnwke, h, h, dnwke,
mns, xhsinwu, h, dnwke, dnwke,
h, dnwke znw?
THE reader will obferve, that in the
above cypher, there are two fingle cha-
racters together, as h, h, and that there
is a repetition of a word of five letters
d,n,w,k,e, i. e. the fame word repeated
twice together, yet if he will be at the
pains to pick it out from the alphabet
above, it will appear to be a jingle of
words, which however is fenfe, if it be
not good grammar.
I have ſeen a very ingenious method
of fecret information, which was by a let-
ter delivered open to a perfon, who
Hom
was

[ 63 ]
was going abroad, and which appeared
to him, as it would to every common
reader, to be the warmeft recommenda-
tion of the bearer to the writer's friend
and correfpondent that could be; yet,
at the fame time, the real intention
of the writer was, to caution his friend
againſt having any connection with him,
as he was the moft wicked and dangerous
man he ever knew. The following let-
ter will fhew how the other was contrived,
but is infinitely inferior, as it is, in many
places, fo lame, as to create fufpicion;
and fufpicion alone is fufficient to produce
the true meaning: but the other letter I
have feen, had none of thefe imper-
fections, but was writ throughout, in an
eafy, familiar, and natural ftyle.
THE paper being doubled in the mid-
dle, the real epiftle is writ on the left
hand fide thus:
THE defign is not
fecret; there is now no
fafety but by flight;
do not fail to meet me
half an hour hence;
let the next meeting be
juft

[ 64 ]
juft without the gate;
(if my fenfes are found)
we may conclude to have
infallible
evidence
the fnare is prepared
effectually to
entrap
you and yours, &c.
P. S. Prithee ex-
pofe not thyſelf to
imminent danger.
grion she
The manner of concealing it thus.
The defign is not in danger to all it is as yet
fecret; there is now no thing in view to threaten our
fafety but by flight; we fhould ruin all our defigns.
do not fail to meet me by fix in the old manner;
in half an hour hence; I intend to be at the confult,
let the next meeting be where they will, I'll have notice
juft without the gate; was the Governor this morning
(if my fenfes are found) fecure as we could with him
we may conclude to have hit right on the means and more
infallible evidence not on this fide conjunction,
the fnare is prepared they are mifted and fee that it is
effectually to entrap them and on their ruin to raiſe
you and yours, &c.
P. S. Prithee throw off thofe vain fears;
expofe not thyfelf to fcorn when there is not any
imminent danger.
THE

[ 65 ]
WRITING, in the above manner,
was practifed by the Roman Senators,
and other great men among them,
who being fo frequently importuned
to write in favor of thoſe whom
they knew nothing of, agreed amongſt
themſelves, upon fome fecret intimation,
that what they writ, and what they
meant, were frequently very different.
From this practice the proverb De me-
liori nota commendare, arofe; and fome-
thing like this, I think, is known amongſt
us at this day, as written with, or without,
Court favor!
UPON the fubject of fecret informa-
tion by figns, or geftures, without the
help of words, or letters; I fhall here
infert what Lord Bacon fays. It is cer-
tain, fays he, that "whatſoever may be
66
diftinguiſhed into differences, fufficient
"for number, to exprefs the variety of
"notions (fo thofe differences be per-
ceptible to fenfe) may be the convoy
"of the cogitation, from man to man;"
66
E
and

[66]
and foon after he adds, NOTES therefore
of things, which without the mediation
of words (OR LETTERS) fignify THINGS,
are of two forts; whereof the firft is
fignificant ex CONGRUO, and the other
ad PLACITUM: and the fame noble au-
thor, fpeaking of tranfitory figns of in-
formation, fays, "As for geftures, they
are, as it were, tranfitory Hieroglyphics;
for as words pronounced vanifh, writ-
ings remain; fo hieroglyphics, expreffed
by geſtures, are tranfient; but painted,
permanent; as when Periander being
confulted with how to preferve a tyranny,
he bid the meffenger ftand ftill, and
walking in his garden, top'd all the
highest flowers," the meaning of which
was, the taking off the heads of moſt
of the nobility and keeping the others
low.
Schottus demonftrates how a man may,
by ufing words that are infignificant to
the confederates, guard thofe which are
to be fecret, from fufpicion; which he
clearly fhews by the following example.
SUPPOSE

[ 67 ]
SUPPOSE the fecret intention is to
warn the confederates of danger, and to
adviſe them to eſcape, and the words
theſe,
Sumus in periculo; cavete
The harrangue thus:
In manu DEI fumus ubicunque verfamur
hanc ob caufam NOS in rebus adverfis
nequaquam pufillanimes effe debemus; quo-
niam DEUS periculo omni eripere poteft.
Ergo AUDITORES cavete peccata & curam
rerum veftrarum permittile DEO, &c.
OBSERVE here, that the words which
exprefs animate beings, hint to the Con-
federates, that they precede the words
which are to convey the fecret informa-
tion, as DEI, NOS, DEUS, AUDITORES,
and the words which follow them are
fumus in periculo; cavete.
FALCONER gives a fpecimen of this
method in Engliſh thus---
SUPPOSE the words to be communi-
cated were
Fly, you are difcovered.
E 2
THE

[ 68 ]
THE difcourfe may be to this effect:
let every MAN fly to his duty. GENTLE--
MEN you now fee what PEOPLE are, and
may do in their madnefs: but we dif
covered long fince their folly, &c.
THE words that point out the fecret
meaning are, MAN, GENTLEMAN, PEOPLE,
WE; and taking the four words which
immediately follow them, the confede-
rates are told to fly, for they are difco-
vered. Now the fame method may be
followed in carrying on a fecret corref-
pondence by mufical notes, or by com-
municating the words of a fong, by the
fame vehicle, which points out the time
and harmony, and this may be done
(without having any knowledge of
mufical compofitions) but by any
common piece of mufic whatever: to
do this an alphabet muſt be formed
as in the plate annexed; or in any
other manner, for it may be con-
trived much better for the purpoſe: then
take any piece of mufic (but fuch as is
com-

[ 69 ]
compofed of the greateft variety of notes
will be beft) and copy it out upon
ruled mufic paper, leaving one row of
blank lines between; i. e. thofe lines on
which the fecond or bafs is ufually writ.
When you have copied the whole out,
draw ftraight lines on the bafs cliff, exactly
under thofe, which divide the time in the
trebble. Suppofe you would write, My
time O ye mufes, &c. look for the note
which is m in your alphabet, and then
for y; now fuppofe there are eight or
ten notes between the m and the y, then
thofe are to be marked as nulls on the
bafs cliff, juft under each note, by that
mark, which in mufic imports a reft,
which is this 1, and the confederate
who has the key, knowing that the reft-
notes are nulls, only makes ufe of thoſe
which are open, or which may be
pointed out, by inferting other notes ex-
actly under them in the baſs cliff, and if
the under notes, are placed three notes
Power on the lines, than thofe in the trebble
E 3
are,

[70]
are, they will in that cafe be in harmony,
and the refts between, being in fuch an
order, will prevent any fufpicion, except
to thofe who underftand mufic; and yet
even thoſe who do, would hardly fufpect
that the notes of Lady Coventry's minuet,
implied, as it might, an affignation in
Grofvenor-fquare; or, inftead of the reſts
being under the nulls, as they will of
courſe be very frequent, they might be
placed only under thofe notes which con-
vey the reading, and then the bafs cliff
would appear as bufy as the trebble, and
tend the more to perplex the decypherer,
as he could not be fure, but both
lines were employed to conceal the
private writing: indeed where letters
fall very diftant from each other in the
trebble, it might be fupplied, and fre-
quently too, on the bafs cliff, and figni-
fied by a dot, or fome other mufical cha-
racter, placed near the trebble note
immediately above it.
A letter thus writ in Cypher, would
dif-

[ 71 ]
difconcert even a good Decypherer, and
throw him out of the methodical way,
of coming at the fecret contents; indeed
I rather think, it must be come at, more
from ingenuity, than method.
THIS however is a hint only, how
this kind of Cypher may be compleatly
made ufe of, than a perfect method;
but I am perfuaded that a good com-
pofer of mufick, would be able to
write any common epiftle, with the
affiftance of the trebble and bafs cliff,
fo as to have very few null-notes; and the
fecret meaning inftantly obtained by thofe
who are in poffeffion of the harmonic alpha-
bet. Or, fuppofe every crochet or minum,
which is to expreſs a letter, is writ with
the tail of the note downwards, and all
the nulls upwards: this indeed might
occafion fome awkwardnefs in the ap-
pearance of the mufic, but it would not
tend at all to a difcovery, but ftill, what
I think practicable is, that an harmonic
alphabet may be fo contrived by a good
com-

[72]
compofer of mufic, that every note fhall
be expreffive of a letter, and convey the
words of the fong as perfectly to the eye,
as they do the harmony to the ear. The
compofer of an harmonic alphabet,
fhould be careful to include thofe notes,
which are most frequently ufed, into his
alphabet; and thofe, I think, are on, or
between, the five ruled mufic lines; but he
muſt carefully avoid having any of thoſe
notes already fo well known to exprefs a,
b, c, d, e, f, g, keeping their proper place,
for that would be the first confideration
of an ingenious Decypherer. Now if
this art of writing fecretly by mufical
notes, was to be practiced, I queſtion
whether a Decypherer, to be expert in
his art, muft not only be a maſter of
languages, but even a difciple of Apollo.
However, according to the mufical al-
phabet annexed, provided a letter is writ
by it, and the active notes well corded
between with nulls, upon the fame lines,
which

[ 73 ]
which might be known to be fuch, by
the tail being turned up or down, or
characterised by the mark for a beat, a
fhake, a trill, a paufe, a flatt, or a fharp;
it would be ſcarce poffible for a Decy-
pherer to make out, with certainty, the
fenfe; and this method unpublished, would
be leaft liable to fufpicion; for who, that
examined a fufpected meffenger, would
think an old fong, without words, in
which perhaps the meffenger's tobacco or
fnuff might be put, contained the fecret
he was to convey? nor could an ordinary
meffenger, either by bribes or threats, dif-
cover any thing more, than that the bearer
was ſtrictly charged to deliver that piece //79
of mufic, into which he put his tobacco,
to fuch a particular perfon.
It may feem at firft, difficult to re-
member, what letters the notes imply, and
I fhould have thought fo too, had not the
making out of the alphabet only impreffed
my mind, with the remembrance of every
letter, and yet I cannot boaft of having

[ 74 ]
a good memory; but upon trying the ex-
periment in my family, I find that it is
attainable, by writing them down two or
three times, without any further trouble:
indeed to remember a name, or a word,
it is beft done by writing it down,
though it be only with the finger, upon
a table, without any mark; as the hav-
ing turned the form of the letters by the
hand, will greatly affift the memory,
Biſhop Wilkins thinks it poffible, that if
inarticulate founds can be contrived to
exprefs not only letters and words, but
THINGS and NOTIONS, then there might
be fuch a general language formed, as
might be equally Speakable by men of all
nations, and fo reftore to us what we loft,
by the fecond general curfe, which is yet
manifefted unto us, he fays, not only in the
confufion of writing, but alfo in fpeech.
But I am apprehenfive this univerfal
language may fleep quietly with the flying
chariot, the fame author, was once fo bufy
in conftructing. 201
IN

[ 75 ]
Ir it be aſked why men are not able, in
thefe days, to decypher the Egyptian
Hieroglyphicks, as well as other characters,
it may be, that we are not fufficiently ac-
quainted with the rites and myfteries of
their religious worship. Hieroglyphicks
fignifies facred fculpture; and this they
carved upon pillars and pyramids, and
painted them upon cottins, mummies, &c.
fo a King was expreffed by a bee, who had
the fweets to feaft upon, and a fting to
puniſh. A ferpent with the tail in his
mouth, reprefented the revolution of the
year, by returning into itfelf: fo when
Darius was wearied out, in the war with
the Scythians, they fent him a prefent of
a bird, a mouſe, a frog, and a bundle of
arrows; intimating thereby, that 'till
the Perfians could fly like birds, or con-
ceal themſelves under the water like frogs,
or live under the earth like mice, they
could not efcape the Scythian arrows. It
was formerly esteemed amongst us, a
matter of great ingenuity, to convey a re-
markable

[76]
markable expreffion, or form a device,
to exprefs a man's name, by this method;
and there are at this day, carved orna-
ments, in many of the old family feats,
which were defigned to convey the name
of the original family, to future ages, and
do fo, as a Tun, with a bolt through it, for
BOLTON; and flip, by an eye and a flip
of a tree; an Earl of Arundel deco-
rated his houfe with a capital A in a
rundle; and Mr. Harebottle, by a Hare
on a bottle! But how far fuperior was
the enamoured youth in the following
device? Being violently in love with Rofe
Hill, he caufed to be painted on the bor-
der of his cloath, a rofe, an hill, an eye, a
loaf, and a well, i. e. Rofe Hill I love well.
If therefore, the ancient Hieroglyphicks
have no more ingenuity in them than the
modern, we need not be over folicitous
to underſtand them.
If we go back fome hundred years for
a fpecimen of our language, moft men
would require the affiftance of a Decy-
pherer

[ 77 ]
pherer to explain it, as the following fpe-
cimen of the Lord's Prayer will evince.
Our Father which art in heaven
Uren Fader
thy kingdom be thy will fo
thic arth in heofnas
as in
ther ric fic thir villa fue is in
heaven and in earth our lofe
heofnas and in earths uren hlof
fuper-fubftantial give us to day and
fer wiftlic fel us to daeg and
forgive us debts ours fo we forgive
forgef vs fcylda urna fue we forgefan
debts ours and do not leade us
feyldgum urum and ro inlead ufith
into temptation but deliver every one
in cuftnung ah gefrig urich
from evil.
from ifle. Amen.
NOR was the Lord's Prayer writ in
much better English than the above, 'till
Richard the Second's time. And here I
cannot help reviving an English word,
ſcarce known; and yet, it is one, which
levied armies, and faved a kipgdom.
WHEN

[ 78 ]
WHEN there was a dangerous rebellion
againſt King William Rufus, and Ro-
chefter Caſtle ftoutly maintained by the
rebels, he iffued out a proclamation, that
thofe of his fubjects who neglected to re-
pair to his camp, fhould be reputed
Nidings; and upon this they fwarmed
to him from all parts of the kingdom;
and their numbers difmayed the rebels fo
much that they yielded; fo that this one
word (Niding) though now loft, faved a
kingdom.
usb 200 ob bos
IN
CHAPTER V.
N the fpecimen given in the firft plate,
of fecret writing, by the harmonic
alphabet, it muſt be obferved, that every
note implies a letter alfo, and confequently
under fuch a reftraint, it can only have the
appearance, and be the picture of mufic,
without the harmony; yet it is fuch a pic-
ture as muft pafs unfufpected by all who do
not underſtand mufic perfectly, and by
many

[79 ]
45
many who do; at leaſt thoſe who do, would
moſt likely confider it only a wretched at-
tempt to compofe mufic, without fufpect-
ing that the notes conveyed two lines of
true poetic harmony, from that ſweet
poem of Dr. Goldfmith's, THE DESERTED
VILLAGE; and therefore this method is,
in one refpect, to be preferred to every
other yet practifed, of fecret writing, i. e.
that it is leaft liable to fufpicion. An
itinerant fiddler, or mufician, with his
dogs-ear'd mufic book in his pocket, might
get admittance into, or from a town be-
fieged, unfufpected. A tune might be
pricked down in his book, among many
others, and he might be defired to give 173
a copy of it to any particular perfon
where he is going, without fufpecting the
mifchief, or good office, he is employed
to execute, and confequently unable to
betray the fecret; and though fufpicion
fhould arife, how will the Decypherer
know which, among a great number of
mufical airs, conceal the fecret informa-
tion? In this cafe a good Decypherer
fhould

[ 80 ]
fhould be a good muſician alfo, that he
may pick out the moft uncouth and con-
ftrained compofition: for that would,
moft likely, prove to be the harmonic
epiftle. Therefore to obviate this, and
to render the matter lefs liable to fufpi-
cion, and much more difficult to be de-
cyphered, in the fecond plate, an air,
compofed of trebble and bafs, according
to the rules of true compofition, is given.
In this plate, there are a great number of
null notes to fill up, and to compleat the
harmony. The confederate, who is in
poffeffion of the key and alphabet, will
know the null notes by their tails being
all turned upwards, and therefore he
paffes over them, and takes down in or-
der, from the bafs and trebble cliff, thofe
only which are turned downwards; a cir-
cumftance which would greatly perplex,
the Decypherer; firft, to find out whether
all the notes were active; fecondly, whe-
ther the bafs and trebble cliff were both
employed; and lastly, which were the
null notes: yet this method is not without
fome

[ 81 ]
fome inconveniences, and fuch as would
create fufpicion or furpriſe in an examiner
who underſtands mufic. For being con-
fined to turn all the nulls one way, and.
the active notes the other, it muſt fome-
times happen, that both muſt be occafi-
onally conſtrained, and the tails frequent-
ly turned contrary to the ufual practice in
writing of mufic.
Ir is poffible to render this method of
writing ſtill more fecret, by placing a very
thin bafs under the treble, and to put
refts, &c. under fome of the active notes,
and to point out the others, by a mixture
or liquor (of which there are many) that
would not appear 'till the paper is held to
the fire, dipped in water, or fine duft
thrown over it; and under all thefe impe-
diments, it would be very difficult to
come at the fecret matter, yet it is what a
good Decypherer would not, I believe,
give up, as a thing not to be done.
WERE I, however, under a neceffity to
fend a letter of the utmoſt importance,
which was to pafs through the hands, or
F
under

[ 82 ]
under the infpection, of cautious exami-
ners, I fhould think a good piece of
harmonic compofition, without any
words annexed to it, the fafeft and moft
fecret vehicle to convey it under. In
letters, where it is neceffary to be parti-
cular, as to the day, month, or even the
hour, that may be done by a kind of
fhort hand; for it would be very unfafe
to write, though in Cypher, Dear Sir,
at the top of a letter; or your humble
fervant, at the bottom; or even the
month, the year, or the day of the
month, as thoſe words would be firft exa-
mined by a Decypherer. To avoid any
of theſe clues, therefore, where the month
and the day is to be given, it may be con-
veyed, according to the Quakers' bye way.
Let the twelve firft mufic lines be confi-
dered to ftand for the twelve months of
the year, and then, counting from the first,
to the thirty-first, the days of the month.
If therefore I would date my letter the
8th day of April, a fmall dot on the fourth
line preceding the first note, as in plate
the

[ 83 ]
the fecond, would imply the fourth month,
and a little daſh acrofs the eighth line, in
the fame manner, would fhew it to be
dated the eighth day of the fourth month;
and a little x from the first to the twelfth
line, would imply any particular hour of
the day; or an o the hour of the night.
It is very certain, that if fuch a fentence
as the fpecimen in the fecond plate con-
tains, can be conveyed by a few lines of
mufic, a long letter may eafily be framed,
within the compafs of an Italian air in
fcore; nay, that any Italian piece of
mufic of a tolerable length, may, by
writing it with the tails properly turned
up or down, according to the fpecimen
here given, be made the vehicle of a letter,
or a piece of important information; and
ftill more eafily might a good compofer
convey the words, and the harmony alfo,
by the fame characters. Confcious how-
ever of my own inability to execute a
matter of fo much ingenuity with any
degree of fuccefs, I applied to Dr. Axe,
and made him acquainted with my faint
idea
F2

[ 84 ]
idea of the bufinefs, and aſked his affif-
tance. But though the Doctor is un-
doubtedly an excellent compofer of mufic,
I more than fufpect by his total filence!
that he has not the moft diftant idea, of
what I thought I had laid before him in
very plain notes. I am fure it was in very
civil terms.
THE Doctor's filence, however, brings
to my mind a queftion, a fellow traveller
of mine, many years ago, put to a fhep-
herd we met on Saliſbury Plain. How
often (faid my fellow-traveller to the
fhepherd) honeft friend, do you vivify a
year? The fhepherd looked earneſtly at
him---fimpered---fcratched his head---
and then, firoaking his long chin, without
afking the meaning of the word, replied,
We do call it Sheep-fheering: for he was
the beſt ſheep-fheerer (as we afterwards
heard) of all the paftoral fwains upon that
plain. If it be aſked, why I applied to
the father and not to the fon, I answer,
becauſe he might have expected me, in
return, to employ him to teach my
daughter

[85]
daughter mufic, and I do not like his
manner. Though this bufinefs did not
vivify the ingenious Doctor, I am con-
vinced that a good compofer of mufic,
either by framing the harmony by the
alphabet, or the alphabet by the harmony,
may not only render every note active,
but by harmonic alphabets, might write
two letters on different fubjects, one in the
trebble cliff, and the other in the bafs;
and it is evident, therefore, by the fpeci-
men I have given, that the words of a fong
may be conveyed by the harmony; for
any judicious finger, by dividing pro-
perly the words and repeating them, as is
ufual in finging fongs, may fing thofe in
due time, with the air which conveys them;
and though I confefs I fee much harm
might arife from it, yet it may be right
to obferve, by the bye, that an harmonic
letter thus written, could not eafily be
brought home with any degree of cer-
tainty (efpecially where null notes are
employed) fo as to convict the wri-
ter in a court of juftice; yet I cannot
think
F 3

[ 86 ]
think myfelf guilty of an injury to fo-
ciety, in pointing this method out, as it
may be productive of much good, as
well as of mifchief; for fecret writing is
abfolutely neceffary on many important
occafions of ftate. I will here give one
ftriking inftance of its utility. I will
fuppofe, and I ought to fuppofe it, that
the Queen of Denmark is a virtuous
Princefs; that a faction has been formed
in Denmark, to dethrone her husband,
and perhaps to deprive her of life, as
well as of liberty; that no letter can pof-
fibly be conveyed to her, which has not
been previouſly feen, and the contents
carefully examined. I will fuppofe the
King her huſband, or the King her bro-
ther, defirous to affure her of their ut-
moft protection, yet quite unable to con-
vey fuch comfortable information to her.
Now fuppofe the Queen to have been in
poffeffion of an harmonic alphabet, how
eafily, and with what propriety, could the
King her brother, write her an affectionate
letter, in common terms, and fend her a
little

[ 87 ]
mufic to divert her thoughts and
employ her melancholy hours? I dare
fay in fuch a cafe neither the Colonel
of the Guard, nor the Governor of the
Caftle of Cronenbourg, would have fuf-
pected that a few fheets, or a book of mu-
fic, without any vifible words, conveyed
that unfortunate Princefs fuch informa-
tion as her Royal Brother wifhes perhaps,
at this minute, to fend to her. For this
fweet mufic, might call upon her, to fup-
port her fpirits, and affure her, that a
fleet ſhould foon appear, and deliver her
from her confinement. But fuppofe,
that the mufic was even fufpected to con-
tain private information, and therefore
not delivered, I believe I may venture to
fay, a fleet might fail from England to
the Baltic Sea, before a Danish Decy-
pherer had picked the intelligence out of
an old fong, without words; and then
the moſt that could be made of it, would
be, that fome private information MIGHT
be concealed in the mufic. But an inter-
cepted letter written in evident Cypher,
even while it remains undecyphered, carries
certainty


[ 88 ]
certainty with it, and puts every body
concerned, as I faid above, upon their
guard. It therefore might be right for
foreign Embaffadors, or Princeffes, who
are feparated from their families, by fo-
reign alliances, to be in poffeffion of
fome kind of mufical alphabet, by which
they may write, or receive letters, which
are not fufpected to be fo. The prefent
mode, I believe, is, to do all this bufi-
nefs, by what is obviously writing in
Cypher; and that too, by fome method
which has long been in ufe, the key to
which, I have more than reafon to be-
lieve, moſt of the Princes in Europe are
in poffeffion of. I will hardly believe
that the K- of, for inftance,
is a ftranger to every mode of Cryptogra-
phical writing by the feveral Princes and
States in Europe. How often do we
hear of a courier being murdered, and
his diſpatches carried off? and for what
other purpoſe, but information? and
without the key, to decypher letters fo
written, to what purpofe fhould they be
inter-


[ 89 ]
intercepted by fuch a deed? I have
confidered every method of fecret writ-
ing, which I have heard of, either of
ancient, or modern practice, and I fub-
mit it to the reader's confideration, whe-
ther writing by an harmonic alphabet
is not, of all others, the moſt void of fuf-
picion; perhaps I fhould fay, was not;
becauſe having publiſhed it, the fecret is
divulged; but as Bishop Wilkins's fwift mef-
fenger; and Falconer's art of fecret infor-
mation, are both very ingenious books on
this fubject, and have both been publiſhed
many years, and yet are but little known,
except by the very few, who have ftudied
the art of writing in Cypher, I cannot
fuppofe this performance of mine, in
every refpect fo inferior, will ever be
much known, and therefore it may prove
ufeful to a few individuals of my own
country, and never do mifchief by
finding its way into any other. And
here it may be proper to acknowledge,
that I have borrowed many of the fub-


jects


[ 90 ]
jects I have treated of, from the two in-
genious works above-mentioned, becauſe
they are very ſcarce books, being chiefly
in private hands, and confequently are,
what the bookfellers call, out of print.
I have obferved elſewhere, that Bishop
Wilkins juft hints at the method of writ-
ing by mufical notes, and he is the only
writer, I believe, who ever mentioned
this method; though I think I have
fomewhere read, that there was a people
(but I doubt they were inhabitants of the
moon) who converfed entirely by mufical
inftruments; and I have feveral times
wifhed, that were the cafe with us, when
I have heard a parcel of men all talking
together :- Harmony might then make
one fome amends.
DURING the writing of thefe fheets, an
abfent friend, who knew what I was
about, fent me a letter written in cypher,
but not confidering the matter fully per-
haps, thought that I ſhould be startled at
a letter, compofed from the Ethiopic
and Etrufcan alphabets, and by way of
rendering

[ 91 ]
rendering it ftill more difficult, every word
is French, but which, according to auri-
cular orthography, when read as Engliſh,
feems to be fo. This Anglo-Franco letter,
which is fet forth in the third plate,
my ingenious correfpondent, was well
fatisfied, could not be read, and continued
in that belief 'till the return of the poft,
when the received an anfwer, written in
her own alphabet; and though the decy-
phering of it, was done in lefs time than
it was writ, and I am far from claiming
any merit in reading it (as nothing of the
kind can be more eafy) yet the method
being fingular, I have thought it might
entertain fome readers, by inferting the
letter, as well as the Cypher in which it
was written. It is a ftrange mistake,
that thofe who at first confider the matter
of writing in Cypher, fancy it difficult,
in proportion to the uncouthnefs of the
characters, in which the letter is wrote;
whereas the change of one letter, fuch as
the Roman Generals made, is equally as
obfcure, and in fome refpects, to a young 20
beginner,



[ 92 ]
beginner, more fo, than any other: but
I must obferve, that my female corref-
pondent avoided giving me that light,
which perhaps an alphabet of her own
compofition, would have yielded, for the
reafons I have before mentioned, and
therefore did well, in taking her cha-
racters from the Ethiopic and Etrufcan
alphabets, which fhe found ready formed
to her hand.
I do not find one word in the follow-
ing letter but what is to be found where I
conclude they were taken from, i. e. from
a French Dictionary. I began at firſt to
exult at the (If) and the (For) but I
found upon examination, that the former
is the name of the yew tree, and the lat-
ter, the name of an Ecclefiaftical Court
in France.
Sur, as yeux air il, doux comme && change
the climat: here, yeux mai have game, fiche,
duc, fat mutin, foule, porc, aile, port, fruit,
& admirable menchette and butter; an mi
fiftre (a joli nymphe) tu chat tu yeux, &
finge yeux an ode, tu the lute, or violin: yeux
canne

[93]
canne have a ftable for ure hors, an a place
for ure chaife. Mi fon met a phyfician neér
the river, tiffè a fatal figne! the fai, the
pour Docteur dos grive about the affaire,
oing tu the rude Squire:-but pardon mi
long lettre, pre doux comme tu us about mai,
if yeux canne: mi fervice tu ure niece:
houe dos Raffe doux? adieu mi friend
米​米​米​米​米 ​**
Pre doux comme for ure pour nenni feize
but feu beaux.
THERE are feveral miſtakes in the third
plate which the engraver (who is no de Before
cypherer) has made, and which the reader, rece
Preface
who will be at the trouble of examining
it, is defired to excufe and to correct.
The laft letter of the firft word on the
third line is wrong, the character repre-
fents a k, and it fhould be a c; in the
fifth line three characters are omitted,
inſtead of the word lute, the I only is in-
ferted; the laft word of the fifth line
(canne) has two mm's, inftead of two
nn's; the fixth word in the twelfth line
begins with a k, instead of an h; and the
110
firft

[ 94 ]
first character of the fifth word in the laft
line fhould be s, inftead of an e. But
fuch mistakes as thefe are very common,
and fuch as a Decypherer will eafily de-
tect and correct, as he proceeds, in exa-
mining the Cypher; for when a few
words are difcovered, fuch as that, the,
them, there, thofe, and, are, &c. &c.
the myſtery unfolds very faft, for if the
characters to fuch words anfwer in gene-
ral, there can be no doubt of being in
poffeffion of the compleat alphabet, in a
fhort time; though the writer may have
made a few literal errors, and therefore
thoſe who at first fight feem alarmed at
the difficulty of making out my female
friend's letter, are defired to confider it
attentively for half an hour, and they
will not then throw it down, and pro-
nounce it an impoffible, or even a diffi-
cult, taſk to accomplish, between their
breakfaſt and dinner.
CHAP.

[ 95 ]
I
CHAPTER
VI.

Shall here add to the foregoing trea-
tife, fome of the many devices, ftra-
tagems, &c, by which fecret information
has been conveyed from one party to
another, or from friend to friend.
MACHIAVEL, in the feventh book of
the Art of War, fays, "Some have writ-
"ten what they had to fay, in the fcabbard
"of a fword; others, have put their let-
"ters into paſte, which they have baked,
"and given to the bearer for food upon
"the road, or concealed it under the
"collar of the meffenger's dog; others,
"have fent letters about common buſineſs,
" and interlined them by writing with a
compofition, which will not appear 'till
"they have been dipped in water, or held
"to the fire:" And gives an inſtance,
in his own time, of one, who having oc-
cafion to communicate a fecret to fome
of his friends, who lived in a town which

66
was

[96]
was befieged, and not daring to truft the
meffenger with it, fent letters of excom-
munication, written in the ufual ftyle,
but interlined, in the manner above,
which being fixed to the doors of the
churches, were foon taken down, and
the contents of them perfectly under-
ſtood, by thoſe who knew from whom
they came, by fome particular marks.
A letter of common bufinefs may be
interlined, by writing with Sal Ammoniac
diffolved in water; or with the juice of
a lemon, thefe letters will not be vifible 'till
they are held by the fire, but a letter fo
written, will in a fhort time difcover itſelf,
from the corroding acid, and moisture
of the liquid. So a letter written with
diffolved allum, will not be difcernable,
'till the paper be dipt in water.
LETTERS written with urine, goat's
fat, or hog's lard, will not appear 'till
duft is thrown upon them; and it was
by this ftratagem, that Attalus obtained
a victory over the Gauls; for having ap-
pointed a day for facrifice, he writ back-
wards

[ 97 ]
wards upon his hand, with goat's fat,
Regis victoria; fo pulling out the en-
trails of the facrificed beafts, he preffed
them to his hand, and as the prieft turned
them up and down in the duft, the words
foon appeared legible, and this pious
fraud encouraged his foldiers fo much,
that it gave him the victory.
A letter may be writ with the yolk of a white
an egg, and when the letters are quite dry,
the paper muſt be blacked all over with
ink, and the confederate, by fcraping the
paper gently with a knife, will expofe the
letters written with the egg, while the reft
of the paper continues black.
SCHOTTUS directs a letter to be writ
with two inks, the fecret one with com-
mon ink, made very faint, by mixing it
with water, fo that the writing will be
fcarce vifible, and when it is dry, write an
ordinary epiftle over it, with ink made of
gun-powder, beat, and mixed with rain-
water, upon the firft letters; and thofe,
he fays, will wash off, with a fponge dipt
in galls, which will alfo blacken the firft.
SCHOTTUS
G
9

[ 98 ]
SCHOTTUS alfo mentions an ingenious
method of concealing a letter in a glafs
bottle, by taking the bladder of a hog, or
a calf, and having blowed it full up, and
being thoroughly dried, it is writ upon,then
preffing out the air, put it into a bottle,
leaving the neck of the bladder above
the neck of the bottle, then fill it with
oil and cork it up; and thus it will be fo
clofely extended to all parts of the infide
of the bottle, that neither the writing nor
the bladder will be vifible.
Ir is poffible to open an egg at one end,
and extract the contents; and put a letter
within it, and fill up the hole neatly
with another bit of egg fhell.
FALCONER feems to think the Lacede-
monian Scytale contrived by Archimedes,
who lived about the year of the world
3755, to have been the moſt early, and
the moſt univerſally practifed; if it were
fo, it is evident, from the fpeedy manner
of reading a letter fo written, and which
I have before pointed out, it is far from
having any great ingenuity in the contri-
vance.
IT

[ 99 ]
Ir is probable, the Scytale gave rife to
a practice in the Greek Church, where
the Priefts at Divine Service held in their
hands, A KONTAKION. This Con-
tacium was a fhort staff, to which was
made faft, and wrapped round, very
long flips of parchment, confifting of a
great number of pieces, on which were
written, the prayers and offices to be per-
formed by the Priefts. A very curious
one is now to be feen in the French King's
library, adorned with accents and letters,
or rather half letters, for it is a perfect
Scytale.
To improve the Lacedemonian Scytale,
dip a long thread in allum water, then roll
it about a rod, or ftaff, in a ferpentine
revolution, and write upon it; but this
alfo may be foon read, for the distance
between the firſt and ſecond mark of the
ink, gives the circumference of the Scy-
tale; and it is the fame thing at which
end of the thread you begin; for if you
take the laft letter inftead of the first,
turn the rod, and put that end down-
wards

G 2


[ 100 ]
wards which was uppermoft, and it will
appear in order Baptifta Porta mentions
the writing on the edges of books and on
cards, as a method practifed for fecret
purpoſes, by pulling back the leaves of
a new bound book 'till the edges of the
paper fall awry; and thele leaves, when
written upon, and returned to their pro-
per pofition, appear only to have fuch
fpecks of black, or red ink, as are often
thrown upon books for ornament: to dif-
cover this, is only to fufpect it; the
cards indeed require more time, becauſe
the confederates may have agreed to the
order in which they are to be placed; yet,
by taking any one card, and looking out
another which exactly tallies to it, you
will foon find thofe which are to go before
and follow, 'till they are all in their pro-
per order.
AN epiftle has been formed round a
half dipt wax candle, and then covered
over by freſh wax, and a verbal meffage
fent, that it would light him to his business.
In Baker's Chronicle, there is an account

abrew
of

[101]
of one Froft, who carried letters concealed
in his walking ftaff, between the rebels
in England and Scotland. Some have
conveyed private intelligence written up-
on leaves of trees, and thefe leaves put
on to cover ulcers on the meffenger's
legs, and even fome have been engraven
on the meffenger's flesh, a practice as old
as Ovid.
"Caverit hoc cuftos, pro chartâ confcia tergum
Præbeat, inque fuo corpore verba ferat.
And long before Ovid's time, Hiftiatus,
the tyrant of Miletus, fhaved the head of
one of his fervants, as an effectual method
of curing his fore eyes, and writ his fecret
intention upon his head; then letting his
hair grow, fent him to the Perfian General,
under pretence of perfecting his recovery,
directed him, when he came to Ariftagoras,
in Greece, to tell him, that it was his re-
queft the General would fhave his head
with his own hands, as he had done; and
thereby the meffenger's head delivered a
fecret which never troubled his brain.
THERE

[ 102 ]
THERE are an infinite number of theſe
kind of devices mentioned by Baptifta
Porta, Schottus, Bishop Wilkins, Falconer,
and many others; but they, like thoſe I
have given above, are trifling, and only to
be read for amufement rather than prac-
tice, and therefore I forbear reciting more
of them.
THE method by which the private in-
formation was given, in the letter of ex-
communication, was probably this.
THE Confidants at parting frame an
alphabet of figures to write by thus:
Abcdefghik 1 m
11 13 18 3 19 12 8
S t u W x y
4 22 10 9 I
n o p q r
20 2 21 23 7
6
5
Z
15 14 16 17 24
Now having writ down the fecret
matter on a paper, they contrive a letter
of common bufinefs in any language,
they look out the numbers of the alphabet
that exprefs the letters of the fecret
writing, and counting the letters in the
common miffive from the beginning,
they add fome private mark under every
cha-

[ 103 ]
character, of the refpective numbers.
Let the fecret intimation be,
36 18 4 12 12 6 11 16 2 15 5 183 6
If hall fee you this
20 3 13 18 5 4 5 16 2 15 7 12 29 13
ht at your 1 od g
n i
1 g
3.20 13 6.
ing s.
The epiftle thus:
HAVING underſtood that I could not
be fafe any longer where you are, I have
chofen rather a voluntary banishment, to
wander with my liberty abroad, than to lie
under the daily hazard of lofing it at
home. 'Tis in my opinion the leaft of
the two evils: 'tis true, I am innocent,
but innocence is not always a buckler,
fo that I hope you will not condemn,
even though you cannot approve, my
choice; at leaft 'till you have the particu-
lars of my cafe, which expect per next.
OBSERVE, the figure for the firft letter,
to be put in Cypher, is 3; therefore a
fecret point or dot must be placed im-
mediately under or over it, i. e. under u;


and

[ 104 ]
and number 6 expreffing the fecond let-
ter, a dot muſt alio be placed under n;
n, being the fixth letter from v; and
eighteen letters from n, will ſtand another
dot, and fo on; in this manner.
HAVING understood that I could not
be fafe any longer where you are, I have
chofen rather a voluntary baniſhment, to
***
wander with my liberty abroad, than to
lie under the daily hazard of lofing it at
*
home: 'tis in my opinion the leaft of the
two evils. 'Tis true I am innocent, but
innocence is not always a buckler; fo that
I hope you will not condemn, even tho'
you cannot approve, my choice, at leaſt
'till you have the particulars of my cafe,
*
which expect per next.
THE points may be fo made as not to
be vifible 'till held to the fire, or dipt in
water.
7210
To

[ 105 ]
To decypher this, you must take down
the number of letters from the beginning
of the epiftle to the firft point, from that
to the fecond, and fo on, from point to
point, to the laft; and then it becomes
the fame as a plain cypher, and is decy-
pherable in the fame manner, as men-
tioned in the preceding chapters, for by
making a different character, to reprefent
every different diftance you find between
the dots, you will have the fame variety
of characters (and it is no matter what) as
there are variety of letters ufed in the fe-
cret information: for inftance, fuppofe
you reprefent the 5th dot by a †, you
will find, by counting the number of
letters or nulls between that, and the next
dot, to be twelve; and as there is juft the
fame number, between the fourth dot and
the fifth, as there is between the fifth and
the fixth, you will find that alfo must be
a †, and though this does not directly
inform you what letter the † is to exprefs,
yet you are certain it is fome word, where
two and the fame letters are conjoined,

and

[ 106 ]
and this is a great help towards coming
at the reft; and here I fhall finiſh this en-
quiry, having faid enough, and more than
is neceffary, to lead thofe who have
leifure and inclination to purfue this ſtudy,
into the road at leaft, which will convey
them to their journey's end; and only
obferve, that though my own method of
fecret writing, by the Harmonic Alphabet,
may have lefs ingenuity than any of the
others, which are recited above, yet it
certainly has, or at leaft had, before the
publication, one advantage of moft of
them; namely, that of being the leaft
liable to fufpicion.
BUT before I conclude, I cannot help
mentioning a laughable experiment infift-
ed upon by fome, of bottling, as it were,
up words in a tube, or trunk, one end of
which being quite clofed up, fo that no
air can enter, the words are to be con-
veyed by the mouth into the other, and
then inftantly corked and fecured from
taking harm by the air; and thus the tube
may be conveyed an hundred miles, or
more,

[ 107 ]
more, to the hands of the confederate,
who, upon uncorking the contrary end
of the tube, that the words were put in
at, lets them out in due order. But this
is to be done only, in that country,
where the intenfe cold freezes up the
words of the fpeaker, which are never
heard by any, 'till the following thaw
hatches them into found.
BUT though articulate founds cannot
be thus arreſted, yet there are feveral
ways of directing and conveying founds
to a very confiderable diftance. The
Emperor Severus, fortified the North of
England, by a wall extending from Car-
lifle to the Tine, at every mile diftance
there were towers, and between the towers
watch-houſes, at a convenient diſtance,
from which pipes of brafs were concealed
in the curtain of the wall, fo that in a
very fhort time, the troops ftationed in
the feveral towers, had notice when the
enemy approached.
Albertus Magnus fpent thirty years in
framing a fpeaking ftatue, which Aquinas
wilfully


[ 108 ]
wilfully broke, and rendered fpeechless.
But this could contribute nothing to fe-
cret information, and was only to be ad-
mired for the mechanifm of its parts.
It is needlefs almoft to mention Tachy-
graphy, or fhort-hand writing, as it hardly
comes under the denomination of fecret
writing, for where notes are uſed to ex-
prefs fyllables, and fometimes words, he
who underſtands one kind, of fhort hand,
may read any, for you may judge of fylla-
bles, when expreffed by fingle characters,
by their frequency, &c. as of letters, and
befide this, you have the advantage of dif-
tinguishing the vowels, which are not ex-
preffed, but understood, by the places of
the notes, (that together with their own
proper powers) exprefs thofe of the fe-
veral vowels. Among the Romans A
was the mark for abfolution; c of condem-
nation; N. L. Non Liquet; and N. D.
Neci datum. And their Judges writ their
feveral opinions upon a Teffera, in capital
cafes; hence it was that A was called
Salutis

[ 109 ]
Salutis Litera, and C Litera Triftis. But
their Notaries encreaſed the number of
abbreviations to fuch a degree, for the
fake of difpatch, that at length it occa-
fioned fo much confufion, that Juftinian
difcarded the ufe of them, though we
have retained that cuftom from them
down to this day in the A. D. for the year
of Chrift; and indeed the knowledge of-
the ancient abbreviation, is very ne-
ceffary, in order to underſtand the reli-
gious worſhip, as well as the civil laws, of
the ancient Romans, as they generally
confecrated places, or things, by the firſt
letter of the words, then well under-
ftood, fuch as Mer. S. for Mercurio Sa-
crum; M. I. Maximo Jovi; D. Im. S.
Diis Immortalibus Sacrum; D. P. Dies
Penatiorum; D. O. Diis Omnibus; I. O.
M. D. Jovi Optimo Maximo Dedicatum,
&c.
SINCE the above fheets have been
printed off, I have had an opportunity
to be convinced, that a perfon born deaf
may, at a proper age, being otherwife of
good

[ 110 ]
good parts, not only be taught to read,
to write, to make known his wants, and
to communicate his ideas, but that it
may be done, in almoft as fhort a time, as
a child can be taught, who does not
want the ſenſe of hearing: indeed it was
the obfervations I had made on the quick
parts, and ready perceptions, of a faith-
ful fervant, now living in Lord Bate-
man's family, who was born under this
defect (for he is too happy to call it a
misfortune) which firft led me to confider
that matter, and that led me into the other
fubjects I have here treated upon; but I am
told there is a very ingenious book, which
however I cannot procure, written by a
Dr. Watts, upon this laft fubject, wherein
he gives the neceffary inftructions to teach
the deaf to read and to write.

The CONCLUSION.
Decypherer, before he fets about
his bufinefs, fhould endeavour to
know from what part of the world the
A
in-

[ 111 ]
intercepted letter in Cypher came, and
from that circumftance, confider what
language the cypher is moft likely to be
wrote in, as that may fave him much
pains, time, and ftudy. He must confider
alfo that the Oriental Languages, as He-
brew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Samaritan, Coptic,
Perfian, Arabic, &c. are writ from the right
to the left, and that only the Armenian and
Ethiopic are from the left to the right.
ON the contrary, all the occidental
languages, as Latin, Greek, Spanish,
French, German, Italian, Sclavonic, and
English, are writ from the left hand to
the right. At first the Greeks writ
from the left to the right, and back a-
again, from the right to the left, as
land is ploughed. Hence literas exarare,
fignifies to write, a metaphor taken from
the manner of ploughing the ground.
Nevertheleſs it muſt be confeffed that two
ingenious men, who are to be feparated
from each other, may previously agree,
upon fome method, whereby they may
cor-
LIKE YOU AND
ME

[ 112 ]
correfpond by letter, in a manner that is
fcarce poffible to he difclofed without the
key; and I fhall inftance one: Suppofe
the parties agree to correfpond by New-
ton's first edition of Milton, or any other
books, and thereby direct each other in
their letters, to fuch a page, fuch a line,
and to fuch a word; who, I fay, would be
able to find out by their writing page 7,
line 2d, words three, four, and five;
2 vol. page 8, line 19, word 4; fame
page line 9; words
words 3, 4, and 5; was to
fay that THE WESTERN EMPIRE IS DE-
GENERATED INTO LICENTIOUSNESS? with-
out being told, that thefe words will be
found, in the firft and fecond volume of
Farneworth's tranflation of Machiavel's
Works, the first three words, from his
hiftory of Florence, and the remainder,
from his political difcourfes of the firſt
Decad of Livy,
FINI S.
QUOITCA COTTAGE,
Monmouthshire, 1772.

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