Art. VIII. On a new Method of Secret Writings hy Richard 

 Chenevix, Esq., F.R. and A.S. M.R.I.A., <^c. CommvL- 

 nicated by tlie Author. 



A METHOD of writing, so occult as to escape detection, has 

 long been among the desiderata of governments, and of all whose 

 occupations may make secret communication advantageous; 

 and though, from the earliest times, attempts have been made 

 in all countries to attain this object, no mode has yet been de- 

 vised which fulfils the three conditions required by Lord 

 Bacon: — 1st, that it should not be laborious either to read or 

 write : — 2nd, that it should be very difficult to be deciphered : — 

 3rd, that it should be void of suspicion. This great man under- 

 took a solution of his own problem ; but the cipher he produced 

 is remarkable for nothing so much as for transgressing the very 

 rules he had himself established, for it is very laborious to read 

 and write ; it is not very difficult to decipher ; and it is not void 

 of suspicion. Of these qualities the most desirable is the se- 

 cond ; secrecy being the essential property, the sine qua non, of 

 cryptography. The second in importance is the labour of the 

 cipherers and decipherers ; and last of all, should be taken into 

 account, whether a letter containing secret writing may pass the 

 inspection of a person interested in preventing communication 

 between the corresponding parties, without creating suspicion 

 in his mind. By much the greatest portion of the secret cor- 

 respondence carried on in civilized states is tolerated £ind 

 avowed ; in so much, that a professed decipherer not unfre- 

 quently makes one of the retinue of diplomatic establishments ; 

 and some have acquired so much address in the art of detecting 

 the contents of secret writing, that they can translate a ciphered 

 passage, even of a language which is unknown to them, from its 

 fictitious into its natural characters. Their skill in deciphering 

 has been the cause of considerable expense to governments ; for 

 as no cipher is supposed to be impenetrable, sovereigns and their 

 ministers have found themselves under the necessity of con- 

 veying intelligence by couriers, sent on purpose ; and this prac- 

 tice was, perhaps, encouraged by agents who considered their 



