Hincks on Secret W?-iting. 25 



any given passage in such a manner as to convey any given 

 secret meaning ; and this in such a manner as to excite no sus- 

 picion in the mind of any casual inspector of the writing that 

 such secret meaning was involved in it. It is necessary in his 

 Lordship's method that the secret meaning should be much 

 shorter than the outward visible contents of the letter ; not ex- 

 ceeding one-fifth of it. For the conveyance of very laconic 

 messages this method is, I think, unrivalled ; though an im- 

 provement would be required in the formation of the two alpha- 

 bets, which, as exhibited by Lord B., are neither sufficiently 

 distinct, nor sufficiently void of suspicion. Perhaps it might be 

 better to compose the characters of five words, than of five 

 letters, and to have the variation consisting in the correctness 

 or incorrectness of their orthography. A mis-spelt word, or 

 one improperly made to commence with a capital, or abbreviated, 

 might supply the place of one of his Lordship's crooked letters; 

 and if the outward epistle was that of a servant, or mechanic, 

 or other ignorant person, this would create no suspicion ; 

 while the multitude of expletives used by such persons in 

 their correspondence, would much facilitate the composition of 

 the cipher. The employment of the names and style of such 

 persons as I have alluded to, although in a somewhat different 

 manner, has been, it would seem, a common trick in diplomacy ; 

 and, unless Privy-Councils and Secretaries of State were egre- 

 giously mistaken in their suspicions, the endeavours of an exiled 

 monarch to recover possession of his throne, have been often sha- 

 dowed under those of a turned-ofF servant to get back to his 

 place, or of an ale-house-keeper to have his license restored. 



I have spoken at greater length than I otherwise should on 

 Lord Bacon's method, as it has been, I think, unfairly repre- 

 sented in Mr. C.'s paper. The difficulty of writing it is much 

 exaggerated, and the real source of its secrecy is lost sight of. 



I now proceed to Mr. Blair's different methods of secret 

 writing. Of the dot or line writing with 27 characters, it is 

 needless to say any thing, as it can have no pretensions to in- 

 scrutability. Tliat with 81 has not yet received a fair trial, as 

 Mr. B, accompanied his specimen with a key and interpretation, 



