BACON 



whereof I fit, letter by letter, the words, " Stay till I come to 

 you," observing the use of my two alphabets of differently 

 shaped letters, thus : 



aabab ababa babba 

 Stay t Hi co me to you 



Having now adjusted my writing according to all my alpha- 

 bets, I send it to my correspondent, who reads the secret mean- 

 ing by translating the roman letters into a's, and the italic ones 

 into b's, according to the roman and italic alphabets, and com- 

 paring each combination of five of them with the biliteral alpha- 

 bet. 



We herewith annex a fuller example of the cipher of writing 

 " omnia per omnia," viz., an interior letter once sent by the 

 Ephores of Sparta in a scytale or round ciphered staff : 



" Perditae res. Minidarus cecidit. Milites esuriunt, neque 

 hinc nos extricare, neque hie diutius manere possumus." 



The exterior letter in which the above is involved is taken 

 from the first epistle of Cicero. We adjoin it : 



" Ego omni officio ac potius pietate erga te, cseteris satisfacio 

 omnibus ; mihi ipse numquam satisfacio. Tanta est enim magni- 

 tude tuorum erga me meritorum, ut quoniam tu nisi perfecta 

 re, de me non conquiesti. Ego quia non idem tu tua causa 

 erficio, vitam mihi esse acerbam putem. In causa haec sunt ; 

 Ammonius regis legatus aperte pecunia non oppugnat. Res 

 agitur per eosdem creditores per quos, cum tu aderas, agebatur 

 regis causa, si qui sunt, qui velint qui pauci sunt, omnes ad 

 Pompeium rem deferri volunt. Senatus religionis calumniam, 

 non religione, sed malevolentia, et illius regiae largitionis in- 

 vidia, comprobat," etc. 



The doctrine of ciphers has introduced another, relative to it, 

 viz., the art of deciphering without the alphabet of the cipher, or 

 knowing the rules whereby it was formed. This indeed is a 

 work of labor and ingenuity, devoted, as well as the former, to 

 the secret service of princes. Yet by a diligent precaution it 

 may be rendered useless, though, as matters now stand, it is 

 highly serviceable ; for if the ciphers in use were good and 

 trusty, several of them would absolutely elude the labor of the 

 decipherer, and yet remain commodious enough, so as to be 

 readily written and read. But through the ignorance and un 

 skilfulness of secretaries and clerks in the courts of princes, the 



