DIPLOMATIC LETTERS. 
In the English let it be remarked, that 
and and the are more often found than any 
other words; h is frequently preceded by 
w, c, s, and t; y is seldom used in the mid- 
dle of a word ; the double letters ll and ss 
appear frequently at the end of words ; ed, 
ty, ly, ing, and tion are very common ter- 
minations ; em, in, com, and con are frequent 
prepositions; a, i, and o may stand alone; 
0 is often followed with u ; e is much more 
frequent in the beginning and end of words 
than in the middle ; and in English the e is 
continually employed, as in yes; yet, her, 
never, me, we, he, the, she, they, ye, fee, see, 
he, ever, speed, need, deference, excel, excess, 
A:c. Though this will not hold good in 
Latin, as e and i are equally frequent in the 
latter, and next to these a and «; but o 
not so common as any of them : and yet in 
the Spanish and Italian the o occurs very 
frequently. When you meet with a cha- 
racter doubled in the middle of a word of 
four letters, it will be necessary to consider 
what words of four letters are so spelled. 
It is probable the vowels e or o are these ; 
as meet, feel, good, hook, look, &c. In 
polysyllables, where a double character ap- 
pears in the middle of a word, it is for the 
most part a consonant ; and if so the pre- 
ceding letter is always a vowel. 
Observe also, that i in English never ter- 
minates a word, nor a or u, except in flea, 
sea, you, or thou : again, by comparing tlie 
frequency of the letters, you will generally 
find e occurs the oftenest ; next o, then a 
and i ; but u and y are not so often used as 
some of (he consonants, especially s and t. 
Among the vowels e and o are often doubled ; 
the rest scarce ever; and e and y often ter- 
minate words; but y is much less frequent, 
and consequently easily distinguished. 
To find out one consonant from another, 
you must also observe the frequency of d, 
h, n, r, s, t ; and next to these c, f, g, I, m, 
w; in a third rank may be placed b, k, p, 
and lastly q, x, z. This remark, however, be- 
longs to English ; for in Latin common con- 
sonants are tlie I, r, s, t ; next c, f, m, n; 
then d, g, h, p, q ; and lastly b, x, z. But 
the difficulty is to come at the knowledge 
of three or four letters ; therefore, where 
a word of four letters has the first and 
fourth the same, it is most likely to be that : 
to discover which, look for another of four 
letters, beginning with the two first and 
ending with two others, and it will pro- 
bably prove to be this; and more especially 
if you find another with three letters, be- 
ginning with the two first; for in that case 
it must be the. Now,, having foimd Out in 
any part of the cypher these three words, 
that, this, and the, place them over the cha- 
racters which you know to be t, h, a, i, s, e, 
and then consider what letters are deficient, 
and what words, from the number of letters 
that composed them, they are most likely 
to be. You will thus find such ready and 
surprising intimations from the above six 
letters jjreviously discovered, that you will 
soon be in possession of the whole alphabet. 
, When words of two letters appear of the 
same characters, differently placed, it is 
most likely one is on and the other no ; so 
of, and/or, and/rom, discover and ascertain 
each other ; and th are very often used in 
the beginning of English words, as thee, that, 
this, then, these, their, thirst. Sec. &c. 
Besides these peculiarities, Mr. Falconer 
points out the following, as applicable to the 
English. 
A 'I 
B 
C 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
I 
K 
L 
M 
N . * 
o 
p 
Q 
R 
S 
XI 
_o 
I 
T 
U 
V 
w 
X 
& 
SC 
a 
Sc 
<u 
M 
f most of the letters. 
a, e, i, I, 0 , r, u, y. 
a, e, h, i, I, o, r, u. 
a, e, i, 0 , r, u. 
most of the letters. 
a, e, i, I, 0 , r, u, and sometimes y. 
a, e, h, i, I, n, o, r, u, y. 
vowels only, 
most of the letters. 
a, e, i, n. 
vowels only, 
vowels only, 
vowels only. 
■{ most of the letters. 
a, e, h, i, I, o, r, s, sometimes t, u, y. 
only by u, and qu by a, e, i, o. 
a, e, sometimes ft, i, o, u, y. 
a, c, e, ft, i, fc, I, m, n, o, p, q, t, u, 
w,y. 
a, e, ft, i, 0 , r, u, w, y. 
sometimes d, and g, I, m, n, p; 
sometimes r, s, t, x. 
vowels only. 
a, e, ft, i, 0 , r, y. 
sometimes a or e. 
I e, sometimes i, o. 
Lc, sometimes o. 
It would be too prolix in us to give an 
equally minute account of the particularities 
of other languages; but the inquisitive 
reader will find them very well specified in 
the “ Cryptographia Denudata” of D. A. 
Conrad, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1739, and in the 
latter part of Breithaupt’s “ Ars Decifrato. 
ria, sive Scientia occultas Scripturas solven- 
di et legendi,” Helmst. l2mo. 1737. 
To exercise the English scholar, we here 
subjoin one example of plain cyphering, in 
which two figures answer to each letter ; 
