SOLUTION.
In one of those peripatetic circumrotations I obviated a rustic whom I subjected to catachetical interrogation respecting the nosocomical characteristics of the edifice to which I was approximate. With a volubility uncongealed by the frigorific powers of villatic bashfulness, he ejaculated a voluminous replication from the universal tenor of whose contents I deduce the subsequent amalgamation of heterogeneous facts. Without dubiety incipient pretension is apt to terminate in final vulgarity, as parturient mountains have been fabulated to produce muscupular abortions. The institution the subject of my remarks, has not been without cause the theme of the ephemeral columns of quotidian journals, and enthusiastic encomiations in conversational intercourse.
The key to this cipher is as follows—But find this out and I give it up.
The appended letter, however, from Dr. Frailey, will show the means used by him to embarrass the reading. Arbitrary characters were made to stand for whole words. When we take this circumstance into consideration, with other facts mentioned in the letter, and regard also the nonsensical character of the phraseology employed, we shall be the better enabled to appreciate the extreme difficulty of the puzzle.
Washington, July 6, 1841.
Dear Sir,
It gives me pleasure to state, that the reading by Mr. Poe, of the cryptograph which I gave you a few days since for transmission to him, is correct.
I am the more astonished at this, since for various words of two, three and four letters, a distinct character was used for each, in order to prevent the discovery of some of those words, by their frequent repetition in a cryptograph of any length and applying them to other words. I also used a distinct character for the terminations tion and sion, and substituted in every word where it was possible, some of the characters above alluded to. Where the same word of two of those letters occurred frequently, the letters of the key phrase and the characters were alternately used, to increase the difficulty.
As ever, yours, &c.
CHAS. S. FRAILEY.
To F. W. Thomas, Esq.
LATEST FASHIONS, OCTOBER, 1841. FOR GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE
Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Available scans of the fashion plate were missing a caption so caption was added in the style of the fashion plates of the previous issues of this volume. Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious punctuation and typesetting errors have been corrected without note.
[End of Graham’s Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 4, October 1841, George R. Graham, Editor]