“We must see you immediately upon a matter of great importance. Plots have been discovered, and the conspirators are in our hands. Hasten!”
These words would be written thus—
This certainly has an intricate appearance, and would prove a most difficult cipher to any one not conversant with cryptography. But it will be observed that a, for example, is never represented by any other character than ), b never by any other character than (, and so on. Thus by the discovery, accidental or otherwise, of any one letter, the party intercepting the epistle would gain a permanent and decided advantage; and could apply his knowledge to all the instances in which the character in question was employed throughout the cipher.
In the cryptographs, on the other hand, which have been sent us by our correspondent at Stonington, and which are identical in conformation with the cipher resolved by Berryer, no such permanent advantage is to be obtained.
Let us refer to the second of these puzzles. Its key-phrase runs thus:
Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.
Let us now place the alphabet beneath this phrase, letter beneath letter—
| S | u | a | v | i | t | e | r | |
| A | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |