Our remarks on this head, in the July number, have excited much
interest. The subject is unquestionably one of importance, when we
regard cryptography as an exercise for the analytical faculties. In this
view, men of the finest abilities have given it much of their attention;
and the invention of a perfect cipher was a point to which Lord
Chancellor Bacon devoted many months;—devoted them in vain, for the
cryptograph which he has thought worthy a place in his _De Augmentis_,
is one which can be solved.
Just as we were going to press with the last sheet of this number, we
received the following letter from F. W. Thomas, Esq., (of Washington,)
the well-known author of “Clinton Bradshawe,” “Howard Pinckney,” &c. &c.
My Dear Sir:—The enclosed cryptograph is from a friend of mine
(Dr. Frailey,) who thinks he can puzzle you. If you decipher it,
then are you a magician, for he has used, as I think, the
greatest art in making it.
Your friend,
F. W. Thomas.
[Illustration: image of cryptograph, transcription given below]
£ 7i A itagi niinbiiit thitvuiaib9g h auehbiifb ivgiht itau %
gvuiitiif 4 t$bt2ihtbo £iiiiadb9 iignit£d i2 ta5ta whbo
ttbibtiii†it9 A iti if X hti 4 ithtt % i ‡ bnniathubii iSt b
eaovuhoSu vtt7diboif * iti nihd6Xht na3ig an choo$ht n‡tnvotigg2
iibtvo$if b Eaovu£avg iinoh†$h7 niau iti vtheiigbo iit6 A itagi
t7iitig h fifvti iti gvugidviti bubodbub9 A tiiiiaditiavg nbttg
iStavi fvuhiiu £thnhiti niiiit8 † bni 4 iiiu£$i ht d£bo evodbiSa
‡ nbiivihiti uavtib£g ibei —it dbuvo$if ia niafvti uvgtvnvobi
buai9g uii iti £giSv9 i2 gvuiiti A uu iiubisg ibg tai —it
iStavi tbvgi iti itiui A i2 intiuiiibo taovutg an dvaihfh¶
iavitbog ¶f a ititvghbgight ittauh$h7g ht t7eiigb9bo £iiitavigi.
Transcriber’s Note: In this transcription of the cryptograph,
the % character has been substituted for a small right pointing
hand character since depending on the device used and fonts
available in the device used to view the cryptograph, the hand
character may not display.
This cipher is printed precisely as we received it, with the exception
that we have substituted, for convenience sake, in some instances,
characters that we have in the office, for others that we have not. Of
course, as these characters are substituted _throughout_, the
cryptograph is not affected.
By return of mail we sent the solution to Mr. Thomas; but as the cipher
is an exceedingly ingenious one, we forbear publishing its translation
here, and prefer testing the ability of our readers to solve it. _We
will give a year’s subscription to the Magazine, and also a year’s
subscription to the Saturday Evening Post, to any person, or rather to
the first person who shall read us this riddle._ We have no expectation
that it will be read; and, therefore, should the month pass without an
answer forthcoming, we will furnish the key to the cipher, and again
offer a year’s subscription to the Magazine, to any person who shall
solve it _with the key_.
Lest the tenor of our observations on Cryptography should be
misunderstood, and especially lest the nature of our challenge should be
misconceived, we take occasion to refer to our Review of Mr. Walsh’s
“Sketches of Conspicuous Living Characters of France,” published in the
April number of the Magazine. M. Berryer, the French Minister, is there
said to have displayed the highest ingenuity in the solution of a cipher
addressed by the Duchess of Berri to the legitimists of Paris, but of
which she had neglected to furnish the key. Berryer discovered this to
be the phrase “Le gouvernement provisoire.” Beneath this sentence the
alphabet had been placed, letter for letter; and thus when _a_ was
intended _l_ was written, when _b_ was meant _e_ was substituted, and so
on throughout. This species of cryptograph is justly considered very
difficult. We remarked, however, that we would engage to read any one
_of the kind_; and to this limit our correspondents must confine
themselves. To be sure, we said, in our last number, that “human
ingenuity could not construct a cipher which human ingenuity could not
resolve”—but then we do not propose, just now, to make ourselves
individually the test of “human ingenuity” in general. We do not propose
to solve _all_ ciphers. Whether we can or cannot do this is a question
for another day—a day when we have more leisure than at present we have
any hope of enjoying. The most simple cryptograph requires, in its
solution, labor, patience, and much time. We therefore abide by the
limits of our cartel. It is true that in attempting the perusal of Dr.
Frailey’s we have exceeded these limits by very much; but we were
seduced into the endeavor to read it by the decided manner in which an
opinion was expressed that we could not.
E. St. J. will observe that his cipher includes _every_ letter of the
natural alphabet. Then (admitting it to be a cipher of the kind
proposed) his key-phrase must contain every letter of the natural
alphabet. In such case no letter of the phrase can stand _for more than
one_ of the alphabet, and the whole would be nothing more than a simple
cipher, where the natural characters are represented, invariably and
respectively, by arbitrary ones. But in this supposition there could be
no such words as _ll_, &c.—words seen in the cryptograph. _Therefore_,
his cipher is _not_ within the limits prescribed—Q. E. D. We do not say
that we _cannot_ solve it, but that we will not make the attempt. This
for the obvious reasons above assigned.
P. S. We have just received the annexed letter from Mr. Thomas,
enclosing one from Dr. Frailey:
Washington, July 6th, 1841.
My Dear Sir,
This morning I received yours of yesterday, deciphering the
“cryptograph” which I sent you last week, from my friend, Doctor
Frailey. You request that I would obtain the Doctor’s
acknowledgment of your solution. I have just received the
enclosed from him.
Doctor Frailey had heard me speak of your having deciphered a
letter which our mutual friend, Dow, wrote upon a challenge from
you last year, at my lodgings in your city, when Aaron Burr’s
correspondence in cipher was the subject of our conversation.
You laughed at what you termed Burr’s shallow artifice, and said
you could decipher any such cryptography easily. To test you on
the spot, Dow withdrew to the corner of the room, and wrote a
letter in cipher, which you solved in a much shorter time than
it took him to indite it.
As Doctor Frailey seemed to doubt your skill to the extent of my
belief in it, when your article on “Secret Writing” appeared in
the last number of your Magazine, I showed it to him. After
reading it, he remarked that he thought he could puzzle you, and
the next day he handed me the cryptograph which I transmitted to
you. He did not tell me the key. The uncommon nature of his
article, of which I gave you not the slightest hint, made me
express to you my strong doubts of your ability to make the
solution. I confess that your solution, so speedily and
correctly made, surprised me. I congratulate myself that I do
not live in an age when the black art is believed in, for,
innocent as I am of all knowledge of cryptography, I should be
arrested as an accessory before the fact, and, though I escaped,
it is certain that you would have to die the death, and, alas! I
fear upon my testimony.
Your friend,
F. W. Thomas.
Edgar A. Poe, Esq.
Washington, July 6th, 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—— [We omit the remainder of the letter, since it
enters into details which would give our readers some clue to
the cipher.]
As ever, yours, &c.,
Chas. S. Frailey.
F. W. Thomas, Esq.
* * * * *
[Illustration: LATEST FASHIONS, AUGUST 1841. FOR GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.]
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes:
Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic
spellings and inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained. Obvious
punctuation and typesetting errors have been corrected without note.
[End of _Graham’s Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 2, August 1841_, George R.
Graham, Editor]