Now if we wanted to write the words "Come now," we should do it in this way, knowing that there are five figures to every letter, and when a word is formed there is a comma:--

11121122221221211211, 122211222222222.

The next was a favourite of that unfortunate king, Charles I.:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The next is rather good and somewhat difficult:--

Divide a piece of cardboard into twenty-six departments, and in each place a letter; then take another piece (small enough that the letters on the first piece can be seen), and fit it into the centre of the first, dividing this into the same number of departments; then put a piece of thread through the centre of both, so that you can turn the smallest card round, filling the s.p.a.ces up with letters in any way you like. Thus:

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In using the dial, turn it round until, say, the letter m in the middle card comes under the letter A in the outer circle; next take what you want to write, and find it letter by letter in the outer circle, putting down on paper what appears directly under it in the inner circle.

Now if you want to write "I shall come soon," first write the letters A m, so as to enable your correspondent to fix his dial like your own, as the A is in the outer circle and the m under it in the inner--"Am d ufmyy rjxi ujjk."

You may arrange your dial in any way you like, but must be sure to place what letter is under the A at the beginning of your cipher.

The next is something like the last:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Now if you want to tell some one that "They are all coming over," you must write it down and place the figures 5, 4, 3 over every letter in succession. Thus:--

5 4 3 5 4 3 5 4 3 5 4 3 5 4 3 5 4 3 5 4.

T h e y a r e a l l c o m i n g o v e r.

Then look for the letter T in the dial; the figure 5 being over it, you must look for the fifth letter from it, which is O: put it down, and go on to the next letter in the message, H; find H in the circle, and as 4 is over it, put down the fourth letter from it, D: for E, with the 3 over it, we must write down the third letter from E; and for the next letter, Y, 5 being over it, the fifth letter; and so on, always counting in the direction of the arrows. The cipher will run eventually: "Odbt woz wig ylhekb kszn."

The way to read this cipher is to put 543 down the same as before, and to count them on the circle in the opposite way to which the arrows are pointing.

The most famous and complex cipher perhaps ever written was by Lord Bacon. It was arranged in the following manner:--

aaaaa stands for a aaaab b aaaba c aaabb d aabaa e aabab f aabba g aabbb h abaaa i & j abaab k ababa l ababb m abbaa n abbab o abbba p abbbb q baaaa r baaab s baaba t baabb u & v babaa w babab x babba y babbb z

Now, suppose you want to inform some one that "All is well;" first place down the letters separately according to the above alphabet--

aaaaa ababa ababa abaaa baaab babaa aabaa ababa ababa.

Then take a sentence five times the length in letters of "All is well,"--say it is, "We were sorry to have heard that you have been so unwell."

Then fit this sentence to the cipher shown above, like this--

a a a a a a b a b a a b a b a a b a a a b a W e w e r e _s_ o _r_ r y _t_ o _h_ a v _e_ h e a _r_ d --- --- --- --- --- ---

a a b b a b a a a a b a a a b a b a a b a b a.

t h _a__t_ y _o_ u h a v _e_ b e e _n_ s _o_ u n _w_ e _l_ l.

Marking with a dash every letter that comes under a B. Then put the sentence down on your paper, printing all marked letters in italics, and the others in the ordinary way, thus--

"We were _s_o_r_ry _t_o _h_av_e_ hea_r_d th_at_ y_o_u hav_e_ bee_n_ s_o_ un_w_e_l_l."

The person who receives the cipher puts it down and writes an A under every letter except those in italics; these he puts a B under; he then divides the cipher obtained into periods of five letters, looks at his alphabet, and finds the meaning to be, "All is well."

Here is a specimen of a music cryptograph:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The next is good, but rather lengthy:--

a b c d e f g h .:... :...: .::.. ...:. ....: .:.:: ..:.. :....

i j k l m n o p ::... ..::. .:.:. :.:.. ...:: ..:.: :::.. .:::.

q r s t u v w x ::::: ::.:: :.:.: ::..: :.::. ::::. .:::: :::.:

y z :.::: .::.:

Here is the key of another:--

1 2 3 4 5 a b e d e--1 f g h i k--2 l m n o p--3 q r s t u--4 v w x y z--5

In picking out the letter you want, you must see under what number it stands, then see what number is at the end of the line, then put those two figures together, and they will represent the letter: thus, 15 represents V; 23, M; 43, O; and 55, Z.

The sentence, "We meet to-night," would be--2551, 23515144, 4443, 3342223244.

The next is a very difficult and complex cryptograph to decipher.

Draw a table of four columns, like the figure below. In the first column place the six different arrangements of the figures 1, 2, 3, and number the other columns 1st, 2d, and 3d respectively:--

+-----+---------+---------+---------+ | | 1st. | 2d. | 3d. | +-----+---------+---------+---------+ | 123 | t y c n | h r e m | e a o i | | 132 | b e f s | y h i s | g t r t | | 213 | e r e e | t m x w | a e n t | | 231 | e r m c | k m a r | a h h y | | 321 | l m r t | i c i h | l o e g | +-----+---------+---------+---------+

You must agree with your correspondent how many letters wide each of the three columns shall be--we will say four. Then take your sentence--say it is, "They are coming by the first steamer next week from America; we hope they will come right." You must then place every letter down separately, writing the figures in the first column in succession over them, thus--

1 2 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1 1 2 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 T h e y a r e c o m i n g b y t h e f i r s t s t e a m

3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1 1 2 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1 1 2 3 1 e r n e x t w e e k f r o m A m e r i c a w e h o p e t h e

3 2 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1.

y w i l l c o m e r i g h t.

Over the first letter, "t," stands "1," therefore write "t" in the column marked first; over "h" is "2," therefore write "h" in the second column; over "e" is "3," then put "e" in the third column, and so on; but when four letters are written abreast you must begin a new line.

After doing the above, you must take the letters in each column separately (beginning with the first), and form them into imaginary words, putting a dot under the last letter of each column to show your correspondent that the column ends there; thus--

Tycnb efse ree ermc w pee lmr[t.] hrem yhistmx wk mar eot wi ci[h.]eaoi gtrtae ntfoei ah hyl oe[g.].