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The key-phrase of this cryptograph is--"A word to the wise is sufficient."

The second is thus translated-- "Nonsensical phrases and unmeaning combinations of words, as the learned lexicographer would have confessed himself, when hidden under cryptographic ciphers, serve to perpdex the curious enquirer, and baffle penetration more completely than would the most profound apothems of learned philosophers. Abstruse disquisitions of the scholiasts, were they but presented before him in the undisguised vocabulary of his mother tongue "

The last sentence here (as will be seen) is broken off short. The spelling we have strictly adhered to. D, by mistake, has been put for I in perplex.

The key-phrase is--"Suaviter ir, mode, fortiter I'll ret"

In the ordinary cryptograph, as will be seen in reference to most of those we have specified above, the artificial alphabet agreed upon by the correspondents, is employed, letter for letter, in place of the usual or natural one. For example:-- two parties wish to communicate secretly. It is arranged before parting that

(shall stand for a

)—————— "b

———————— "c

*—————— "d

.—————— "e

’—————— "f

;—————— "g

:—————— "h

?—————— "i or j

!—————— "k

&—————— "l

0—————— "m

‘—————— "n

†—————— "o

‡—————— "p

¶—————— "q

[R-hand]—————— "r

]—————— "s

[—————— "t

£—————— "u or v

$—————— "w

¿—————— "x

¡—————— "y

[L-hand]—————— "z

Now the following note is to be communicated-- "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

$ 0 . £ ] [ ] . . ¡ † £ ? 0 0 . * ¿ ) [ . & ¡ £ ‡ † ‘ ) 0 ) [ [ . [R-hand] † ’ ; [R-hand] . ) [ ? 0 ‡ † [R-hand] [ ) ‘ — . ‡ & † [ ] : ) £ . ( . . ‘ * . ] — † £ . [R-hand] . * ) ' * — † ‘ ] ‡ ? [R-hand] ) [ † [R-hand] ] ) [R-hand] . ? ? ‘ † £ [R-hand] : ) ‘ * ] : ) ] [ . ’

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:

Surfeiter ire mono, fortiter in ret

Let us now place the alphabet beneath this phrase, letter beneath letter--

S|u|a|v|i|t|e|r|i|n|m|o|d|o|f|o|r|t|i|t|e|r|i|n|r|e 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

We here see that

astands for ——————————— c d " "——————————— m e " "——————————— z f " " g, u and o i " "——————————— w m " "e, i, s and k n " " j and x o " "——————————— p r " "h, q, v and y s " "——————————— a t " "——————————— t u " " f, r, and b v " "——————————— d

In this manner n stands for two letters, and e, o, and t for three each, while i and r represent each as many as four. Thirteen characters are made to perform the operations of the whole alphabet. The result of such a key-phrase upon the cipher, is to give it the appearance of a mere medley of the letters e, o, t, r and i--the latter character greatly predominating, through the accident of being employed for letters which, themselves, are inordinately prevalent in most languages--we mean e and i.

A letter thus written being intercepted, and the key-phrase unknown, the individual who should attempt to decipher it may be imagined guessing, or otherwise attempting to convince himself, that a certain character (i, for example,) represented the letter e. Looking throughout the cryptograph for confirmation of this idea, he would