Curiosities of Olden Times Part 2

The mysterious cards of the Count de Vergennes are an instance. De Vergennes was Minister of Foreign Affairs under Louis XVI., and he made use of cards of a peculiar nature in his relations with the diplomatic agents of France. These cards were used in letters of recommendation or pa.s.sports which were given to strangers about to enter France; they were intended to furnish information without the knowledge of the bearers. This was the system. The card given to a man contained only a few words, such as:

ALPHONSE D'ANGEHA.

Recommande a Monsieur le Comte de Vergennes, par le Marquis de Puysegur, Amba.s.sadeur de France a la Cour de Lisbonne.

The card told more tales than the words written on it. Its colour indicated the nation of the stranger. Yellow showed him to be English; red, Spanish; white, Portuguese; green, Dutch; red and white, Italian; red and green, Swiss; green and white, Russian; etc. The person's age was expressed by the shape of the card. If it were circular, he was under 25; oval, between 25 and 30; octagonal, between 30 and 45; hexagonal, between 45 and 50; square, between 50 and 60; and oblong showed that he was over 60. Two lines placed below the name of the bearer indicated his build. If he were tall and lean, the lines were waving and parallel; tall and stout, they converged; and so on. The expression of his face was shown by a flower in the border. A rose designated an open and amiable countenance, whilst a tulip marked a pensive and aristocratic appearance. A fillet round the border, according to its length, told whether the man was bachelor, married, or widower. Dots gave information as to his position and fortune. A full stop after his name showed that he was a Catholic; a semicolon, that he was a Lutheran; a comma, that he was a Calvinist; a dash, that he was a Jew; no stop indicated him as an Atheist. So also his morals and character were pointed out by a pattern in the angles of the card, such as one of these:

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Consequently, at one glance the minister could tell all about his man, whether he were a gamester or a duellist; what was his purpose in visiting France; whether in search of a wife or to claim a legacy; what was his profession--that of physician, lawyer, or man of letters; whether he were to be put under surveillance or allowed to go his way unmolested.

We come now to a cla.s.s of cypher which requires a certain amount of literary dexterity to conceal the clue.

During the Great Rebellion, Sir John Trevanion, a distinguished Cavalier, was made prisoner, and locked up in Colchester Castle. Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle had just been made examples of, as a warning to "malignants": and Trevanion has every reason for expecting a similar b.l.o.o.d.y end. As he awaits his doom, indulging in a hearty curse in round Cavalier terms at the canting, crop-eared scoundrels who hold him in durance vile, and muttering a wish that he had fallen, sword in hand, facing the foe, he is startled by the entrance of the gaoler who hands him a letter:

"May't do thee good," growls the fellow; "it has been well looked to before it was permitted to come to thee."

Sir John takes the letter, and the gaoler leaves him his lamp by which to read it:

WORTHIE SIR JOHN--Hope, that is ye beste comfort of ye afflictyd, cannot much, I fear me, help you now. That I wolde saye to you, is this only: if ever I may be able to requite that I do owe you, stand not upon asking of me. 'Tis not much I can do: but what I can do, bee you verie sure I wille. I knowe that, if dethe comes, if ordinary men fear it, it frights not you, accounting it for a high honour, to have such a rewarde of your loyalty. Pray yet that you may be spared this soe bitter, cup. I fear not that you will grudge any sufferings: only if bie submission you can turn them away, 'tis the part of a wise man.

Tell me, an if you can, to do for you any thinge that you wolde have done. The general goes back on Wednesday. Restinge your servant to command.

R. T.

Now this letter was written according to a preconcerted cypher. Every third letter after a stop was to tell. In this way Sir John made out--"Panel at east end of chapel slides." On the following even, the prisoner begged to be allowed to pa.s.s an hour of private devotion in the chapel. By means of a bribe, this was accomplished. Before the hour had expired, the chapel was empty--the bird had flown.

An excellent plan of indicating the _telling_ letter or word is through the heading of the letter. "Sir," would signify that every third letter was to be taken; "Dear sir," that every seventh; "My dear sir," that every ninth was to be selected. A system, very early adopted, was that of having pierced cards, through the holes of which the communication was written.

The card was then removed, and the blank s.p.a.ces filled up. As for example:

MY DEAR X.--[The] lines I now send you are forwarded by the kindness of the [Bearer], who is a friend. [Is not] the message delivered yet [to] my Brother? [Be] quick about it, for I have all along [trusted]

that you would act with discretion and despatch.--Yours ever,

Z.

Put your card over the note, and through the piercings you will read: "The Bearer is not to be trusted."

The following letter will give two totally distinct meanings, according as it is read, straight through, or only by alternate lines:--

MADEMOISELLE,--

Je m'empresse de vous ecrire pour vous declarer que vous vous trompez beaucoup si vous croyez que vous etes celle pour qui je soupire. Il est bien vrai que pour vous eprouver, Je vous ai fait mille aveux.

Apres quoi vous etes devenue l'objet de ma raillerie. Ainsi ne doutez plus de ce que vous dit ici celui qui n'a eu que de l'aversion pour vous, et qui aimerait mieux mourir que de se voir oblige de vous epouser, et de changer le dessein qu'il a forme de vous har toute sa vie, bien loin de vous aimer, comme il vous l'a declare. Soyez done desabusee, croyez-moi; et si vous etes encore constante et persuadee que vous etes aimee vous serez encore plus exposee a la risee de tout le monde, et particulierement de celui qui n'a jamais ete et ne sera jamais

Votre ser'teur M. N.

We must not omit to mention Chronograms. These are verses which contain within them the date of the composition. In 1885 I built a boathouse by a lake in my grounds. A friend wrote the following chronogram for it, which I had painted, and affixed to the house:

Thy breaD upon the Waters Cast In CertaIn trust to fInd.

sInCe Well thou know'st G.o.d's eye doth Mark, Where fIshes' eyes are bLind.

This gives the date.

D = 500 + W= 510 + C = 610 + I = 611 + C = 711 + I = 712 + I = 713 + I = 714 + C = 814 + W = 824 + M = 1824 + W = 1834 + I = 1835 + L = 1885.

The W represents two V's, _i.e._ 10.

A very curious one was written by Charles de Bovelle: we adapt and explain it:--

The heads of a mouse and five cats M.CCCCC Add also the tail of a bull L Item, the four legs of a rat IIII ------------- And you have my date in full M.CCCCCL.IIII (1554.)

It is now high time that we show the reader how to find the clue to a cypher. And as ill.u.s.tration is always better than precept, we shall exemplify from our own experience. With permission, too, we shall drop the plural for the singular.

Well! My friend Matthew Fletcher came into a property some years ago, bequeathed to him by a great-uncle. The old gentleman had been notorious for his parsimonious habits, and he was known through the county by the nickname of Miser Tom. Of course every one believed that he was vastly rich, and that Mat Fletcher would come in for a mint of money. But, somehow, my friend did not find the stores of coin on which he had calculated, hidden in worsted stockings or cracked pots; and the savings of the old man which he did light upon consisted of but trifling sums.

Fletcher became firmly persuaded that the money was hidden _somewhere_; where he could not tell, and he often came to consult me on the best expedient for discovering it. It is all through my intervention that he did not pull down the whole house about his ears, tear up every floor, and root up every flower or tree throughout the garden, in his search after the precious h.o.a.rd. One day he burst into my room with radiant face.

"My dear fellow!" he gasped forth, "I have found it!"

"Found what?--the treasure?"

"No--but I want your help now," and he flung a discoloured slip of paper on my table.

I took it up, and saw that it was covered with writing in cypher.

"I routed it out of a secret drawer in Uncle Tom's bureau!" he exclaimed.

"I have no doubt of its purport. It indicates the spot where all his savings are secreted."

"You have not deciphered it yet, have you?"

"No. I want your help; I can make neither heads nor tails of the scrawl, though I sat up all night studying it."

"Come along," said I, "I wish you joy of your treasure. I'll read the cypher if you give me time." So we sat down together at my desk, with the slip of paper before us. Here is the inscription:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Now," said I, "the order of precedence among the letters, according to the frequency of their recurrence, is this, e a o i t d h n r s u y c f g l m w b k p q x z. This, however, is their order, according to the number of words begun by each respectively, s c p a d i f b l b t, etc. The most frequent compounds are th, ng, ee, ll, mm, tt, dd, nn. Pray, Matthew, do you see any one sign repeated oftener than the others in this cryptograph?"

"Yes, 8; it is repeated twenty-three times," said Fletcher, after a pause.

"Then you may be perfectly satisfied that it stands for e, which is used far oftener than any other letter in English. Next, look along the lines and see what letters most frequently accompany it."

"2 -- undoubtedly; it follows 8 in several places, and precedes it in others. In the third line we have 2 -- 8--82 ------ 8--8 -- 8 and then 2 -- 8 again."

"Then we may fairly a.s.sume that 2 -- 8 stands for _the_."

"_The_, to be sure," burst forth Fletcher. "Now the next word will be money. No! it can't be, the e will not suit; perhaps it is treasure, gold, h.o.a.rd, store."

"Wait a little bit," I interposed. "Now look what letters are doubled."