Poe’s cryptography challenges — Alexander’s Weekly Messenger, 1839–1840 — reading text

translation is as follows: THE VOYAGE OF LIFE How few, favoured by every element, With swelling sails make good the promised port, With all their wishes freighted! yet ev’n these Freighted with all their wishes soon complain. Free from misfortune, not from nature free, They still are men; and when is man secure? As fatal time as storm. The rush of years Beats down their strength; their numberless escapes In ruin end: and now their proud success But plants new terrours on the victor's brow. What pain to quit the world just made their own! Their nests so dearly downed, and built so high! Too low they build who build beneath the stars. We have just received a cypher from J. Lucas, of Mount Holly, N. Jersey, which has been concocted with much ingenuity. We read it however, with perfect ease. It runs thus: “That which directs the monuments of man; one of the strongest passions; and one eighth of the birth place of Archimedes, compose the name of a worthy subscriber to the Messenger.” We must confess that our friend's enigma is not the very best in the world — for he evidently means its answer to be Luc-a-s. Luck as directing the monuments, &c. — a as the initial of anger — and S as the eighth of Syracuse, the birth place of Archimedes. D. D's cypher, of Irvinton, Ala., has this minute come to hand. He says we will “do to travel” if we read it — but it is a mere trifle — the letters being formed upon a square with diagonal crosses. Life, like lovers, soon decays; Our ardor soon is oer; Very soon, alas, ‘t betrays E’en hearts that blood not poore, We give the verses verbatim and are not responsible for their merit. “Munger's” cypher is precisely like D. D's; but, being in pencil, is too much defaced to be read. Having thus gone through with the whole list of our enigmatical friends, it will be seen that we have done far more than merely redeem the pledge made at starting. We stated certain conditions, and these have seldom been observed. — In last weeks paper we decyphered a puzzle where the writer had actually used seven distinct alphabets in place of the one for which we stipulated. Just above, too, C. B. has run all his characters together without interval; but we made it a condition that the arbitrary letters should be used as the ordinary alphabet. We have been foiled in no instance. It would have been better, perhaps, if our correspondents had always made use of their real names in sending their favor, and not of initials. Should we receive any thing upon this subject, hereafter, we cannot reply to it unless we have the writer's true name. It will be observed that when a cypher is sent us with the writers initials only, no one can be sure, except the person himself and his immediate friends, that the puzzle is not a fiction of our own. Upon second thought, we must decline giving our mode of solution for the present. Edgar Allan Poe, “More of The Puzzles,” Alexander's Weekly Messenger , March 4, 1840, p. 2, col. 3 and p. 4, col 1 MORE OF THE PUZZLES. We have received the following note from our enigmatical friend J. H. Mr. Editor, you have certainly fulfilled your promise to the very letter, and I hereby acknowledge that you did decypher my puzzle correctly in your last weekly paper. Pointing out the precise words by which I meant to convey my meaning. And moreover I am perfectly convinced from what I have seen, that you can decypher any piece of writing in which arbitrary signs are used instead of the letters of the alphabet. J. H. ———— Our fair correspondent at the Metropolis, will find the solution of her puzzle in the following lines: WASHINGTON CITY, D. C. } Feb. 8th, 1840. } Dear Sir — Having heard of your skill in interpreting letters written in arbitrary signs, we send you this, which, if translated by you, and published in the Messenger, will give much pleasure to MANY LADIES. ———— T. S., of Boquet, N. Y. will find the solution of his cypher on the urth page. We will reply to R.H. and our friend of Bedford, Lower Canada, in our next. —————— To T. S. of Boquet, Essex, N. Y. — Your cypher is thus read: TO CELIA. When day declines, and sable night Shall veil this hemisphere from sight, I would, with no dull cares oppressed, Spend each dark hour in quiet rest. A rake and fool may drink and rove — Night is the time which they improve With such to walk I will refuse; You are the company I choose. Edgar Allan Poe, “Puzzles Again,” Alexander's Weekly Messenger , vol. 4, no. 11, March 11, 1840, p. 2, col. 3 PUZZLES AGAIN! Our friend J. R. H., of Philadelphia, will excuse us for saying that he has not, even yet, complied with our conditions, which provided that the arbitrary characters were to be used as the alphabetical ones are. In the present instance he has made no divisions between his words — running them all together. But lest he should think we cannot decypher what he sends, and especially in order that he may win his bet upon our infallibility, we now give the translation without more ado. It runs thus: If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again! — it had a dying fall. O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet south That breathes upon a bank of violets Stealing and giving odor enough! no more! ‘Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, That, notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, nought enters thee Of what validity and pitch soever But falls into abatement and low price Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical. A correspondent who signs his initials L. R. G., of Philadelphia, but whom we strongly suspect, by his MS., to be a Mr. H., of our acquaintance, writes us as follows: These puzzles you may see by analysis to be genuine. If you can’t resolve them, you will have to give up.” We must say to L. R. G. that we stipulated for English, and that the annexed affair (which are the translations of his cypher) can scarcely come under that denomination. We give the spelling as our correspondent gives it — evidently with the design of bothering us. PRAYER THE CHILD’S FOR AN ABSENT FATHER. My father's gone away, A wish he would come home. A do not like to have him stay Where a can’t see him every day. Ma yhen yill father come home. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. ———— To our correspondent in Bedford, Lower Canada. Your cypher is thus read: “Mrs. Hopkins told me that she heard Green's wife say that John Glacrie's wife told her that Fanny Hopkins heard the Widow Washam say that Captain Weed's wife thought Colonel Hodgkin's sister Nel lied — that old Miss Quins reckoned that Mrs. Samuel Dunham had told Spalding's wife that she heard John Min's daughter say that her mother told her that old Miss Finns heard grandmother Cool declare that it was an undoubted fact.” It would be a satisfaction to us if our enigmatical friends whose cyphers we have fairly decyphered would make acknowledgment to that effect. Edgar Allan Poe, “Puzzles Again,” Alexander's Weekly Messenger , March 25, 1840, p. 2, col. 6 PUZZLES AGAIN! Greenville, Butler county, Ala. Mr. C. ALEXANDER. Dear Sir. — As there is great interest taken in your very valuable paper in this part of the country, and especially with regard to the puzzling part of it, I shall be obliged if you will decypher and publish the following. I do not presume it to be more difficult to solve than many others, but sufficiently so, if solved, to satisfy myself and others at this section of the country, of your ability to explain any thing of the kind. Very respectfully yours,   JOHN K. HENRY. It will give us great pleasure to oblige Mr. Henry. His cypher reads thus: D67ε;002)7.U   )177¿3;007☞*D071☜.*¿0k2]   2☞242,   ,8   2☞.*D-¿7   6*¿wl7   w2¿wU.   lDk4;078   Ul.4 D67   ☜Dk .U4.☞;07· The translation is thus: The village of Greenville, Butler county, Alabama, is about one hundred and forty miles from the city of Mobile. —————— TO INCOG, of Ithaca, N. Y. Your first cypher is thus translated: Selected for Alexander's Messenger. If that high word which lies beyond Our own surviving love endures — If there the cherished hearts be fond The eye the same except in tears — How welcome those untrodden spheres! How sweet this very hour to die! To soar from earth and find all fears Lost in thy light, Eternity! In regard to the second we reply at once — it is not genuine. There is no word in the English language which ends as your word hbjggg terminates — with three similar letters. This point is perfectly conclusive. Incog will, of course, not understand us to say that he intentionally wished to deceive us. We mean only to say that this puzzle, which may be genuine enough in its way, (and which, indeed, we know very well to be so) is not of the kind for which we stipulated, but belongs to Cryptography — as did Mr. K's, of whom he makes mention. Incog will see at once that we are obliged to keep within some limits. Were we to engage in the solution of every kind of puzzle sent us, we should have our hands full. We said that we could and would solve every cypher, of a stipulated character, which we should receive, and we have kept our pledge more than ten times over. So much for ourselves. In regard to the Cryptography, Incog is altogether mistaken — it is subject, like almost every thing else, to the universal rules of analysis. We can decypher any thing of the kind, or of any other kind. What is said about a key being necessary for the solution is based upon a misconception. It does not follow that, because cyphers are put together by laborious or intricate processes (as many have been which we have received and solved) that we must go through the same intricate process in unriddling them. We assert roundly, and in general terms, that human ingenuity cannot concoct a proper cypher which we cannot resolve. ———— Our friends would very much oblige us by acknowledging the solutions we have given, as requested in our last. Not one can say that he has forwarded us a cypher, which we have not fully and accurately translated. Mr. J. Lucas, of Mount Holly, requests us to state that the answer to an Enigma sent in a cyphy by him (and of which we gave the translation some weeks since) was not his own name, although that might answer, but was intended for the name of another subscriber, Mr. Jos. P. Wills. We have not yet found time to look at Hamilton Brown's cypher, but will attend to it hereafter. ———— †††   ||††?||   ,—   ☜,||††]s||   (?)†   ☜,||††]s||   .   ,†(*—   ☜,||††]s||   ¶],(   ☜,||††]s||   ¶]s(||-⊥⊥,—   —||,   ☜☜   ?||   ☜†?—||   ?   )?(   ?(*   †††   ||††?||   ††?—?☜☜   ||†††—†   —   (]   )]   † OLD POINT COMFORT } March 16th, 1840. } Mr. ALEXANDER. Sir: — Not doubting your capability to solve the above (if we may judge from the many curious specimens of the kind, which have appeared in your valuable paper) rather as a proof of your infallibility to some doubting minds, you would much oblige a number of your subscribers by inserting the above with its solution. Yours, with respect,   J. T. G. With pleasure the translation is thus: He that is without name, without friends, without coin, without country, is still at least a man, and he that has all these is no more. Edgar Allan Poe, “Cyphers,” Alexander's Weekly Messenger , April 8, 1840, p. 2, col. 2 CYPHERS. We have on hand one or two letters from enigmatical friend to which we cannot attend, this week, owing to a press of business. In our next they shall hear from us in full. Incog. is over-hasty, and must read what we said again. We meant no offence in t world, and thought we were sufficiently careful in so wording our article as not to give any. Edgar Allan Poe, “Cyphers,” Alexander's Weekly Messenger , April 22, 1840, p. 2, col 4 CYPHERS AGAIN. A press of business has prevented