£1,764
Scottish Works of Art & Whisky | 696
Auction: 17 August 2022 at 11:00 BST
Manuscript in brown ink on single sheet of laid paper (30 x 10.7cm), in two columns, with alphabetic substitution code on left (A=3 etc.), and symbolic substitution code on right, the latter providing ciphers for the names of all the major figures in British politics during the reign of Queen Anne, including the Queen herself ('Qn'), the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of of Oxford, the 'Pretender', the Earl of Mar, the Duke of Ormond, Lord Haddo, and similar, and for other key words including 'peace', 'war', 'Highland', 'Presbytry' (sic), etc., slightly spotted, old folds and ink-smudging; together with an anti-Jacobite poem ('I ever have denied / To be on James's side'; on a single sheet).
Note:
A fascinating primary source for the use of coded letters by the crown's agents during the reign of Queen Anne, on this evidence preoccupied with counteracting the Jacobite threat. There is a potential connection to the great mathematician and cryptographer John Wallis (1616-1703), who acceded to the newly created position of official decipherer to the secretary of state under William III in 1701, and continued in the post under Anne until his death two years later.