Page:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.djvu/249

CHAPTER XVIII.

picking locks and deciphering.

Interview with Vidocq—Remarkable Power of altering his Height—A Bungler in picking Locks—Mr. Hobb's Lock and the Duke of Wellington—Strong belief that certain Ciphers are inscrutable—Davies Gilbert's Cipher—The Author's Cipher both deciphered—Classified Dictionaries of the English Language—Anagrams—Squaring Words—Bishop not easily squared—Lesser Dignitaries easier to work upon.

These two subjects are in truth much more nearly allied than might appear upon a superficial view of them. They are in fact closely connected with each other as small branches of the same vast subject of combinations.

Several years ago, the celebrated thief-taker, Vidocq, paid a short visit to London. I had an interview of some duration with this celebrity, who obligingly conveyed to me much information, which, though highly interesting, was not of a nature to become personally useful to me.

He possessed a very remarkable power, which he was so good as to exhibit to me. It consisted in altering his height to about an inch and a half less than his ordinary height. He threw over his shoulders a cloak, in which he walked round the room. It did not touch the floor in any part, and was, I should say, about an inch and a half above it. He then altered his height and took the same walk. The cloak then touched the floor and lay upon it in some part or other during the whole