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Eric
Sams
Letters
to Dr. R. A. Sayce
Custodian of the Clarke Diaries (Worcester
College Library, Oxford)
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9
October 1976
Dear Dr. Sayce,
I am writing to ask whether I may have your permission to reproduce,
in the Times Literary Supplement, (of course with an
appropriate acknowledgement) a facsimile of the first four lines of
the William Clarke diary entry for 25 February 1651. I enclose a
xeroxed copy annotated to show the precise passage I have in mind,
and also its meaning.
The background to my request is as follows. In 1973 some of my
decryptments of Civil War ciphers a (now filed in the Bodleian) came
to the notice of Professor Aylmer, who was kind enough to express an
interest and to suggest that I should try my luck with the William
Clarke shorthand, of which he sent me some photocopies. As it turned
out, I was able to read this system, and my findings and equivalents
were deposited in your library, for the use of future researchers (if
any). This year I was asked by another Civil War historian, Dr. Ian
Roy of King's College London, to see whether I could solve three
further letters in unknown cipher, from Henrietta Maria and Baron
Jermyn to Charles I, and from Prince Rupert to Will Legge. I was
successful with the first two, and gave the third to a young
colleague who has now deciphered it.
We have been asked by the Times Literary Supplement to submit
by mid-October the text of an article for historians about this work
and the methods employed, so that researchers will be better equipped
to solve their own cipher texts. The TLS editor has suggested
that some holograph illustration would helpful. The enclosed extract
seemed to me quite interesting in itself and also useful in showing
how the system works. But of course before proceeding any further in
this matter I should seek specific sanction from you, as custodian of
the Clarke archives, for the proposed publication.
I am writing in similar terms to the authorities of the Public Record
Office asking for their permission in respect of the other material
(Charles I and Prince Rupert) with which the article will deal.
Yours sincerely
Dr. Eric Sams
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