a Comfit-box of Gold, and suspended by a minute but strong
Chain of Steel round my Neck.

"In difficult Circumstances," says his Eminence, "you will open that
Comfit-box and swallow that little Ball of Wax. I have often thought,"
he pursued, "that Spies, to be perfect in their Vocation, should first
of all be apprenticed to Mountebanks. At the Fair of St. Germain, I have
gazed with admiration on the grotesquely bedizened fellows who swallow
Swords, Redhot Pokers, and Yards of Ribbon without number, and thought
of what invaluable service their Powers of Gullet would be in the rapid
and effectual concealment of Documents the which it is expedient to
conceal from the eyes of the Vulgar."

Again, in the folds of a silken belt, in the which I was to keep my
Letters of Credit and a large unset Diamond, in case I should be pressed
for Money in places where there were no Bankers,--for Diamonds are
convertible into Cash from one end of the World to the other, except
among the Cannibals,--in this Belt was a little Scrap of Parchment
secured between two squares of Glass, and bearing an Inscription in
minute characters, which I was unable to decipher. I have the Scrap of
Parchment by me yet, and have shown it to Doctor Dubiety, who is a very
learned man; but even he is puzzled with it; and beyond opining that the
characters are either Arabic or Sanscrit, cannot give me any information
regarding their Purport.

"This Parchment," observed the Cardinal when he delivered it to me,
"will be of no service to you with Civil or Military Governors, and it
will be well for you not to show it to carnal-minded Men; but if ever
you get into difficulties with Holy Mother Church--I speak not of
Heretic Communions--you may produce it at once, and it will be sure to
deliver you from those Fiery Furnaces and the Jaws of those Devouring
Dragons of whom the said Holy Mother Church is sometimes forced (through
the perversity of Mankind) to make use."

Finally, this same Belt contained a curious Contrivance, by means of a
piece of Vellum perforated in divers places, for deciphering the Letters
I might receive from his Eminence or his agents. On placing the Vellum
over the Letter sent, the words intended to meet the eyes of the
recipient, and none other, would appear through the incisions made;
while, the Vellum removed, the body of the Epistle would read like the
veriest Balderdash. This the French call a _chiffre a grille_, and 'tis
much used in t