a particular kind of stenography, or writing in cipher, which was practised by the Irish. Of these there were three kinds. The first was composed of certain lines and marks, which derived their power from their situation and position, as they stood in relation to one principal line, over or under which they were placed, or through which they were drawn. The principal line was horizontal, and served for a rule or guide, the upper part of which was called the left, and the under side the right; above, under, and through which line, the characters or marks were drawn, that stood in the place of vowels, consonants, diphthongs, and trinlthongs.