Constantijn Huygens Jr. (1628-1697), a brother of the physicist Christiaan Huygens, used a cipher in some part of his journals. In late twentieth century, it was found out that encrypted words can be read by simply ignoring odd-numbered letters. For example, b.mregtvelennphnōdesr reads met een hoer ("with a prostitute") (there is one extra letter, which may be an error). The cipher typically concealed such embarrassing privacy of the diarist. I learned of this in Christopher Joby (2014), The Multilingualism of Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) p.282.
Constantijn Jr. was secretary of Prince of Orange William III (my favoutie historical character) since the latter became stadtholder in 1672. He records his personal experience in participating in major events such as William's campaings to oppose the French invasion, the expedition to England (the Glorious Revolution), and the Irish campaign to prevent the return of James II. Joby (2014) includes some quotes from these (p.284 ff.), and more would be found in Rudolf M. Dekker (2013), Family, Culture and Society in the Diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr, Secretary to Stadholder-King William of Orange. His journals seem interesting in describing historical events from a personal point of view. For example, the day after William III's coronation, from which he was absent, he wrote, "In the early afternoon I was with the king, who asked me where I had watched the coronation. I said that I had been busy deciphering the resolution of the States General, received in cipher, about the alliance with the Emperor, because I thought that the king would want to read this quickly. He asked me if I had received a coronation badge, and I answered no, without receiving much of a response." (ibid. p.40)
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