"Vieta died in 1603, Porta died in 1615, and Dr. Wallis was born in 1617. So that, in all Probability, here is a great Deduction to be made from the many hundred Years, in which we were to have understood that the Art of Decyphering had been in being before Dr. Wallis was born."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wallis