Cheap tricks belong in poetry.   One is the acrostic, used by a various range of authors, including a notorious speech in a play by Corneille, which has first letters spelling out "sal cul," or "dirty ass." Several other references in the speech suggest that Corneille was referring to someone at court.   Subterfuges such as this are easy for cryptographers and censors and have generally been abandoned.  However, they're still fun in games, as the following by satirist and fabulist Lewis Carroll.

ACROSTIC: "ARE YOU DEAF, FATHER WILLIAM?"
    by Lewis Carroll (1876)
 

"ARE you deaf, Father William!" the young man said,
"Did you hear what I told you just now?
"Excuse me for shouting! Don't waggle your head
"Like a blundering, sleepy old cow!
"A little maid dwelling in Wallington Town,
"Is my friend, so I beg to remark:
"Do you think she'd be pleased if a book were sent down
"Entitled 'The Hunt of the Snark?'"

"Pack it up in brown paper!" the old man cried,
"And seal it with olive-and-dove.
"I command you to do it!" he added with pride,
"Nor forget, my good fellow, to send her beside
"Easter Greetings, and give her my love."