1727, Jonathan Swift (attributed), Martinus Scriblerus, or the Art of Sinking In Poetry Periphrase is another great aid to prolixity; being a diffused circumlocutory manner of expressing a known idea, which should be so mysteriously couched, as to give the reader the pleasure of guessing what it is, that the author can possibly mean; and a strange surprise, when he finds it.
Source: wiktionary