latine suivante du célèbre poëte anglais Gray. Je ne crois pas qu'elle ait été publiée encore."

Then follows the ode, as usually printed, excepting that in the third line,

the words "nam certe" are transposed.

G.B.

Fleet Marriages.—The General Evening Post, June 27-29, 1745, contains the following singular Note of a Fleet Marriage:—

"Yesterday came on a cause at Doctors' Commons, wherein the plaintiff brought his action against the defendant for pretending to be his wife. She in her justification pleaded a marriage at the Fleet the 6th of February, 1737, and produced a Fleet certificate, which was not allowed as evidence: she likewise offered to produce the minister she pretended married them, but he being excommunicate for clandestine marriages, could not be received as a witness. The court thereupon pronounced against the marriage, and condemned her in 28l., the costs of the suit."

Y.S.

QUERIES.

HISTORIE DES SÉVARAMBES.

The authorship of Gaudentio di Lucca has recently been discussed by some of your correspondents, and it has been shown that this Voyage Imaginaire

was written by Simon Berington, a Catholic priest, and the member of a family resident for many years in Herefordshire. The following Query will relate to another work of the same class, but of an earlier date.

The Histoire des Sévarambes is a fictitious account of a nation in the Southern Ocean, visited by a supposed navigator named Siden. It's first appearance was as an English work, with this title:

"The History of the Sevarites or Sevarambi, a nation inhabiting part of the third continent, commonly called Terræ Australes Incognitæ; with an account of their admirable government, religion, customs, and language. Written by one Captain Siden, a worthy person, who, together with many others, was cast upon those coasts, and lived many years in that country. London: printed for Henry Brome, at the Gun, at the west end of St. Paul's Churchyard, 1675. 12mo. pp. 114." No preface.

There is a second part, "more wonderful and delightful than the first," published in 1679 (pp. 140.). The licence by Roger Lestrange bears date Feb. 25. 1678/9. There is a short preface, without signature, arguing that the country of the Sevarites is not fabulous.

A copy of the original edition of these two parts is in the British Museum.

Shortly after its publication in England, this work appeared in France with the following title:—

"Histoire des Sévarambes, peuples qui habitent une partie du troisième continent ordinairement appellé Terre Australe, contenant un compte exact du gouvernement, des mœurs, de la réligion et du langage de cette nation, jusques aujourd'hui inconnue aux peuples de l'Europe. Traduite de l'Anglois." First Part, Paris, 1677. 2 vols. 12mo. Second Part, 1678-9. 3 vols. 12mo.

Both parts are dedicated to Monsieur Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos; and the dedications are both signed with the initials D.V.D.E.L.

The British Museum contains no French edition of this work earlier than an Amsterdam reprint of 1716. The above account of the early French edition is taken from the Dictionnaire Historique of Prosper Marchand (La Haye, 1758), tom. i. p. 11., art. ALLAIS. This article (which may be cited as a model of bibliographical research) attributes the authorship of the Histoire des Sévarambes, upon evidence, which, if not conclusive, is very strong, to Denis Vairasse, or Vayrasse. Marchand explains the initials appended to the dedications of the French edition to mean, Denis Vairasse d'Allais en Languedoc. He likewise considers Siden as the anagram of Denis; and Sevarias, the legislator of the Sevarambians, as the anagram of Vairasse. Some of the religious opinions expressed in this fiction were thought bold, and the authorship of the work was at one time much discussed: it was attributed both to Isaac Vossius and Leibnitz. It was translated into Dutch, German, and Italian; and there is an English edition, London, 1738, in 1 vol. 8vo., in which the preface from the French edition, alluding to Plato's Republic, More's Utopia, and Bacon's New Atlantis, not to be found in the original English edition, is introduced. This volume is entitled—

"The History of the Sevarambians, a people of the south continent, in five parts, containing, &c. Translated from the Memoirs of Capt. Siden, who lived fifteen years amongst them."

The work is included in the collection of Voyages Imaginaires, tom. v., where the editor speaks of the distinguished place which it holds among the fictions of that class; but he says that its authorship was unknown or uncertain. An account of another fictitious voyage to the Terra Australis, with a description of an imaginary people, published in 1692, may be seen in Bayle's Dict., art. SADEUR, Voyages Imaginaires, tom. xxiv.

According to the account given by Marchand, Vairasse began life by serving in the army in Piedmont, and he afterwards studied the law. Subsequently he went to England, where he is stated to have attempted to penetrate the intrigues of the court, and to discover the maxims of the English Government. In 1665, he was in the ship commanded by the Duke of York against the Dutch; and some years afterwards, having been regarded as an accomplice in the designs of a public minister (apparently Lord Clarendon), he was forced to retire with him, and follow him to Paris. He re-entered the military service, and was with the French army which invaded Holland in 1672. Afterwards he taught English and French at Paris; he likewise published a French Grammar, and an abridgment of it in the English language (1683). He was of the reformed religion.

It is possible that Vairasse's visit to England may have been connected with his religion. He appears, during his residence here, to have acquired the English language; but it is difficult to understand what are the designs of Lord Clarendon in which he was an "accomplice." Lord Clarendon's exile took place in 1667; which hardly accords with the expression "some years" after 1665. No person of the name of Vairasse is mentioned as having accompanied Lord Clarendon in his banishment.

The first part of the History of the Sevarambians was published in English in 1675, two years before the French edition of the first part. The second parts were published at London and Paris in the same year. Even if Vairasse did not leave England with Lord Clarendon, he had left it before the year in which the first part of this

work appeared in English: for he is stated to have been with the French army in Holland in 1672. It is therefore difficult to account for the publication of the English version of the History of the Sevarambians before its publication in France, upon the assumption that Vairasse was the author. The writer of the life of Vairasse (art. ALLAIS) in the Biographical Dictionary of the Society of Useful Knowledge thinks that he may have been only the translator: but the facts collected by Marchand show that he claimed the authorship; and there is no trace of its composition by any Englishman. Besides, its prior publication in England is just as inexplicable upon the assumption of his being the translator, as upon that of his being the author.

Query, Is Vairasse's residence in England mentioned by any English writer? And can any light be thrown upon the