Jan. 4. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Imaginaire was written by Simon Berington, a 

 Catholic priest, and the member of a family resi- 

 dent for many years in Herefordshire. The fol- 

 lowing Query will relate to another work of the 

 same class, but of an earlier date. 



The Histuire des Semrambes is a fictitious ac- 

 count of a nation in the Southern Ocean, visited 

 by a supposed navigator named Siden. Its first 

 appearance was as an English work, with this 

 title : 



" The History of the Sevarites or Sevarambi, a na- 

 tion inhabiting part of the third continent, commonly 

 called Terrae Australes Incognitfe; witli 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. 1 14." 

 No preface. 



Tiiere is a second part, " more wonderful and 

 delightful than the first," published in 1679 

 (pp. 1*\). The licence by Roger Lestrange bears 

 date Feb. 25. 167f. Tiiere is a sliort preface, 

 witliout 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. 



Siiortly after its publication in Englanil, this 

 work appeared in France with the following 

 title : — 



" Histoire des Sevarambes, peuples qui habitent une 

 partie du troisieme continent ordinairement appelle 

 Terre Australe, contenant un compte exact du gou- 

 vernement, des moeurs, de la religion et du langage de 

 cette nation, jusques aiijourd'hul iiiconnue aux peuples 

 de I'Europe. Traduite de I'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 Musetiin contains no French edi- 

 tion of this work earlier than an Amsterdam re- 

 print of 1716. The above account of the early 

 French edition is taken from the Dictionnaire His- 

 torique of Prosper Alarchand (La Haye, 1758), 

 torn. i. p. 11., art. Allais. This article (which 

 may be cited as a model of bibliographical re- 

 search) attributes the authorship of the Histoire 

 des Sevarambes, upon evidence, which, if not con- 

 clusive, is very strong, to Denis Vairasse, or Vay- 

 rasse. Marchaud explains the initials appended 

 to the dedications of tlie French edition to mean, 

 Denis Vairasse d'Allais en Languedoc. He like- 

 wise considers <S/f/c'M as the amigram oi' Denis; and 

 Scvarias, the legislator of the Sevarambians, as 

 the anagram of Vaii-asse. 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 A'ossius and Leibnitz. It was translated 

 into Dutch, German, and Italian ; and there is 

 an English edition, London 1738, in 1 vol. Svo., 

 in which the preface from the French edition, 

 alluding to Plato's Bepuhlic, 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 Trans- 

 lated from the Memoirs of Capt. Siden, who lived 

 fifteen years amongst them." 



The work is included in the collection of Voyages 

 Imaginaii-es, torn, v., where the editor speaks of 

 the distinguished place which it holds among the 

 fictions of that class ; but he says that its author- 

 ship was unknown or uncertain. An account of 

 another fictitious voyage to the Terra Australia, 

 with a description of an imaginary people, pub- 

 lished in 1692, may be seen in Bayle's Diet., art. 

 Sadeur, Voyages Imaginaires, torn. 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 Gram- 

 mar, and an abridgment of it in the English 

 language (1683). He was of the reformed re- 

 ligion. 



It is possible that Vairasse's visit to England 

 may have Ijeen connected with his religion. He 

 appears, during his residence here, to have ac- 

 quired the English language ; but it is difficult to 

 understand what are the designs of Lord Claren- 

 don 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 Sevaram- 

 bians was published in English in 1675, two 

 years beibre 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 



