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Page 6
"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 {6} 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 authorship of the _History of the
Sevarambians_ from any English source?
L.
* * * * *
ORIGINS OF PRESENT PENNY POSTAGE.
Many of your readers have, I doubt not, perused with interest the vivid
sketch of the origin of the Penny Postage System, given by Miss Martineau
in her _History of England during the Thirty Years' Peace_, vol. ii. p.
425., and have seen in the incident of the shilling letter delivered to the
poor cottager, somewhere in the Lake district--refused by her from
professed inability to pay the postage--paid for by Mr. Rowland Hill, who
happened most opportunely to be passing that way--and, when opened, found
to be blank (this plan being preconcerted between the woman and her
correspondent, to know of each other's welfare without the expense of
postage). A remarkable instance of "how great events from little causes
spring," and have bestowed much admiration on the penetration of Mr. Hill's
mind, which "wakened up at once to a significance of the fact," nor ever
rested till he had devised and effected his scheme of Post-office Reform;
though all the while an uncomfortable feeling might be lurking behind as to
the perfect credibility of so interesting a mode of accounting for the
initiation of this great social benefit.
I confess to having had some suspicions myself as to the trustworthiness of
this story; and a few days since my suspicions were fully confirmed by
discovering that the real hero of the tale was not the Post-office
Reformer, but the poet Coleridge; unless, indeed, which is surely out of
the range of ordinary probabilities, the same event, _corresponding exactly
as to place and amount of postage_, happened to two persons at separate
times.
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