"The History of the Sevarambians: A People of the South continent. In
_Five_ Parts. Containing an Account of the Government, &c. Translated
from the Memoirs of Capt. _Siden_, who lived fifteen years amongst
them. Lond. 1738." (8vo. pp. xxiii. and 412.)
I have given this to show how it differs from that spoken of by MR. C. as
being in _two_ parts, by Capt. Thos. _L_iden, and not a reprint, but a
translation from the French, which Lowndes says was "considerably _altered_
and _enlarged_."
If this be so, we can hardly ascribe to Vossius the edition of 1738. The
preface intimates that the papers were written in Latin, French, Italian,
and Dutch, and placed in the editor's hands in England, on his promising to
methodise them and put them all into one language; but I do not observe the
slightest allusion to the work having previously appeared either in English
or French, although we find that Barbier, in his _Dict. des Anon._, gives
the French edit. 1 pt. Paris, 1677; 2 pt. Paris, 1678 et 1679, 2 vols.
12mo.; Nouvelle edit. Amsterdam, 1716, 2 vols. 12mo.; and ascribes it to
Denis Vairasse d'Alais.
There is a long account of this work in _Dict. Historique_, par Marchand: a
la Haye, 1758, fo. sub. nom., Allais, as the author, observing--
"Il y a diversite d'opinions touchant la langue en laquelle il a ete
ecrit ou compose."
The earliest he mentions is the English one of 1675, and an edition in the
French, "a Paris, 1677;" which states on the title, _Traduit de l'Anglois_,
whereas the second part is "imprimee a Paris _chez l'Auteur_, 1678," from
which Marchand concludes that Allais was the writer, adding,--
"On n'a peut-etre jamais vu de Fiction composee avec plus d'art et plus
d'industrie, et il faut avouer {148} qu'il y en a peu ou le
vraisemblable soit aussi ingenieusement et aussi adroitement conserve."