Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/505

 12 S.VIII. MAY 21. 1021.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 415 (tome L, p. 181, Amsterdam, 1713) to go along the quays of Paris with a stock of his works and dexterously thrust five or six copies among the old books exposed there for sale. This method, we are told, he continued till his death, " pour immor- talisei son nom." According to David Clement, " Tons les Ecrits de Nicolas Catherinot sont d'une grande rarete." [EDWARD BENSLY. The eight books^ of Latin epigrams written by Nicholas Catherinot were pub- lished at intervals between 1660 and 1664. SLEUTH-HOUND will find the most complete catalogue of the works of this inveterate scribbler in David Clement's ' Bibliotheque curieuse,' vol. v., where they number 182. In the ' Bibliotheque historique de la France,' vol. iii., 130 works are mentioned. A very good summary of his life and works and an account of his original method to make his writings known to the public will be found in Hoefer's ' Nouvelle bio- graphie generale ' (1855 edit., vol. ix., col. 192-4). RORY FLETCHER. REFERENCE AY ANTED (12 S. viii. 371). The words of Cicero are taken from his ' Orator,' 34, 120. Sir John Sandys suggests in his edition that as Cicero was familiar with Plato's ' Timaeus ' we may possibly have here a reminiscence of the passage (22B) in which the aged Egyptian priest says to Solon, " You Greeks are always children," arid, in reply to the philosophei's question, explains his meaning to be that the Greeks are all young in their souls, as they have not therein because of old tradition any ancient belief or piece of learning hoary with length of years. I find a pencil-note of mine against Cicero's words : " cf. G. K. C. on insu- larity." What and where is the parallel in Mr. Chesterton's writings.' It may have been in an article in The Daily News. EDWARD BENSLY. SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY DANCE (12 S. viii. 350). The answer to SURREY'S ques- ' tion was given by Steele, when he wrote ; of Sir Roger, in the second number of The Spectator, "His Great Grandfather was Inventor of that famous Country-Dance which is called after him." In his ' Etymological Dictionary of Modern English' (1921), Prof. Weekley j notes that " Roger of Coverly " was the name of a seventeenth-century tune and dance, j and adds that Fryer associates the name with Lancashire and Thoresby with Cal- verley in Yorkshire. EDWARD BENSLY. ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND (12 S. viii. 348). It is generally admitted that the prototype of Robinson Crusoe was Alexander Selkirk, who, in consequence of a dispute with the captain of the galley in which he he was sailing, was put ashore on one of the islands of the Juan Fernandez group. A question, however, arises as to whether Defoe was describing this island when he wrote his famous novel, partly perhaps because the Juan Fernandez group is separated by leagues of unplumbed, salt, estranging .sea from any other land, and therefore it would have been difficult for cannibals to reach it. Defoe was a man of wide geographical knowledge and of varied interests ; he had been to Spain and had vmtten on the West Indies when he was comparatively young ; in his mature years, too, the West Indies must have had a sinister interest for him, as he might have been sent to the Plantations if his political writings had displeased the Government. It may well be, then, that he had the West Indies in mind when he wrote his " alle- gory " as ' Robinson Crusoe ' has been called. In this connexion there is a curious note in the article on Tabago in Saint-Martin's universelle ' (1894) : C'est a Tabago, d'apres quelques critiques recent es, qu'aurait vecu le naufrage qui fournit a de Foe le type de Robinson Crusoe. Tabago had been before the public in William III.'s reign, when a third attempt was made to colonize it with Englishmen. But it is perhaps more reasonable to assume that Defoe had no particular isle in view, that he drew on his imagination and exer- cised the poet's privilege of giving to airy nothings " a local habitation and a name." T. PERCY ARMSTRONG. 2, Whitehall Court, S.W. Defoe placed Crusoe's island " near the mouth of the Great River Oroonoque " ; but CONSTANT READER need not be too hard on the newspaper which alluded to Mas-a-Tierra. the main island cf the Juan Fernandez group, as " Robinson Crusoe's Island." Alexander Selkirk, who was left on Mas-a-Tierra in September or October, 1704, and rescued thence Jan. 31, 1709, had his history told in two books pub- lished in 1712. One was by his rescuer,
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