What was Lord Poulett's precise meaning? Do we not clearly learn from the above, that the Civil War was due to more than a mere choosing between king and parliament among the humbler classes of the remote country districts?
George Roberts.
Literary Frauds of Modern Times.—In a work by Bishop (now Cardinal) Wiseman, entitled The Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion, 3rd edition, vol. ii. p. 270., occurs the following remark:
"The most celebrated literary frauds of modern times, the History of Formosa, or, still more, the Sicilian Code of Vella, for a time perplexed the world, but were in the end discovered."
Will you, or any of your readers, kindly refer me to any published account of the frauds alluded to in this passage? I have a faint remembrance of having read some remarks respecting the Code of Vella, but am unable to recall the circumstances.
I was under the impression that Chatterton's forgery of the Rowley poems, Macpherson's of the Ossianic rhapsodies, and Count de Surville's of the poems of Madame de Surville, were "the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times." In what respect are those alluded to by Dr. Wiseman entitled to the unenviable distinction which he claims for them?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.