History of M. Oufle.—Johnson, in his Life of Pope, says of the Memoirs of Scriblerus:
"The design cannot boast of much originality: for, besides its general resemblance to Don Quixote, there will be found in it particular imitations of the History of M. Oufle."
What is the History of M. Oufle?
L. M.
[The History of the Religious Extravagancies of Monsieur Oufle is a remarkable book, written by the Abbé Bordelon, and first published, we believe, at Amsterdam, in 2 vols., 1710. The Paris edition of 1754, in 2 vols., entitled L'Histoire des Imaginations Extavagantes de Monsieur Oufle, is the best, as it contains some curious illustrations. From the title-page we learn that the work was "Occasioned by the author having read books treating of magic, the black art, demoniacs, conjurors, witches, hobgoblins, incubuses, succubuses, and the diabolical Sabbath; of elves, fairies, wanton spirits, geniuses, spectres, and ghosts; of dreams, the philosopher's stone, judicial astrology, horoscopes, talismans, lucky and unlucky days, eclipses, comets, and all sorts of apparitions, divinations, charms, enchantments, and other superstitious practices; with notes containing a multitude of quotations out of those books which have either caused such extravagant imaginations, or may serve to cure them." If any of our readers should feel inclined to collect what we may term "A Diabolical Library," he has only to consult vol. i. ch. iii. for a catalogue of the principal books in Mons. Oufle's study, which is the most curious list of the black art we have ever seen. An English translation of these Religious Extravagancies was published in 1711.]
Lysons' MSS.—Is the present repository of the MS. notes, used by Messrs. Lysons in editing their great work, the Magna Britannia, known?
T. P. L.
[The topographical collections made by the Rev. Daniel Lysons for the Magna Britannia and the Environs of London, making sixty-four volumes, are in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 9408-9471. They were presented by that gentleman.]
"Luke's Iron Crown" (Goldsmith's Traveller, last line but two). To whom does this refer, and what are the particulars?
P. J. (A Subscriber).