TO THB EDITOR OF THE TIMES
^ Sir, — I am yery gratefal to Mr. Manston for hls letter of March 23, maintaining mj claim to priority in ascribing to Rabelais the notion of the North-West passage ; but, in point of fact, M. Lefrano is mistaken, and neitlier he nor I can daim originalitj in this matter. In tlie ixiriorum édition (1823) of Esmangart and Johanneau (Vol. V., p. 409) isthe following note on the passage in question (IV., 1) : —
OnToitqn'on oherohe depuis long-temps le fameux passage et la commnmication de la mer du Kord et celle des Indes. On sait qu'on l'a regarda Jusqu'ici comme Lm|>Tactioable, k cause des glaces, mais que les Anglois ne déaeq^^orent point encore de le trouTer et font, an moment mime que nous écrivons, de nouvelles tentatives pour la découvrir.
A short note to the same effect is also given in the Gtorman édition of Begis (1830). I make no doubt tbat ngr note waa derlved from thèse as well as from '* Les Pilotes de Pantagruel " in Margry's " Navigations Françaises " (Paris, 1867), a book that M. Lef^^anc and I haye both had before us»
I do not for a moment suppose that M. Lefranc was aware that he was almost translating my note. Probably there are very few copies of mj translation in France beeides the one X presented to the Bibliothèque Nationale in aoknowledgmen'^ of the courtesy of the French oi&oials. It is not likély that he did more than look at it ouisorily ; indeed, quite zeoently, whenl Informedhim that I had induded in my book a translation of the Latin letter (now admitted as genulne) from Babelais to Budaeus, he aasured me that he knew that there was a copy of my book in the library, but that he had not studiedit. This was aproposof the publication by ]idt« LefraaeintheJBsime des étude» BabelaMeime» d this Yerr letter in facsimUe, together with a translation into FrenoL with the comment : — " Aucune traduction n'en a été publiée Jusqu'à présent." Of course, I accepted his ezplanation at anœ and without teBemye.
1 am, Sir, yours obediently,
6, Minfisld, Folkestons. W. F. SMITH.
/f- ^/ix^/1 e^^^ -i^^^OcX-^ ^
DE
MAÇON, PROTAT PRÀRBS, IMPRIMEURS.
