Morhof (_Polyhistor._, vol. i. p. 74.), who inserts this work among the _libri damnati_, and dwells upon its deistical character, refers to the French version; and though he knew that the book had originally appeared in English, he probably was not aware of the difference between the two versions. A note added by his first editor, Moller, states that Morhof often told his friends that he believed Isaac Vossius to have been the author of the work. Isaac Vossius was in England from 1670 until his death, which took place at Windsor, February 21, 1689. His residence in England, combined with the known laxity of his religious opinions, doubtless suggested to Morhof the conjecture that he wrote this freethinking Utopia. There is, however, no external evidence to support this conjecture, or to show that it had any better foundation than the conjecture that Bishop Berkeley wrote _Gaudentio di Lucca_. The University of Leyden purchased the library of Isaac Vossius for 36,000 florins. If it is still preserved at Leyden, a search among his books might ascertain whether there is among them any copy of the English or French editions of this work, and whether they contain any written remark by their former possessor. Moreover, it is to be observed that the system of natural religion is for the first time developed in the French edition; and this was the part which chiefly gave the book its celebrity: whereas, the supposition of Morhof implies that the English and French versions are identical. Heumann, in his _Schediasma de Libris Anonymis et Pseudonymis_ (Jena, 1711), p. 161. (reprinted in Mylius, _Bibliotheca Anon. et Pseudon._, Hamburg, 1740, vol. i. pp. 170-6.) has an article on the _Histoire des Sevarambes_. It is there stated that "Messieurs de Portroyal" superintended the French translation of the work; but no authority is given for the statement. Christian Thomasius, {375} in his _Monthly Review_ of November 1689, attributed the work to D'Allais (or Vairasse). He alleged three reasons for this belief: 1. The rumour current in France; 2. The fact that Allais sold the book, as well as his French grammar; 3. That a comparison of the two works, in respect of style and character of mind, renders it most probable that both are by the same author. The testimony of Thomasius is important, as the date of its publication is only ten years posterior to the publication of the last part of the French version.