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Boswell, James, 1740-1795

"1776-1780"

BOSWELL. This note is
first given in the second edition, being added, no doubt, at the
Bishop's request.
[810] See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_.
[811] Chap. xlii. is still shorter:--'_Concerning Owls_.
'There are no owls of any kind in the whole island.'
Horrebow says in his _Preface_, p. vii:--'I have followed Mr. Anderson
article by article, declaring what is false in each.' A Member of the
_Icelandic Literary Society_ in a letter to the _Pall Mall Gazette_,
dated May 3, 1883, thus accounts for these chapters:--'In 1746 there was
published at Hamburg a small volume entitled, _Nachrichlen von Island,
Groenland und der Strasse Davis_. The Danish Government, conceiving that
its intentions were misrepresented by this work, procured a reply to be
written by Niels Horrebow, and this was published, in 1752, under the
title of _Tilforladelige Efterretninger om Island_; in 1758, an English
translation appeared in London. The object of the author was to answer
all Anderson's charges and imputations. This Horrebow did categorically,
and hence come these Chapters, though it must be added that they owe
their laconic celebrity to the English translator, the author being
rather profuse than otherwise in giving his predecessor a flat denial.


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