E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Isle of Lanterns (The),
or Lantern-land. An imaginary country inhabited by pretenders to knowledge. In French, Lanternois. (Rabelais: Pantagruel, v. 32, 33.)
1
Lucian has a similar conceit, called the City of Lanterns; and Dean Swift, in his Gulliver’s Travels, makes his hero visit Laputa, the empire of quacks, false projectors, and pretenders to science.
Lucian has a similar conceit, called the City of Lanterns; and Dean Swift, in his Gulliver’s Travels, makes his hero visit Laputa, the empire of quacks, false projectors, and pretenders to science.
