Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-10-23

ana from the air of truth and honesty dis
cernlbie IN the composition itself. the
PROBABILITY is heightened by the conci.
uence OF several narratives, all of then
possessing the same claims upon our be.
iief Ii It be Improbable that one shoIld
De written for the purpose of imposing q
ia'sehood upon the world, it is sill more
improbable that many should be written
/ All OF them conspiring to the same Der.
verse and unnatural object No one can
doubt, at least, that OF The multitude q
written testimonies which have come
ao"n to Us, The true most greatly prepon-
uefate over the false; aud that the deceit.
III principle, though it ex,s.s sometimes
could never operate TO such an extent. as
70 carry any great or general imposition
IN the lace OF all the documents which
are before US. The supposition must be
extended much farther than we have YET
carried it, before we reach the degree OF
evidence and of testimony, of which on
many points of ancient history, we are at
TINS moment III actual possession. Many
documents have been collected, protesting
| 10 be written at different times, and bv
men OF different countries La this wav
a great body OF ancient literature has been
formed, from which we can collect many
points OF evidence, too tedious to enumer-
ale, DO we find the express concur
renee OF several authors to the same piece
| Of hlstory2 Do we find, what Is sill
| more impressive, events formally announc.
| ed In one narrative, not told over again.
but implied and proceeded upon as true
10 another! Do we find the succession
OF history, through series Of ages. sup
ported III way that is natural and CON
slstent2 DO we find those compositions
which profess higher antiquity, appeal
! ed to by those which profess a lower p
These, and a number of other points.
which meet every scholar who betakes
himself to the actual investigation, give a
most warm and living character of reaii-
~ to the history OF past times. There is
ia pervlslty Of mind which may resist all
this. There is no end 10 The fancies OF
scepticlsm. We may plead in vain the
number OF written testimonies, their art
less coincidence, and the perfect unde
sienedness of manner by which they Of
ten supply the circumstances that ser, Z
ooth 10 guide and satisfy the inquirer, and
TO throw light and support upon one an
other. The iufle will still have some.
thing behind which he can entrench him
self' and his last superstition, nonstrous
and unnatural as it is, may be, that the
whole of written history is a labofious
fabrication, sustained for many ages and
concurred IN BY many ildiv dualS, with no
! other purpose than to enjoy the anticipat-
lea plumbers Of the men of future times
| whom they had combined with SO much
dexterlty to bewiider and lead astrav.
Ii 1t were possible to summon up to the
presence of the mind he whole mass of
spoken testimony, it would be found, hat
what was false bore very small proper
tton to what was true. For many obvi-
Gus reasons. the proportion of the false to
the true must be also small in written les
timony. Yet instances Of falsehood oc-
cur III both; and the actual ability 10 SEN
ara'e the false from the true ia written
! history proves that historical evidence
has Its principles and its probabilities 10
GO upon. There may be the natural sions
OF dishonesty. There may be the wild
ness and mprobabiiiv of the narrative
There may be a total want Of agreement
on the part of other documents. There
may be The silence of every autho. for
ages after the pretended date OF the manu-
scrlnt in question. There NAV be all
these, in sufficient abundance, 10 convict
he manuscript Of forgery and fasehood.
This has actually been done in several in
stances. The skill and discernment of
the human mind upon The subject of his
torical evidence. have been improved by
the exercise The few cases in which
sentence Of condemnation has been given,
are so many testimonies 10 the competen.
cy OF the tribunal which has sd, in judg.
nent over them, ana give stability tc
their verdict, when any document is ap
proved OF 1t IS a peculiar subject, and
the men who stand at a distance from i
may multiply their suspicious and thei,
skep;icism at pleasure; but no intelioen
man ever entered ln.o the details, witbou
feeling the most familiar and satisfying
conviction of that credn and confidence
J which II is in the power of historical ev
dence to bestow
Now, to apply this to the object of oul
J present division. which is to ascertain III,
age of the document, and the person VIII,
} IS the author Of it. These are points o
i Information which may be collected from
: the performance itself They may b
: found in the body of the com position, o
! they my BE- more formally announced j,
the title page-and every time that La
book is referred to by IFS title, or the nam
] of the author AMI age of the pubicalio
ARE announced in any other documen