The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1859-05-18

of the past II is not improbable that the
deed referred to was performed by even
more than six different men. Such skill in
craftsmanship was not rare in the days OF
archery. Recently it was stated, on the
authority Of one Of the continental journals,
that German peasant had initiated the feat
OF Tell, only that he had used gun instead
OF crossbow. Indeed the snuiiinr of the
candle" by our Kentucky riGemea Is pcr.
haps more difficult than for firm hand and
steady eye to pick of an apple from the
head Of boy.
But Tells non existence is not TO be made
out from the flimsy inference mentioned
above. No character of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries is better attested in
Swiss history than that of William rsll.
The ballads Of the present day sung TO his
memory the annual festival On the Blue
lake of Lucern in has honor and the monu-
ments erected to him bv those with whom he
was cotemporsneous, all bear upon this point.
Tells chapel" on the " Telenspring" (the
rock so called because the Swiss hero here
ieaped when he escaped from Gesslerj wa.
erected in the presence of one hundred and
fourteen persons who had known Tell when
iNmS. ANU Ont CdH 70 10
"Tha, sacred lake. withdraw among the hilso
and witness their various scenes and inyesti
gate the facts without being convinced that
William Tell was no myth.
Sir James Macintosh, one nf the most i'm.
partial OF historians, visited the glorious re.
gion associated with the name and deeds of
Tell. lie examined history, and became
perfectly convinced Of the existence of the
hero, and Of the truth oil the part
that he played in little Switzerland, when
"Few were the numbers she could boast
Bot every freeman host,
And felt though himself were ho
On whose sole arm hung victory"
The testimony Of such man as Sir James
Macintosh is Of the most important charac-
ter, il there were any room to donbt. for
Baron Macaulay thus speaks his judgment /
and impartiality: "Mhate,er was yalaa-
Bile in the compositions OF Sir James Macin
tosh. was the ripe fruit Of study and medita-
ton. His mind was a vast magazine /
arranged every thing was there
and every thing was in its place. His judg- |
ment on men, on books, on sects, had been |
often and carefully tested aud weighed and had |
been committed to their proper receptacle in |
The most capacious and accurately construct |
ed memory that any human being ever pos.
sessed."
But the mode OF reasoning used in regard /
to William Tell comes from the Germans, /
and has a bslring upon things Of grayer i'm.
port. During the last centlrg, wier religion (
was dead in Germany, anil during Ills CO.
Jury, when rationalism, with an appearance
u crndition. was rife. many critics form,l
theories OF their own in regard to Homer and
he ancient writers in general. The Ger.
nan mind was not sehouled in the weighing
II evidence. IN trials by jury, or in looking
It both sides of a question. The result was
hat book after book issued from the presses
'f Leipsic and Berlin filed with the most
bsurd theories. Every student who came
rom the Univerity had the ambition to write
book. Each one thought himself yerita-
lie Daniel come to judgment. Homer was
myth. nearly every historical character
sas being Of Imagination, and thus vii. {
lam Tell became myth. Il would be well
these sopliists had stopped here. But
hey laid hold upon the word ni God Moses
ccame myth il their hands; Job was
lere story in poetry, like the Arabian !.
'ights;" Ecclesiastes was the blatiug Of !.
'ornout debauchee. or Of an Epicurean :
Philosopher no longer young. Thus cry
oOk Of the Bible was diyestcd Of all that
as holy and authoritative by men Of real
rudition as well as by the shallowest Of !,
,ros. Good, however, came out nf hi.
VII. The attention Of tie icw emirrnt 7
Vangelical Christians ia Germany vas ,ed
examine the basis on which the truth y
ands; the best mcn uf England and Amegit / ],
udied more profoundly than ever the FAITH =
nee delivered to the SAINTS and tie result '
as the over,hrowo oI The sp:eious reason ". !. !
ID the crude and in some instances absurd =
'sories Of the opponents Of the Bible. u
jgarmig y c0He,sre.