The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-11
Historical Truth as Contained in

Novels.
THERE are many persons who profess to be
opposed to reading works of fiction, yet
who are in favor of certain authors, because,
as they tell US, they embody in their works
elements of historical truth. This sort of
criticism has been in vogue for many years,
as applied to the works of Sir Walter Scott,
and has recently been renewed in double force
by the appearance of the lengthy series Of
Louisa Muhlback. careful perusal of the
works OF either of these writers must convince
any one that if their only recommendation
rested on the information they impaired, they
would be, to a great extent, worthless. In
the former we have the romantic passages of
history taken out of their surroundings, and
while historical characters are introduced,
they are painted so entirely to aid the drama
tic effect, that for student to form an estimate
from their qualities as presented by Sir
Walter, would cause him to make a most
egregious mistake. All the qualities of the
Scottish novelist so far as sacrificing truth
to effect is concerned, are reproduced
by the German authoress, and in her
works we find even greater errors than in
this. We cannot but smile at the claims so
earnestly advanced by certain persons Op-
posed to fiction reading, yet who recommend
Miss Mtihlback because, say they, "she
teaches as well as amuses." One enthusias-
tic critic in a religious journal positively goes
so far as to say that ''the reason why people
endorse this authoress is, that they find in
her works the kernel of history, and they en-
dorse the novel for the sake of the informa
ton" The truth of the matter is, that
throughout all her works she shows most
reckless disregard for fact. While we
cannot but grant to her high claims
as writer, and much spirit in delinea-
ton of scenes taken from some shadow
of historical reality, yet to base her claim
to popularity on her reliability or historical
accuracy is ridiculous.
AS whole, we consider the idea ofcombining
history and romance together in one work is
failure. If the writer is a philosopher, he
soon forgets the dramatic in bringing out the
real; while if it be novelist who attempts it,
facts are soon sacrificed to effect, and really
becomes secondary to creating q romantic in
terest. We prefer to have history in the shape
Ol nlSlOryJ anu uOV0lb dS uOF0lS' "A
of the two adulterates each, and is calculated
to do more harm than good to the reader. For
any one to get his idea of Henry VIII and
Catharine Parr from Louisa Muhlbaoh,
would be to deceive himself grossly. While
one gains some slight idea of history from
such work, yet he is unable to distin-
guish what is true and what is false in the
plot, and is in greater danger OF ap-
pearing absurd than if he knew nothing
about it, for in that case he would not
venture on the subject while, armed
with its seeming information, he is enabled to
prove the truth of the adage that ga little
knowledge is a dangerous thing" For this
reason we cannot join in the general shout of
welcome to the historical novels of the popular
German authoress They are exceedingly in
teresting as novels, but so far as their history
is concerned, the less said the better. The
information given reminds us of Falstaffs
dinner-"a ha'penny worth of bread and
barrel of sack" On the ground of interest
the oommendation bestowed is Just, but
when our moral contemporaries recommend
them on the score of information they do not
convince us OF their great worth as novels OF
standard historical value.