Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-11-12

son.
The generally received belief of Charles
v. is that, after his abdication, no retired
to convent, adopted the habit Of monk,
and occupied himself solely with the
mechanism of clocks and watches, and at
last rehearsed his own funeral. All this
SAYS the Belgian savant, is in fact nothing
but a tissue Of errors, clearly disproved by
existing authentic documents. Charles
Y. did not live with the monks: he neyer
wore the habit Of the order, and he never
ceased to WELD the imperial sceptre
dc fdoio, and to control the afiairs OF
the State. He had, ,Emoreover, q residence
built for himself, detached from the con-
vent, but communicating by passages with
the cloister and the church. Far from
adopting an appearance of poverty or lin
itine his attendants to twelve in number,
his slhousehold consisted of more than fifty.
individuals, whose annual salaries amount
ed to some el, 100 sterling OF the present
day. The profusion Of plate taken by the
Emperor to the monastery, was employed
generally. for the wards of the establish
ment, and for his personal use. Courtiers
we're continually arriving and departing,
and the Emperor wAs almost as much i'm
mersed in public affairs in his retreat as
he had been while actually on the throne.
Although he had delegated the official au-
thority, he retained the habit of command,
and was Emperor to the last
CALICO.
DIR. DeIepiere denies that Galileo ever
uttered the celebrated words, "but still it
moves" No doubt, this protestation Of
truth against falsehood, may at the cruel
crisis, when, atthe age ofseyenty-seven, he
pronounced on his knees aform ofrecanta-
ton, have rushed from his heart to
his lips, but if these words had
actually been heard, his relapse would ia-
fallibly have led him to the stake. 1t is
denied that he was subjected to torture at
all. He became completely blind after his
recantation, aud was attended in his soli-
tude by his two daughters from a
convent. One of them was taken from
him by death, but she was replaced by
other afectionate relatives, who endeav-
ored to amuse and console the lonely cap
tive. His letters breathe poetical mel
ancholy, quiet irony, an overwhelming
humility, and on ovcrpowerng sense OF
weariness.
BATCH oFFALIAclEs.
Du Par, in his "Recherches sur les
Americans, says that Montezuma sacri-
feed annually twenty thousand children to
the idols in the temples Of Mexico. In
such assertions the improbability and ex-
aggerations are so self-evident that it ia
needless to dwell upon them. Books tell
us that the Duke of Alba put to death by
the hands of the executioner, in the Low
Countries, eighteen thousand gentlemen,
while the fact is that scarcely two thousand
could have been collected there.
Even in the time ofTitus Livius there was
so much doubt as to the truth Of the leg
end of the Horatii and Curatii, that he
writes, one cannot tell to which of the two
, contending people the Horatii and the Gu
! ratii belonged. Yet this cautious historian
! related in another place that Hannibal fec
his soldiers on human flesh, to give then
energy and courage
Nj. de Humboldt, you may remember
set himself to disprove some of the anec
I dotes of Christopher Columbus; the fabl
1 of the egg that he is said 10 have broker
: in order to make it stand upright; and th
: account of hisanxiety amounting to agony
e among his mutinous crew to whom he haC
: faithfully promised sight of land.
: In the history of England, the Duke 0
: Clarance was for four centuries believed t,
D have been drowned in butt Of Malmsey
3 but the author Of "1'he Historic Antiquitie
4 of the Tower of London" claims to hav
, entirely exposed this US ON error. According
{; to the Abby Bartholemy, at the memora
4 BILE battle of Thermopyle, Leonida
q instead of resisting the Persians with thre
hundred men, commanded at least sevei
thousand men. The learned Spon ridicule
: the pretended wit of Diogenes, and eN
: plains it in quite another yay. Alfre
0 Maury endeavors to convince us that Cei
: ar never said and never would have said
s the pilot, "Why do you fear? you hav
Y Caesar and his fortunes on board"
s When we reflect on the innumerabi
b errors daily propagated by books, D.
Q DelepierTe gets alarmed at the strange COZ
Q fusion in which he foresees all hteratul
g may find itself few centuries hence.
o is very possible that historical events wi
!; be even more difficult of proof than befoi
3 the invention OF printing, which may COZ
II sequently have served to augment disordt
n and perplexity, rather than to have assiste
l. in the promotion of truth and accuracy.