The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1868-11-12

her went so TAR that he gave her cnUlfe
cities, and despoiled the Church OF St
Peter of crosses and of golden chalices in
order to lay them at her feet, and we are
told that she died in childbed.
ABELARD AND ELOIsA.
The history of the two lovers, Abelard
and Eloisa, DR. Delepierre takes to be
true as whole, but ne contends that the
celebrated letters imputed to Eleisa, were
not written by her at all, and that the
tomb in Pere la Chaise, at Paris, is alto
gether modern construction.
WILLIAM TELL.
The tale of William Tell is pronounced
to be nothing more nor less than northern
saga that has been adopted and repeated
from generation to generation. The rev.
olution which took place in Switzerland in
1407 gave rise to the legend of the Swiss
hero, and from that time TO the present
writers have continually endeavored to ex-
pose it's unsound basis, but the public,
equally pertinacious, have insisted on be-
lieying in its truth. The st6fy was not
known until two centuries after the sup
posed event, and the chronicles of the
Middle Ages, so eager after extraordinary
facts and interesting news, are entirely
lSuOIduO VI H. ICII lIIiIC bICc III luS
centre of the market place at Altdorf, and
his cross-bow preserved in the arsenal at
Zurich, are not more valid proofs than the
pieces of the true cross which are exhib-
tied in a thousand places.
PETRARCH AND LAURA.
Petrarch was great poet and great
politician, but he was not altogether the
Platonic lover some have represented him
to be- With regard to Laura, all is doubt,
obscurity, and hypothesis. All traces left
of her were so faint, even in the century
in which she lived, that doubts were en-
tertained of her existence Baldelle, a
very partial commentator on Petrarch, is
obliged to confess that the poet was by no
means faithful to his divinity but that
another whom he loved after a less ideal
fashion presented him with a daughter,
who afterwards became the consolation of
his old age Laura has made far more
noise in the world during the past four or
five centuries than she ever did during
her own time
JOAN OF ARC.
We are nov asked to believe that Joan
Of Are was not burnt at Rouen, as Is cons
monty said, but that some -oshal nn K narzs1
is the weakest of all Dr. Delepierre's posi-
tions. He takes as his principal authori-
ty some professed discoveries by Pere
Zignier, according to which the contract
of marriage between one Robert des Ar
noises, chevalier, with the Maid Of Orleans
has been discovered When the victim
was led to the stake, large mitre was
placed on her head, which concealed the
greater part of her face, and huge frame
covered with insulting phrases was carried
before, and completely covered her person.
CHARLES V.
The generally received belief of Charles
V IS that, after his abdication, he retired
to convent, adopted the habits of a
monk, and occupied himself solely with
the mechanism Of clocks and watches, and
at last personally rehearsed his own iune-
raj. All this, says the Belgian savant, is
in fact nothing but tissue of errors,
clearly disproved by existing authentic
documents. Charles Y. did not live with
the monks he never wore the habit of
the order, and he never ceased to WELD
the imperial scepter de facto and to con-
troll the affairs of the State He had,
moreover, residence built for himself,
detached from the convent, but communi-
eating by passages with the cloister and
the church. Far from adopting an APP
pearance Of poverty or limiting his atten-
dants to twelve in number, his household
consisted OF more than fifty individuals,
whose annual salaries amounted to some
"a 400 sterling Of the present day. The
profusion Of plate taken by the Emperor
to the monastery was employed generally
for the wards of the establishment, and for
his personal use Courtiers were continu-
ally arriving and departing, and the En-
peror was almost as much immersed III
public affairs in his retreat as he had been
while actually on the throne. Although
he had delegated the official authority he
retained the. habit of command, and was
Emperor to the last.
CALICO
DIR. Delapierre denies that Calico ever
uttered the celebrated words ''But still it
moves" No doubt, this protestation of
truth against falsehood may, at the cruel
crisis, when, at the age Of seventy-seven,
he pronounced on his knees form of re-
cantation, have rushed from his heart to
his lips, but if these words had actually
been heard, his relapse would infallibly
have led him to the stake. 1t is denied
that he was subjected to torture at ALL
He became completely blind after his re-
cantation, and was attended in his soli-
tude by his two daughters from convent.
One of them was taken from him by
death, but she was replaced by other at
fectionate relatives, who endeavored to
amuse and console the lonely captive
His letters breathe poetical melancholy
quiet irony, an overwhelming humility
and an overpowerihg sense of weariness.
A BATCH OF FALLACIES.
~ D. IN his <fReSearches Sur les