The New York herald., 1869-10-04
LITERARY FRAUDS.

LITERARY FRAUDS.
| Tho Newton, Pascal ana Other Forgeries-
Experiences oil a French Acadcmicun-
Papers Said to Have Come from Ancrica.
At the meeting of the Academic des Sciences, in
Paris, on the 18th OF September, q statement was
made by NJ. Chasles on the subject Of the Pascal,
Newton and ether alleged forgeries which in SUBJ
stance was as fOlows:-
Early III June. 1857, had the honor OF communi-
eating TO the Academy certain documents showing
that Pascal was aware OF the laws Of attraction and
might nave had relations with young Newton l did
not act preclpltatey III the matter, for 1t flu No
vember, 1851, mat an individual calling himself
'pMnontoogic archive, ana VINO dealt III genealog-
cal Deeds procured these documents for me from the
possessor, VINO had directed him TO dispose OF them.
was therefore. well aware Of the Importance nom
scientific point VI view OF the documents; | also
Snew that did not possess the entire collection, and
made propositions to induce hum to let Inc have
ae hnosr w1e eo a. nan once In reply was told that The
which country they had been taken in 1901, took
pleasure IN going through them, aud could NOS be
prevailed on 10 part with them except At his conve
That when N. LIE verrier az the sitting Of the Acad
emy on the 29th OF August 1861. asked me from
whom received these documents, and to give list
OF the whole OF them, was obliged to refuse to give
HIM the Information he asked for because to let
everybody know from whom | received them
would nave led to such offers being made
and would nave compromised the fate OF the docu.
| ments. Neither could say that the thousands
held in my hands formed the entire collection; con.
sequentiy was forced to give distinct refusal,
and nobody can with justice blame my reserve
especially as earnestly requested all who took an
interest In the matter to come and inspect them.
More tnan tnat-as soon as objections came from
abroad either sent the originals or photographs
them for examination. Could do more2 More
| over, the great number OF these documents the
variety or subjects OF which they treated, the
OF the authors and their perfect concordance lett
doubt 10 my mind concerning their authenticity 1t
was this accordance that enabled me to answer all
| the objections tnat were urged against them SO
readily indeed as to give rise to the supposltion that
there was lorger, and, eventually, that there were
several lorgers who manufactured the documents 10
meet eXigencles as they arose. On this subject
allow me to state that the existence OF the letter Of
James H., wich some persons seemed to think JUS
tilted them IN utterng their suspicious. was known
some months previous to my making use Of 1t to
our brother academclan, NJ. Ballard, he having OBJ.
served one evening wnen going through the let
| Anne, with two English servants. Independently
TINS spe TACT may add that what passed at
lions, seeing tnas there and then answered the OBJ
,c jecLlons as they were made At thus part Of his
Academy to the fact tlat when made ac-
q9uant:d at the beginning Of the meet,
were to be urged IN the course OF the sitting, he
fastened to his house and fetched the particular
frofnng wr tae piiifr,Re ofa55 Aai"uqegs tAs. gss
might appear With the report OF the proceedings)
He continued-Moreover / anlrm That the vendor
eleven O'Clock ana midday. or between hafpast i've
ana six o'clock: and that never once went to hs
for documents. | had, therefore, the fullest con-
ldence IN the genuineness Of lny documents. Never
.neiess, tue observations made o. Florence relative
November, 1853, Of which | had sent photo.
graph awakened my apprehenslons and engen-
dered fear5 Which induced me to make certain
Inquiries and to adopt precautionary measures. l
even considered pehoved me to request the project
Of police to take measures to ascertain the real depot
from which they were brought to me- The ultimate
result OF these inquiries was that thought 1t my
ton of his abode, however which I hoped would
lead 10 my possession OF the originals OF which had
as yet only copies, merely LED TO the discovery OF
the source from whence he obtained the documents
he sold me- but he Afterwards asserted that it was he
draw up the Indictment asked him If he did not have
any from Count de Menou IN 1915 to which
ne sa 1sp'ea otpors x from OR ,os so adding that
LIE vellier but that this cabinet merely contained
papers relating to genealogy. which were doubtless
sod IN $780, he affirmed, therefore, that had forged
the whole Of the documents, more than 20 900 GER
tainy which he mad sold me since 1851, and that he
anybody suppose that single individual, unatded
could compose such an immense number OF docu-
ted to the Academy were only portion OF those he
delivered 10 me. Independently Of the numerous
writings Of Galeo, Pascal, Louis XIV, de Laoru-
yere aud hoSt OF other persons possess 900 let
tefs OF Radicals, q large number purportng to be
written BY Copernicus, Christopher Columbus Car
velli, Michel Angelo, Raphael, Charles V.
and Others, all addressed to Rabelas: many
letters addressed to Clement Marot numer-
GUS unpublished mysteries and pieces OF poetry
attributed to Margaret dAngouleme, numerous let
ters and pieces OF poetry together with advice to his
sou, the authorship OF which was assigned to Francis
L. numerous letters and poetical pieces said to be
written by Mary stuart, several hundreds OF letters
from Montal2ne, many from shakspeare's pen,
addressed to Larrvay Philippe Desportes and Mile.
De Gournay, besides letters ana other literary pro.
ductions OF Cervantes, Ronsard, Iasso ana others.
Going back TO a period anterior to the Sixteenth
century, may mention large number or varied
contributions assigned to Dante. Rene d'Anjou,
Petrarch, Boccaclo, Petrarch's friend Laura, and
ship OF which was paced TO the credit OF fphp Angus
tus, st. Louis, Philippe le Bel. Charles ", VI and
VIII, also letters said to be written by Agnes sorcl
Brantone and Joan OF Arc. How could it have
been possible to suspect that the same person could
compose, III addition to the numerous papers on
scientific subjects, with which the Academy is
acquainted, oil the letters and poeical pieces attrlb
uted TO Dante and Brantome especiaya 1t cannot
FOR o monleQt De pree9ded that they we're borrowed
from printed works. II these documents were to be
believed, the contributions OF Petrafch, Laura and
Clemence Isaure were sent to Rabeais by Nostrada.
mus, VINO collected them al Avignon. The dates
assigned to the above mentioned papers are
recent compared with some others, which pur-
port TO have been written oil the commence
ment OF the Christian era, and even at an
earlier date; goodly number bearing the names
OF Julius Cesar and other Roman Emperors, also
OF the Apostles and ST. Jerome, Gregory OF Tours St.
Augustine, Chariemagne and many ort the Merovin-
gian Kings According 10 the documents them.
selves the origin Of these treasures was ths:--Ihe
Abbey OF Tours was very rich In old documents and
was still further enriched by the Abbot Acuin, who
caused researches TO be made Italy aud other for.
ean countries for any records Of Importance Rabc-
lais, who was enthusiast In such matters and who
was still further stimulated In his researches by
Francis ]. and Margaret d'Anguleme, knew OF the
archives OF the Tours Abbey, ana he was allowed TO
make copies and translations OF several thousands,
which were subsequently found at MS hermitage OF
Iangcy, and thence passed into the collection OF
FOucault, menbef OF the Academy OF Inscriptions,
who died at the commencement Of the last century.