Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-11-18
EEistorlc Doubts Romance o. tEae cid
en- TImc-What is True.

Biography has for long time Termed
the most amusing staple Of our histories
but, unfortunately, most OF the pearls ii
these biographies are very doubtful. We
have been called upon t. admire, NOT 10
much the sayings and doingS Of Leroes is
the ideals OF these heroes, which the his
torians have imagined. L l1e tho q rnaa
IN the celebrated anecdote, thy have not
set down honestly 10 describe The camel
fIUu1 close observation, bat 10 @teVOIve'' y
| fictitious animal ''0u5 cf tho depths of
their own seIfconsciousncaq." N!cbuhr
has Taught rs: III spite OF Sir q. Cornwall
Lewis, no longer to give credeuco 10 The
old story of Livy and the early Roman ms
! torians, but to regard the legends Of RJIu"
just as we should the old ballad OF En-
land.
We do not believe in RcnuIus and Re
mus and their wolf nur.c any more than
we do of the deeds of Percy Mt Chez
Chase. Did that grand hero cf romance.
King Arthur, eve, sit with his chosen
knights at that wOndrons table round
Did Lancelot love GuincVere, and waa
Guinevere unfaithfu ? Or was the sue.
cession Of legends that Sir Tho Mallory
tells US so well much a fable and alleg0-
ry as the "EHne Queen" OF Edmund Srca-
GER? Does any Oao believe that King Al
fred baked pies for The ne4therd's wife, or
that the strong Earl of War wick killed lLo
dun COW with blow Of his fist Did the
industrious Matilda William, the Conquer
or'e Queen, execute the Beycux tapt,tEr
with her own fair hand as history tcI.4
US, or did she only d. it by prox9 il tie
person of fifty fair m1idens or 50 ~?
Was Cleopatra the divinity she is repre-
sented to be ? And at that glorious ban
quet, when the '.maIled Anthony sat By
her with tho concentrated Joy that sees
trouble near at hand, how aid she drop
and suddenly dissolve pearl with vinegar,
when we have scarcely an acid rorg
enough to effect that result in many days
Was not Cleopatra's pearl sdain one like
the bullet OF Robert Roudin or Professor
Anderson Was LpereCa chaste ? /
Roman author tries to provo that he was
not so. Did Messalina indulge III thao
enormous vice for which Juyenal ia8led her
SO terribly? On the French stage VIZ have
seen nesselina played with double, like
the COrsican brothers OF Mr. Fletcher,
and the author has ingeniossIy thrown al
the vice on the double and has made lie
Empress chasto martyr.
Did Joan OF Arc really exist They
say not nowadays. Her tomb has been
if we may credit report, at
Rouen, and surely her calcinc1 bone
would not yield skeleton. C;gsar. whose
eXhortation to the pilot, Thou carres5
Cesar and his fortunes" that has given
Lord Bacon one of his golden sentences IL
his essays, makes no mention Of tito cir
cumstance and speech. both Of which have
severely questioned ana den.ed. 30 all
the crying out that ''the dc ls cast" and
the thoughtful night spent on horseback
on the banks of the RGbccn, which have
furnished many an eloquent lag t.
speech, carry somewhat ct discredlt with
tHoyn He himself has not related either
incident, though Suetonius aud Piutarch
make point out Of each Of them.
Thus we have shown that certain mix
ture of fable exists in ali tory; aud tL-s
10 quote Lord Bacon, ga ccrtaIn mIx'uta
IF untruth doth ever add IT," But the
larm Of the ''zes," il that it give tle
.eader an unnatural appetite for n4alveis.
nd allow the partisan room 30 sigure
he finest characters. -English Paper.