The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-06-22
SC.
Tuesday Morning, June 90, 1875.

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BEECHER's DOUBLE. nature is
the same the world over and for nll time.
The old dramatists held the mirror up
to nature with such an honesty of pur-
pose and caught the lights and shadows
of life with such fidelity that their works
remain III chronicles of the virtues and
vices of our own times. The dramatic
attitude in which the principals of the
Brooklyn scandal find themselves has
suggested frequent reference to the old
plays, and comparisons have been insti-
tuted by the adherents Of one side be-
tween the fictitious characters and the
real personagcs, in order to show how it
is, that Mr.. Beecher cannot be guilty,
and. by the other side, as we'll, to illus
.trnte how it is that he cannot be innc-
cent "Othello" has been especially
fruitful in apt quotations. A writer hiss
recently cited an obsolete play, called
EEL Capitado," or the "Mufiled Man, =
by the Spanish drnmatist, Caldiron, in
(which the idea that mans double is
his most dangerous enemy is treated in
q masterly manner. The plot is con-
corning young man who was dogged
all his life by q masked and mysterious
person, who thwarted his plans inces-
sanity, and blasted his hopes at the mo-
ment of fruition. When on the point of
communicating. happy marriage Ell
Capitado again opposes him. They
draw and fight. During tho conflict the
whose antagonist, horror-stricken to see
his own countenance exposed to view,
dies in agony. The play is dramatic
illustration Of the truth Of the words of
Christ: IA mans foes shall be of his
own household" Ell Capitado was
Einaply personifcation Of the victims
own passions. Taking up the analogy,
and setting aside the question of actual
guilt of the Grimes charged, the writer re-
heots that "Beecher's frivolity in dealing
with sacred things, his pulpit levity, his
impatienoe with all reproof or instruc-
tion, his indifference to public opinion
en- social proprieties, his reckless mis-
management of an enormous income, his
playing fast and loose with persons and
with promises, his facile adaptation to
the Gospel on Sunday and during the
week to the dirty crew that hung round
him-all come upon him in his latter
days, and he finds FL Cdpitado his worst
enemy" This theory gives color to the
testimony that Mr.. Beeoher carried a vial
of prussic acid about his person, in order
to be prepared to shuttle off his mortal
coil the instant affairs came to their
worst. The Louisville Courier-Journal
also declares that the adroitly woven
screen which Beecher's congregation
threw around the high priest Of new
4: gospel is being torn apart, thread by
; thread of the glittering fabric, by the
. cumulating argument Of Beach. There
is pleasant little story of Hans Ander-
sen, about ''The King and his Fine
Clothes" in which q vain monarch,
naked as Adam in primal paradise, is
induced to believe, by three weavers,
that they have clothed him in gorgeous
robes The King called upon his court
iers, as he strobe about his palace in a
Ctate of nudity, to admire his garments.
They bowed and flattered him. He or
dered his gorgeous chariot. and standing
in it, he made triumphant procession
through the streets of his capital city,
till ut last little child screamed out:
But, mamma. the King is naked!' The
cry ran through the multitude, and,
King as he was, he was forced to retire
in disgrace to his abode. Hoe faJ,tla
docet.