Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-04-22
THE CREDULITY OF INFIDELS.
Thomas Carlyle ana John Stuart
MIL


Thomas Carlyle thinks that miracles
are so inherently improbable that de.
spite the testimony, he win not believe
them
In his Early Kings of Norway" he
tells us Of Harald Haarfagr (fair-haired),
who was Norway's first king. Harald
was led to the throne as follows: He fell
in love wth Gyda, "a then glorious and
famous young lady Of those regions.
She, however, answered his embassy in
distant, lofty manner: Her it would
not beseem to wed any jarl or poor
eature of that kind; let him do as
CORN, Of Denmark; Eric, of Sweden;
Egbert, Of England, and others had
done-subdue into peace and regulation
the confused contentious bits OF jarls
round him and become q king; then,
perhaps, she might think of his proposal
till then, not This reply only rem.
dered fair Gyda tenfold more desirable
in Haral1s eyes, aud he at once set
about the business of conquest, which
lasted him twelve years Ca. D. 860-
872). Sixty more years" Mr.. Carlyle
tells us, were given him to consolidate
and regulate what he had conquered" Z"
and he died "a man Of eighty-three. !"
Twelve years for conquest, and sixty
more to consolidate and regulate" |"
made seventy-tw0, which taken from
eighty.three, leaves eleven He was,
then, eleven years old when he began
his conquests. OF course, some time
was necessary for him to get ready to
prepare Tor war, etc, say three years; ;
this would make bsm eight years old
when he courted Gyda--a wonderfully
u uthiul lover, anda maryellously youth
lul general Then Gyda, being "a glori-
Gus and famous young lady" must have
been much older than Harald; and it is
extremely Improbable, TO say the least,
that she would have answered the suit Of
an eight year-old boy, as Mr. Carlyle
says she did Miracles are, farsooth, too
wonderful to be believed, despite the
great array OF testimony for them, but
this story OF Harald is nottoo wonderful
for Mr.. Carlyle to believe, on the testi-
mony of obscure Icelanders. The legs
OF the lame are not equal
John Stuart Mil, and the whole tribe
of scientific ia6dels after him, refuses to
believe in miracles. In his autobiogra-
ply, Mr.. Mill tells us that he began the
study of Greek at three years of age.
When he was seven, he says he had read,
iR The original, a number Of Greek
prose authors, among whom y italics
mine) he. mentlcns the following The
whole Of Herodotus and Of Xenophon's 5
CyclopRdia and Memorials OF Socrates;
some Of the lives of philosophers by
Diogenes Lestius; part OF Lucian and
Isocrates ad Demonicam and nd Nico-
elem, and the first six dialogues of PlatO.
When seven years old, Mr.. Mill says,
also, that he had read in English made
notes upOn them and reeounted the con-
tents to bis father, the following works:
Robertson's historiesS Hume; GibbOn;
Watson's Philip the Second and Third,
in which he took special delight; the
Defence Of the Knights of Malta against
the Turks Revolt Of the Netherlands;
Hooke's History Of Rome; Rollins An
cient History, beginning with Phillip Of
Maeedon; Langhorne's translation of
Plutareh; Burnet's History; the histori-
cal part of the Annual Register,
from the beginning up to 1888;
Millar's Historical View of the
English Government; MOsheim's Ec
clesiastical History; McCries Life OF
John Knox; Sewell's and Ruttys His
tories of the Qnskers. Besides these, he
says he read and discussed Beaver
African Memoranda; Collins Account
of the First Settlement OF New Soutl
Wales Anson's Voyages; Hawkes.
worth's Voyages, 4 vols; Don Quixote
Miss Edgeworth's Popular Tales
Cazottes Arabian Tales, and Brook
Fool of Quality. All these, not to men
ton Arabian Knights, Robinson Crusoe
and such books as boys generally read
Mr.. Mil tells us he had read an,
mastered at the age Of seven. All tn
scientific in6dels Of England and tn
| United States, so far as / know, Will
they refuse to believe Matthews, Mark
Luko's, Johns, Peters and Paul
testimony in favor of miracles, do no
for a moment hesitate to accept this aC
count of Mr.. Mills childhood attain
ments, on his sole testimony. The maj
who can believe that a seven-year.ol
boy ever did all that John Stuart Nil
claims for himself at that age, and VIII