The Penn's Grove record., 1882-02-11
NUMBER q.

in its power of engendering bitter and
%rancorous feelings.
IL Is unfortunate that the narrators
Of these incidents are not altogether
above suspicion. 1.-THE Turkish Spy"
in 1914, for instance, who gives an
account Of a personal interview with
the Wandering Jew, displays q re-
markable ignorance of Mohammedan
customs and beliefs, while his knowI-
edge OF medieval Christian history
and superstitions is equally notewor-
tiny
Still there seems to be little doubt that
impostors did from time to time give
themselves out to be Ahasuerus, the
immortal Wanderer, and they appear
to have found it. a very paying bust
uess, although it could not have been
without its risks, as the medieSai
populace must have been sorely
tempted to put the pretender's immor-
tality to the test.
The very fact, too, of the periodical
temperance of soidtsant Wander
ing Jews' in various parts of Europe,
is a proof Of the widespread belief in
the legend.
How this belief arose, and what
were the relations between the story
Of Ahasuerus, or Carfaphilus, and pop
ular mythology of Europe, have been
recently told by DR.. Moncure d. Con-
way, a writer who has earned for him.
self the right to speak as an expert on
questions of old folklore and demon
ology.
The legend of the Wandering Jew
has had great attractions for the poets
and artists Of Europe. In Germany
Schubert first conceived the idea of
making "this antique cOrdwainer," az
Carlyle says, as it were, a raft at al
anchor In the stream of time, from
which he would survey the changes
and wonders of 1000 years" Goethe
also'contemplated 8 poem OF the sub
ject, but was diverted by the more
national legend of Faust. Many others
have written on the same theme ; but
Chamisso, in his New Ahasuerus, has
perhaps clothed the whole myth in
the M st picturesque dress.
III France is Eugene Sue, whose
romance of The Wandering Jew, pub
lished in 1874, has done more than
anything else to revive the popular
legend of the middle ages in our own
day. His hero is, as Mr.. Moncure
Conway points out, closely allied to the
mysterious undying wanderer, Ell
Khidhr, mentioned in the eighteenth
chapter of the Koran.
Moses meeting with an ancient man
who, he is miraculously informed, is
wiser than himself, travels with him,
but not until the stranger has exacted
q promise from him that he will not
ask any questions, whatever he might
see. Ell Khidhr, in the course of their
peregrinations, commits various
crimes and Moses, unable to control
explanation. The old man then re-
veals to him that the apparent wrongs
were either retributiens or blessings
In disguise, and, leaving the Hebrew
lawgiver, goes on upon his endless
journey through the world.
Eugene Sues Wandering Jew at
length finds rest, together with Hero
dlas who mad expatiated her foul muir
der Of st, John the Baptist by a SINH
lar restless doom. Pierre Dupont's
p~oetical version of the romance, and
Gustave Dore's imaginative designs
which accompany it, will be familiar
to most of our readers. The last espe-
cially, are a faithful transcript of the
mind and weird conception which,
having it's origin in the vague yearn-
ings of a primitive people, has sur
vived until the present time lii the
ghostly figure of the ancient Jew who
literally paid with his life for insulting
Our Lord. Mr.. Moncure Conway
deserves our gratitude for having given
a graphic and exhaustive account Of
this ancient and most curious myth.