, 1897-04-09
MYTHS OF HISTORY.
THEY CUT A WIDE SWiTA N THE
FANCY or kOvELISyS.

but DO Not Bear Close investigation.
When Our Turn Comes, the Scribes VIII
ReveI In Schemes Undreamed Of Now.
While it may not be quite true. it is
very nearly true that the historical novel
is entertaining entirely Oh account of its
improbabilities. We possess a smatter-
ing of general information. At least we
SO f1atter ourselves. History is for us
not quite a closed book. We know Caesar
and Hannibal and Napoleon and Oliver
Cromwell and Henri Quatre and Richie
lieu and the Man in the Iron Mask,
perhaps even a few others. And when
in company with the hero of the his.
torical novel we are ushered into the
royal presence, we bow and smirk and
grimace amazingly and knowingly.
'Charles l? Certainly. His majesty and
we are old friends. We possess secrets
which his majesty would give his TOW
and kingdom to know. NJ. Posterity has
coniidcd to us stories that would cause
his maiesty's royal hairs to stand on end
like quilts upon the fretful porcupiuG
Don't try to gull us with appearances.
We know all about what's coming. The
gracious smile which now illumines his
majesty's kingly lips is. oh, so droll!
How about Whitehall and the block and
the ax? Ha, ha! We are delighted to see
his majesty in such excellent spirits"
1t is to this faculty of making the
reader feel knowing, of impressing upon
him his own superiority and the correct
ness of his own retrospective surmises
and decisions, that the makers of his.
tOriCal romance owe i'll Il great part their
vogue and popularity. Then out at the
elbows soldiers of fortune-nav, even
the wine drawers, the innkeepers and
the scullcry maids whom we meet in the
historical rOmance-Somchow manage
to plot and scheme and hobnob with the
very greatest ~persOnages of all times. If
u mysterious figure is introduced, Of
course there is Il great personality Ec-
hind it. The eXigcnciGs Of the trade
make this imperative. From Il muiiicd
cloak we will accept n great duke with
fairly becoming grace. a disguised voice
and stealthy, ~ovorcautious GemC.ror de-
mand n king or a hero who, in his
tory's pages, looms up as mighty or
mightier than a king.
Wonder might justly be expressed
that a simple soldier of fortune of the
Quentin Durward, D'Artagnan ilk
should be of such supreme importance to
the welfare Of nations and the safety Cf
kings. To deny either the Scot or the
Gascon would surely be outright heresy.
They embody old Caledonia and old
Francois we see them. But the col
lectivc possibilities that are necessary to
give the historical romance fire and go,
make i'll the end it must be acknowl-
edged, Il pretty strong chain of improb-
abilities. To thoroughly appreciate this
M would have to read the historical
romance that is to deal with our day
and to be written IL score years hence.
This, alas, we cannot do! What a
screaming farce it will be when it
comes! Will it not read like the rawlings
of n mailman? How ludicrous will be
the complications! What an extraordi,
nary age our WI will seeml But the
<lrollest feature of all will be the SUBJ
lime gravity, the supreme sincerity with
which the whole will be accepted by
the reader of that future day. How is
it that, in an age like our own, when
there are a publisher and u market for
every literary conceit and %absurdity. no
one has thought to anticipate this, the
historical romance Of the future. Surely
it would not be all burlesque.
What marvellous things those scribes
will be telling Of u age and civiliza-
ton! What strange and darkling events
will be made to take place at our very
doors! The mysteries that are to be
cleared up are as nothing to those which
are to be invented. Our nights and days
will be given over to tragic intrigues
and fell deeds. Murder will stalk our
streets. Swords will leap and cross,
knives will CLEAN, pistols will crack
along Broadway, or, if we prefer, Re-
gent street, or the Ringstrasse, or Inter
den Linden, or the Boulevard des Capu.
cines. The guet u peur will be supreme.
All this Will come to pass when the
scribes of the twenty-second century sit
down to the task of writing their his
torical novels. And then-other heroes.
How mum they are keeping themselves
Why don't they come out of the dark
ness and mystery and shadow and amuse
the age with the narrative Of those thrill
ing and soul stirring adventures with
which the romancers of the future will
credit them? We know that when the
arbitration question is settled and both
the United States and England are freed
from the possibilities Of u hideous and
devastating war, it is not her majesty,
the queen of Great Britain and empress
of India, or the president, or tie prime
minister, or the secretary of state, who
brought it about. Oh, no! That might
do very well to gull and beguile and ca
jole the poor, ignorant masses. The real
power behind the throne is the impov-
erished soldier of fortune, Of whom the
romance of the historical novelists of
the future will tell us. What nets be
will spread! What strange and unEoly
influences he will bring to bear! What
ingenuity, cunning, valor, patience,
will he employ before the great scheme
is contaminated and history is madel
What dangers he will encounter! What
fearful odds he will overcome! We know
he is here. Could We doubt the histor-
ical romance of the future? We see the
result, we reap its benefit, but the cause,
the colossal nobody whose Vaccinations
brought it all about. where is he? Let
him stand forth that the age may do
him honor!-New York Advertiser.
Fair Warning.