Specimens Of Credulity.
The Times, 1824-10-29T00:00:00

Loid Bacon, in his Essay on 'I'rutlh, tells us tllat "a miix- ture of a lye doth always add( pleasure." WVe therefore recommend the following extracts froin a dull book, pub- lished at the beginning of the 17th century, and entitled M' Miracula Alortuorum el Viorumn," to the future editors of the life of that renowned adventurer Baron funchausen. The author of it was a German jurisprulent, namedl Henry Kornmann, who is represented by Bayle to have been a profound scholar, and a very ravenous devourer of learning. He has no claim to originality of invention; but as to readiness in believing the inventions of others, he Is clearly without a rival. lVe subjoin a fow instances of the gravitv with which he retails and propagates the most monstrous absurdities. In describing the wonders that are to be found in the South Sea, he tells us that Diodorus the Geographer writes, that " there is an island in it,where the inhabitants are each four cubits taller than the inhabitants of Greece and Italy-their bones are not hard, but flexible like nerves-their tongue is dlivided in two from the roots, so that they can keep up a conversation wvithl one ioan with one half of their tongue, anl witlh another with theotlier at the same time." Allu(ding to the Molucca IslandIs, he assures us with inimitable simplicity, that " in the island-. of Gylon. which is one of them,there is a nation witlh ears so large,that they hang down to theirshoulders,and that in anotlher island( close by it, tlhere is a niationi with ears still longer. 'I'he inlhabitants of it are accustomcd, when they go to slceie, to lay down on owe ear andl to cover themiselves up witlh the other !!" 'fhis story, he informs ns, is to be foun(d in that celebrated author, MIaximilianus Transylvanus, of wlhose celebrity, however,we are at this tiulic ot (lay unfortunately Very ignorant. A knight of the lialne of Pigafetta ple(dges his crelit for the Iruth of it, as any of our readers may see, -vho choose to refer to his History of the East Indies. To match this people, who Inake coverlets ot' their ears, the worthy German informs us that tlherc are a peoplc in In(lia who make a parasol of their foot. This story rests on the authority of Solillus, who, inl his .53d chapter, enlightenis the worldl by tellinlg it, that " there is a nation of one-eyed people in India, who, thoutghi they have only Olle leg, are stilf eiidowed with sinigular fleetness. When they want to protect themselves fromii the heat, they fling themselves on tileir back, and recline unlder the shadc of their foot, whlich is immnensely large." He likewise quotes a s5cltcllcc from St. Augustin'S 37th Sermon to his brethren in the wildler- nless, which puits it beyondl all dloubt that the3re are such beings in the world as men who wear their heads, or rather their 't s, heneatlt the sholliders. This eccentric saint says, " WVien I was bishop of Ilippo, I went with some servants of Christ into Ethiopia with tile intentionl of preachinlg our holy religion. 'There we sewv mr.any menl anid women,ti not having any hca(s, but lar e eyes fixedl in their breasts. Their other members were liRe vour own." Pliny, itela, and Solhiusall speak of the existence of such persons; but unie of them was so favoured by fate as to be periiitted a sight of them. St. Augustine, Tmow- uver, was more fortunate-he saw themn or at least he says he saw theni - and who woul(d dlisbelieve the word of a saint? St. Augustine, in his treatise "De C'iifulte Di, lib. 6. cap. ." pledges his saintly word that there is in Ethiopia a niation wlhich has nio mouth or tongue, but which lives entirely upoll air; lhut he Iloes not say whether these singular persons tell uni(ler his own inspection. 'There is a story extant of a nainesake of the wortlhy bishop of Hlippo, M' ilieh may serve to amuse some of our fricnds in the nTLAvourhood of Dorchester, who may perhaps oe kilid enough to informn us whether any of the familv men- tioned in the following extract fronm the life of Gregory the I Great, by a nameless writer quoted by Kornmain, are yet existing in that part of the country. " VYhen Augustlne, the Molnk, was sclnt into England by Gregory the Great to preach the Gospel, he was r(liculed and insulted by a fa- mnily in Dorchester, who pinned frog-tails (ranaururn c,,das) to his garments. From that dav all the descend- ants of that unjfortunate family have been born, like beasts, wvith a long tail." Our paper a few days ago gave an accounlt of a servant girl who was re- storedl to life after she had been considered dead for five or six days. 'his woultd not have appeared at all ex- traor(Iinary to our learned German ; for he assurcs us that " Gocellin,a nephew of the Arclhbishop of Cologne,as he.was crossing the lihine in his childhoodl, fell out of the boat into the river; and in spite of the efforts of his atteltllaltts sunk and was no more seen. Fifteen days aftertvards lie was fished oat of the river (e.yjiscatuiS est). As they were taking him to church to bury im, he surprised his pall. bearers by starting out of his coffin, and telling them that they need not go any farther, as he was quite alive." WVe conclude this collection of wonders by a single speci- meni taken out of a book of them written by Peter Damia- lius, Arebbishop and Carclinal of Ravenna. He tells us that " Robert, King of France, took a woman to his wife, who Was bis near relation. She bore him a child who ha(d the eadl and neck of a goose. -'he Bishops of France, on hear- \ing of this portentous birth, excommunicated both him and his wife." tobert was more unfortunate in his puniishment than in his fate; for though he might be first, he certainly was not the last King who has found himself the father of a son with tbe head of a goose, SP'ECIMENS OF CREDULITY.