73 
MYTHS AND HISTORY. 
By M. C. CARMAN, B.A. December 8th, 1891. 
The lecturer began by defining the terms myth and history : 
then shewed by reference to Greek, Roman, and English records, 
how the earlier stages of the annals of all nations have been 
through three stages before history can be said to have been 
seriously written: first, the fabulous period; second, that in 
which we find a mixture of fable and truth ; third, wherein truth 
predominates. Further, even history has undergone a change 
in the treatment to which it has been subjected. In former 
times literary form was the principal feature, and truth was 
sacrificed to style; but with the French Revolution and the 
spread of inquiry, which may be said to date therefrom, 
commenced a new era in historical writing. Henceforth the 
purpose of history was analytic. But this with the second 
period, with which he had more particularly dealt in, which 
curious combinations of fable and truth came to be regarded as 
history, In order to give some idea how this occurred, he had 
taken three examples of legend, viz., St. George, Arthur, and 
William Tell. He endeavoured to shew what evidence we have 
for their real existence, and what an immense part imagination 
had played in their development. There probably was a martyr 
named George in the beginning of the Christian Era, and we 
know that in the middle ages he became the hero saint of the 
Crusaders. With regard to Arthur, there was a considerable 
amount of confusion between a Celtic god of the same name, and 
a person who was mentioned as the hero of the Anglo-British 
wars. His memory served to inspire the Welsh in their final 
struggles against the English. An examination of the Tell 
story showed that there was no such person, that it grew up 
among the Swiss to account for the early history of the Swiss 
Confederation, and that the main outline was almost without 
doubt copied from a Scandinavian legend. It was not without 
some qualms that tke dross and tinsel which surrounded a 
character were stripped off and the naked truth revealed. But 
it was better so, for if the history by so doing becomes lost, the 
- romance still remains—no dead thing—which by further growth 
may live on and give us ideals for which in history we might 
look in vain. 
