18l6.] Joan of Arc. — Ttaching the 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 

 SIR, 



1WAS a little surprised at the doubt 

 raised by your learned correspojuleut 

 E. M. respfotiii"- tiie execution of tlie 

 Maid ol" Orleans. But, tliough I by no 

 means intend fornialiy to enter tlie lists 

 witii a man of such great talents, yet I 

 must be permitted to have my doubts 

 concerning tlie justness of his opinion, 

 and that of Kotzebue; for, 



1st. How is it to be accounted for, 

 that a circumstance so well known at 

 Metz, as the appearance of Joan of Arc 

 there, is represented by Father Vignier 

 to have been, should iiavc escaped the 

 notice of all the historians of that age ? 

 They cither never heard of it, which 

 I think goes very far towiuds refuting 

 the testimony of I'athcr V — ; or, if they 

 did, they rejected it as altogether frivo- 

 lous, which I should consider a still 

 greater proof of its im[irobability : and 

 the same arguments will, 1 conceive, 

 \uAA good respecting Hume, the extent 

 of whose knowledge and the soundness 

 of whose judgment, none of your rea- 

 ders, I am sure, will ever call in ques- 

 tion. But, 



2dly. Even allowing the possibility of 

 these men being mistaken, surely the 

 evidence on which we reject an opmion, 

 so long received cousendone omnium, 

 ought to be vei-y strong, and to bring 

 conviction home to us at once; but can 

 »o much be said for that of leather V — .' 

 I conceive, quite the contrary; for it is 

 not direct and positive evidence, but 

 rests on the aulhcntieity of a letter 

 written by Father V — 's brother, and of 

 a narrative of one Father Dachery, who 

 writes the Life of Fatijcr V — , wiio says 

 lie saw a manuscript at Metz, which I 

 Leiievc no one else has ever mentioned, 

 and which Kotzebue himself thinks 

 " would have gained but little creden.':c 

 with father V — ," had not anotlicr cir- 

 cumstance occurred, wliich he seems to 

 think very important; according to my 

 ideas, if any importance is to be attach- 

 ed to it, it must be in refuting his own 

 argument; fur, is it at all to be credited, 

 that a lord of Armoise should have been 

 Jineally descended from so great a per- 

 sonage as Jean of Arc, and that there 

 should not be some tradition of it carried 

 down in his family for the short space of 

 two centuries? I think, certainly not. — 

 Moreover, might not the said holy father 

 be tem!)tcd to propagate suHi a story 

 with a view of profit; j)crhaps employcrd 

 by that very same lord of Armoise, wlio 

 " njanifc^tc'l no imall joy sX the honor 



Classics hy Translations. 2J 



which thus accrued to him;" or iix 

 many other reasons? Besides, where are 

 all these manuscripts which he mentions? 

 It is very remaikable that they should 

 all be lost. 



As to the answers which Kotzebue 

 prepares for those who may object to 

 his opinion, they are certainly ingeni- 

 ous, but in my opinion they do not 

 carry even a shadow of proof with them; 

 and, upon the whole, it is my humble 

 opinion, drawn from the foregoing ar- 

 gumenlf., that all which has been writ- 

 ten by those holy fatlicrs, and even tlie 

 opinions of Kolzcbue and £. M. which 

 alone can give the testimony of the 

 others any degree of weight, ought not 

 to be admitted as sullicient evidence to 

 overturn the long received and univer- 

 sally believed opinion of Joan's execu- 

 tion. W. H, 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine 



SJR, 



THE manner of attempting, or pre- 

 tending, to teach the Classics to 

 boys, by the help of translation. Las 

 appeared to me, in some instances, as a 

 species of imposition. I know that Eng- 

 lish translations have been recommended 

 to the Latin student by certain persons, 

 and admit that they may have been of 

 utility to those who have not had the 

 advantage of a teacher; but surely the 

 general introduction of them into a 

 school can only have arisen from the 

 ignorance of the master; and the obvi- 

 ous eliect is to retard, instead of pro- 

 moting, the advancement of tlie pupil. 

 It may be perceived, without any great 

 drgree of discernment, that a lad who 

 cannot learn a language without such 

 helps, can never make any desirable 

 proiiciency in it; and that a boy who 

 can learn at ajil, would evenUially learn 

 without them, what he now acquires 

 Mith less intellectual exertion, and con- 

 sequently less real advantage; (or every 

 dirficulty is smoothed for him: th.cre is 

 little exertion of ingemiily to discover 

 the construction, and as little cxercisti 

 of memory to discover the root, of any 

 word wliich he may be required to 

 parse; for, if it be not presented to his 

 mind, yet, by observing in his book tjie 

 corresponding I^ngli.sh word, and turn- 

 ing to it in his dictionary, he tinds the 

 word he is in quest of, wilhont tracing 

 its derivation in his mind. But, admit- 

 ting translations of initiatory authors to 

 be useful or even necessary, still what 

 plea can a master have for putting info 

 a bo}'s hands such an author us \ irgil, 

 ' Hccuuipauied 



