Murray; or by Darnley to Mary, with scraps of her diary, and false
interpolations. The enemies of the Queen, coming into possession of her
papers after the affair of Carberry Hill, falsified the Casket Letters
into their present appearance of unity. Of course historical facts make
this ingenuity unavailing. We regret the circumstance in the interest of
the Queen's reputation, but welcome these illustrative examples of what
can be done in Germany. {16a}

Fortunately all Teutons are not so ingenious. Baumeister has fallen on
those who, in place of two hymns, Delian and Pythian, to Apollo, offer us
half-a-dozen fragments. By presenting an array of discordant conjectures
as to the number and nature of these scraps, he demonstrates the purely
wilful and arbitrary nature of the critical method employed. {16b} Thus
one learned person believes in (1) two perfect little poems; (2) two
larger hymns; (3) three lacerated fragments of hymns, one lacking its
beginning, the other wofully deprived of its end. Another _savant_
detects no less than eight fragments, with interpolations; though perhaps
no biblical critic _ejusdem farinae_ has yet detected eight Isaiahs.
There are about ten other theories of similar plausibility and value.
Meanwhile Baumeister argues that the Pythian Hymn (our second part) is an
imitation of the Delian; by a follower, not of Homer, but of Hesiod.
Thus, the Hesiodic school was closely connected with Delphi; the Homeric
with Ionia, so that Delphi rarely occurs in the Epics; in fact only
thrice (I. 405, [Greek text]. 80, [Greek text]. 581). The local
knowledge is accurate (Pythian Hymn, 103 _sqq_.). These are local
legends, and knowledge of the curious chariot ritual of Onchestus. The
Muses are united with the Graces as in a work of art in the Delphian
temple. The poet chooses the Hesiodic and un-Homeric myth of Heaven and
Earth, and their progeny: a myth current also in Polynesia, Australia,
and New Zealand. The poet is full of inquiry as to origins, even