Frances, and other biographies or sketches of a similar kind. Some
portions, and those the most really important and prominent, are well
ascertained, incontrovertible, and substantially true. Others again, in
all likelihood, took place very much, though not literally, in the way
in which they are recorded. Of others, they were possibly, or even
probably, the mere colouring of the writer, or were originally adopted
on uninvestigated rumour. They are all, however, consistent with known
facts, and the laws on which humanity is governed by Divine Providence;
and therefore, as they may be true, they take their place in that vast
multitude of histories which all candid and well-informed persons agree
in accepting as worthy of credit, though in various degrees.

Supposing, then, that miraculous events may and do occur in the present
state of the world's history, it is obvious that these various degrees
of assent are commanded alike by the supernatural and the natural
events which are here so freely mingled together. Some are undoubtedly
true, others are probably either fictitious or incorrectly recorded.
The substance rests on the genuine documents, originally written by
eye-witnesses and perfectly competent judges; and as such, the whole
stands simply as a result of the gathering together of historical
testimony.

Here, however, the ordinary English reader meets us with the assertion,
that the supernatural portions of such lives are simply _impossible_. He
assumes--for I am not exaggerating when I say that he never tries _to
prove_--that these marvellous interruptions of the laws of nature never
take place. Consequently, in his judgment, it is purely ridiculous to
put forth such stories as history; and writers who issue them are guilty
either of folly, ignorance, superstition, or an unprincipled tampering
with the credulity of unenlightened minds. Of those who thus meet the