Historical Mysteries

Andrew Lang

Description

First published in 1904, this volume contains a collection of 12 essays written by Scottish author Andrew Lang dealing with various baffling historical mysteries, including the famous Gowrie conspiracy and much-investigated case of Elizabeth Canning. A fantastic collection of detailed examinations concerning some the world's most unsolvable secrets not to be missed by mystery lovers and those with an interest in true crime and history. Contents include: “The Case of Elizabeth Canning”, “The Murder of Escovedo”, “The Campden Mystery”, “The Case of Allan Breck”, “The Cardinal's Necklace”, “The Mystery of Kaspar”, “Hauser: The Child of Europe”, “The Gowrie Conspiracy”, “The Strange Case of Daniel Dunglas Home”, “The Case of Captain Green”, “Queen Oglethorpe”, “The Chevalier D'éon”, “Saint-Germain the Deathless”, etc. Andrew Lang FBA (1844–1912) was a Scottish novelist, poet, literary critic, and anthropologist most famous for as a collector of fairy tales and folklore. Other notable works by this author include: “The Blue Fairy Book” (1889), “Ballades and Rhymes” (1911), and “Method in the Study of Totemism” (1911). Read & Co. History is proudly republishing this classic work now in a brand new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

Sujets

• List of unsolved deaths
• John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie
• Elizabeth Canning
• Criminal record

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 24 juin 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528791946
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

HISTORICAL MYSTERIES
By
ANDREW LANG

First published in 1904



Copyright © 2020 Read & Co. History
This edition is published by Read & Co. History, an imprint of Read & Co.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Read & Co. is part of Read Books Ltd. For more information visit www.readandcobooks.co.uk


Contents
Andrew Lang
PREFACE
I THE CASE OF ELIZA BETH CANNING
II THE MURDER OF ESCOVEDO
III THE CAM PDEN MYSTERY
IV THE CASE OF ALLAN BRECK
V THE CARDINA L'S NECKLACE
VI THE MYSTERY OF KASPAR HAUSER: THE CHI LD OF EUROPE
VII THE GOWRI E CONSPIRACY
VIII THE STRANGE CASE OF DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME
IX THE CASE OF C APTAIN GREEN
X QUEE N OGLETHORPE
XI THE CHE VALIER D'ÉON
XII SAINT-GERMAIN T HE DEATHLESS
XIII THE MYSTERY OF THE KIRKS
XIV THE END OF JEANNE DE LA MOTTE




Andrew Lang


Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was born on 31st March 1844. He was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic and major contributor to the field of anthropology. Lang is best known however, as a collector of folk and fairy tales.
Lang was born in Selkirk, a town in the south-east of the Scottish Borders. He was the eldest of the eight children born to John Lang, the town clerk of Selkirk, and his wife Jane Plenderleath Sellar, who was the daughter of Patrick Sellar, estate-manager to the first duke of Sutherland.
He was educated at Selkirk Grammar School, and later at the Edinburgh Academy. Lang was a gifted student, and attended St. Andrews University where he achieved his MA, and undertook further studies at Balliol College, Oxford. Here, Lang achieved a first class degree in classics (in 1868), subsequently becoming an honorary fellow of Mer ton College.
On 17th April 1875, Lang married Leonora Blanche Alleyne, the youngest daughter of C. T. Alleyne of Clifton and Barbados. She was (or should have been) variously credited as author, collaborator, and translator of Lang's edited Fairy Books — for which he was generally listed as the sole contributor.
As a journalist, poet, critic and historian, Lang soon made a reputation as one of the most able and versatile writers of the day. He is of course best known for his publications on folklore, mythology and religion. Lang's interest in folklore was from early life; he read John Ferguson McLennan before coming to Oxford, and then was influenced by Edward Burnett Tylor (1832—1917; an English anth ropologist).
The earliest of his publications is Custom and Myth (1884). In Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887) he explained the 'irrational' elements of mythology as survivals from more primitive forms. Lang's work on religion was heavily influenced by the eighteenth century idea of the 'noble savage'. In it, he maintained the existence of high spiritual ideas among so-called 'savage' races, drawing parallels with the contemporary interest in occult phenomena in England. Lang also examined the origins of ' totemism' in Social Ori gins (1903).
Lang's fairy books stemmed out of this work, and his Blue Fairy Book (1889) was a beautifully produced and illustrated edition of British and European fairy tales that has since become a classic. This was followed by many other collections of fairy tales, collectively known as Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. It is only in the preface of the Lilac Fairy Book, that Lang credits his wife with translating and transcribing most of the stories in the collections.
Lang had a prolific scholarly output. Aside from his work in folklore and anthropology, Lang also worked in psychical research, (publishing The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (1897), Magic and Religion (1901) and The Secret of the Totem (1905)), classical scholarship (working on a prose translation of Homer's Odyssey (1879), a prose version of the Iliad (1883), and a translation and investigation into The Homeric Hymns (1899)), general history (penning The Mystery of Mary Stuart (1901), James VI and the Gowrie Mystery (1902) and a History of Scotlant from the Roman Occupat ion (1900)).
Lang also produced collections of ballads and verses (editing a well received collection of The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns (1896), as well as writing leading articles for the Daily News and miscellaneous articles for the Morning Post. For many years he was literary editor of Longman's Magazine. Lang discussed literary subjects with the same humour and acidity that marked his criticism of fellow folklorists, most notably in Books and Bookmen (1886), Letters to Dead Authors (1886), and Letters on Literature (1889). To put it simply, at this time, no critic was held in greater esteem, or in grea ter request.
As a result of this pioneering work, in 1906, Lang was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, and in 1911 served as President of the Society for Psychic al Research.
Lang passed-away on 20th July 1912, at the age of sixty-eight. He died from angina pectoris (heart disease) at the Tor-na-Coille Hotel in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. Lang was survived by his wife, and was buried in the cathedral precincts at St. Andrews. The ' Andrew Lang Lectures' at the University of St Andrews are name d after him.


PREFACE
These Essays, which appeared, with two exceptions, in The Cornhill Magazine , 1904, have been revised, and some alterations, corrections, and additions have been made in them. 'Queen Oglethorpe,' in which Miss Alice Shield collaborated, doing most of the research, is reprinted by the courteous permission of the editor, from Blackwood's Magazine . A note on 'The End of Jeanne de la Motte,' has been added as a sequel to 'The Cardinal's Necklace:' it appeared in The Morning Post , the Editor kindly granting leave t o republish.
The author wishes to acknowledge the able assistance of Miss E.M. Thompson, who made researches for him in the British Museum and at the Re cord Office.


HISTORICAL MYSTERIES
I
THE CASE OF ELIZABETH CANNING
Don't let your poor little Lizzie be blamed!
— Thackeray
'Everyone has heard of the case of Elizabeth Canning,' writes Mr. John Paget; and till recently I agreed with him. But five or six years ago the case of Elizabeth Canning repeated itself in a marvellous way, and then but few persons of my acquaintance had ever heard of that myst erious girl.
The recent case, so strange a parallel to that of 1753, was this: In Cheshire lived a young woman whose business in life was that of a daily governess. One Sunday her family went to church in the morning, but she set off to skate, by herself, on a lonely pond. She was never seen of or heard of again till, in the dusk of the following Thursday, her hat was found outside of the door of her father's farmyard. Her friend discovered her further off in a most miserable condition, weak, emaciated, and with her skull fractured. Her explanation was that a man had seized her on the ice, or as she left it, had dragged her across the fields, and had shut her up in a house, from which she escaped, crawled to her father's home, and, when she found herself unable to go further, tossed her hat towards the farm door. Neither such a man as she described, nor the house in which she had been imprisoned, was ever found. The girl's character was excellent, nothing pointed to her condition being the result d'une orgie échevelée ; but the neighbours, of course, made insinuations, and a lady of my acquaintance, who visited the girl's mother, found herself almost alone in placing a charitable construction on th e adventure.
My theory was that the girl had fractured her skull by a fall on the ice, had crawled to and lain in an unvisited outhouse of the farm, and on that Thursday night was wandering out, in a distraught state, not wandering in. Her story would be the result of her cerebral condition—concussion o f the brain.
It was while people were discussing this affair, a second edition of Elizabeth Canning's, that one found out how forgotten wa s Elizabeth.
On January 1, 1753, Elizabeth was in her eighteenth year. She was the daughter of a carpenter in Aldermanbury; her mother, who had four younger children, was a widow, very poor, and of the best character. Elizabeth was short of stature, ruddy of complexion, and, owing to an accident in childhood—the falling of a garret ceiling on her head—was subject to fits of unconsciousness on any alarm. On learning this, the mind flies to hysteria, with its accompaniment of diabolical falseness, for an explanation of her adventure. But hysteria does not serve the turn. The girl had been for years in service with a Mr. Wintlebury, a publican. He gave her the highest character for honesty and reserve; she did not attend to the customers at the bar, she kept to herself, she had no young man, and she only left Wintlebury's for a better place—at a Mr. Lyon's, a near neighbour of her mother. Lyon, a carpenter, corroborated, as did all the neighbours, on the points of modesty and honesty.
On New Year's Day, 1753, Elizabeth wore her holiday best—'a purple masquerade stuff gown, a white handkerchief and apron, a black quilted petticoat, a green undercoat, black shoes, blue stockings, a white shaving hat with green ribbons,' and 'a very ruddy colour.' She had her wages, or Christ