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Show 10 A 1)\'ER'l'IRE~II~S'J', indi('n.tc the true reasons wh ic!J serve to kcC'p the masses of mankind from any direct intercourse with tl1cir authors :-show why society, itself, works to this very end, as if moved by a common necessity, and go,·crned Ly a positi,·cly selfish interest. "RI Cib\HD UunDis" wns singularly successful with the puLlic in spite of much hosti le criticism. It was objected, to the story, that it was of too gloomy and savage a character. But the On· tire aspect of a sparsely-settled forest, or mountain country, is grave and saddening, even where society is stationary and consistent; and, where society is only in process of formation the saddening and the grave in its aspect arc but too atJt to take on even sterner features, and to grow into the gloomy ami ferocious. lt is quite enough, in answer to the objection, to say that the genera l portraiture is not only a truthfu l one, in the present case, but that t lJC materials arc really of l1istorieal character. '!'he story is a genuine chronicle of the border region where the scone is laid, and of tho period when tho date is fixed. Its action, th roughout, is founded on well-known facts. Its personages wore real, living men; being, doing, and suffering, as here reported. Nothing l1as been" extenuate," nothing has been" set down in malice." A softer colol'ing might ha,·c been employed, and, more f1·equently, scenes of repose migl1t have been introduced for relieving the intense and 1icrce aspects of the story; but these wou\U have been out of place in a narrative so dramatic of cast, nnd where the action is so rapid. Some doubts have Leon expre~sed totu·hiug the actual existence of t he wild and s::l.\'agc confederacy which I have here described; but nobody, at all familiar with the r egion and period of tl1e story, can possibly entertain a r1uestion of the history. There arc l111ndrcds of persons, uow living, who knew, and well rcmemher, all the parties; ana the general history of t he outlawry pn:wailin:; in the ~figsi:.;.'! il1Pi vall ey, twC'nty years a:;o. can hnnlly k wc escaped the knowled~c, in some degree, A DVER'l'lf:ll~MEN'f . 11 of C\·cry inhabi lant of the southwest, during that period. I knew Stuart, the C<'lJJtor of J\lu rr elJ, personally; and had seveoral conferences with him, pr ior to the publication of ]1is narratiYe. I kt\·e also met certain of the drama tis persona, during my early wanderings in that then wild country. The crimes It ere recot·Jed, wore then actually in }Jrogress of commission; and some of my scenes, and several of my persons, were sketc!Jcd from personal observation, and after the current reports hom the best local author ities. I repeat, briefly, that the facts here employed arc beyond question, and sti ll within the memory of living men. I need scarcely add, tiJat, as a. matter of course, I have exerc ised the artist's priv ilege of 11 lacing my groups, in action, at my own pleasure; using what accessories I t ltougltt pro1Jer, and Jismissing others; suppress. ing the merely loathsome; bringing out the heroic, tl 1c bold and attractive, into becoming prominence, for dramatic effect ; and, filling out the character, more or less elaborately, according to the particulat·requisitions of the story, without regarding the ind i,·idual claims of tl1c subordinate. Let me sny, further, - though th is, pcrlta11s, is scarcely necessary - that, in most cases, l l1avc used other tl1:tn the true names, and a ltered certain localities, simply t!Jat living and innocent affect ions should JJOt Le unucce~sarily outraged. One other matter. It wi ll be seen tl1at there is a peculiarity in the arrangement of tl1c story. 'l'hc ltcro tells, not ou ly wlmt he l1imsclf performed, but snpi_J lies the events, even as they occur, which l1c yet dcr i\'cs f1·om the report of others. 'l'hough quite unusual, I he lllan is yet strictly wit!Jin the proprieties of art. 'l'hc reader can readily Le made to comprehend that the l1cro writes after a lt1psc of time, in which he ]1ad supplied !Jimself with the necessary details, filling up ti10 gaps in his own CX}lNicnre. .l ha,,e J>ersuaded myself tl1at somct!Jing is ga ined Ly sucl1 a pi'Ogress, in the more energetic, d irect and Jramatic clmracter of the story; and the rapidity of the action |
