o
admirably for an epic poem; and indeed bears a considerable
resemblance to the Iliad and the AEneid; in which Achilles and the
Greeks, AEneas and the Trojans, (the ancestors of the Romans) are so
studiously held up to admiration. Buonaparte's exploits seem magnified
in order to enhance the glory of his conquerors; just as Hector is
allowed to triumph during the absence of Achilles, merely to give
additional splendour to his overthrow by the arm of that invincible
hero. Would not this circumstance alone render a history rather
_suspicious_ in the eyes of an acute critic, even if it were not
filled with such gross improbabilities; and induce him to suspend his
judgment, till very satisfactory evidence (far stronger than can be
found in this case) should be produced?

Is it then too much to demand of the wary academic[20] a suspension of
judgment as to the "life and adventures of Napoleon Buonaparte?" I do
not pretend to _decide_ positively that there is not, nor ever was,
any such person; but merely to propose it as a _doubtful_ point, and
one the more deserving of careful investigation, from the very
circumstance of its having hitherto been admitted without inquiry. Far
less would I undertake to decide what is or has been the real state of
affairs. He who points out the improbability of the current story, is
not bound to suggest an hypothesis of his own;[21] though it may
safely be affirmed, that it would be hard to invent any one more
improbable than the received one. One may surely be allowed to
hesitate in admitting the stories which the ancient poets tell, of
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions being caused by imprisoned giants,
without being called upon satisfactorily to account for those
phenomena.

Amidst the defect of valid evidence under which, as I have already
shown, we labour in the present instance, it is hardly possible to
offer more than here and there a probable conjecture; or to pronounce
how much may be true, and how much fictitious, in the accounts
presented to us. For, it is to be observed that this case is much
_more_ open to sceptical doubts even than some miraculous histories;
since some of _them_ are of such a nature that you cannot consistently
admit a part and reject the rest; but are bound, if you are satisfied
as to the reality of any one miracle, to embrace the whole system; so
that it is necessary for the sceptic to impeach the evidence of _all_
of them, separately, and collectively: whe