eir heroes were consequently
real men; the principal actions ascribed to them were real actions,
and the places referred to were real localities. Thus there was a
semblance of truth and reality in all these tales which added greatly
to the interest of them; while there were no means of ascertaining the
real truth, and thus spoiling the story by making the falsehood or
improbability of it evident and glaring.

We cannot well have a better illustration of these principles than is
afforded by the story of Cadmus, an adventurer who was said to have
brought the knowledge of alphabetic writing into Greece from some
countries farther eastward. In modern times there is a very strong
interest felt in ascertaining the exact truth on this subject. The art
of writing with alphabetic characters was so great an invention, and
it has exerted so vast an influence on the condition and progress of
mankind since it was introduced, that a very strong interest is now
felt in every thing that can be ascertained as actually fact, in
respect to its origin. If it were possible now to determine under what
circumstances the method of representing the elements of sound by
written characters was first devised, to discover who it was that
first conceived the idea, and what led him to make the attempt, what
difficulties he encountered, to what purposes he first applied his
invention, and to what results it led, the whole world would take a
very strong interest in the revelation. The essential point, however,
to be observed, is that it is the _real truth_ in respect to the
subject that the world are now interested in knowing. Were a romance
writer to invent a tale in respect to the origin of writing, however
ingenious and entertaining it might be in its details, it would excite
in the learned world at the present day no interest whatever.

There is in fact no account at present existing in respect to the
actual origin of alphabetic characters, though there is an account of
the circumstances under which the art was brought into Europe from
Asia, where it seems to have been originally invented. We will give
the facts, first in their simple form, and then the narrative in the
form in which it was related in ancient times, as embellished by the
ancient story-tellers.

The facts then, as now generally understood and believed, are, that
there was a certain king in some country in Africa, named Agenor, who
lived about 1500 years before Christ. He had a da