Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/102

* LEGEND. Chasidim, Baal Slicm (Israel Bcsht), who lived in the cigliteenth eeiilury, has become obscured in the accouiils of his admirers, who represent him as a niiraeleworlier, predicted by projjhets, and encompassed with an aureole; the man him- self seems to have been a quiet mystic. The un- historieal elements which have been incorporated in legends may be referred to several cate;;jorics. For instance, a great influence has been exercised l)y the tendency to repeat types and events of the Old and Ne«- Testaments. A second class of legendary incidents arises from a confusion of fact and mctaplior; for example, inasmuch as the name Christopher signifies Christ-Bearer, the saint was represented as a giant carrying on his shoulders the infant .Jesus. Vet a third class rejiresents the survival of ideas and beliefs be- longing to more ancient faiths, as in the (rela- tively late) story of the i-escue by Saint George of the daugliter'of a king of Libya, which pre- serves the tale of the dragon-slayer Perseus. A word must be said on the literary use of Christian legends. During the ^Middle .ges their versification continued to be a favorite form of poetic composition. Khymed accounts of Saints Eulalia and Alexis belong to the jirincipal monu- ments of old French literature. In (Jermany, legends were poetically treated in the thirteenth century by llartniami von Aue, Paidolf von Kins, and Koinad von Wiirzburg. The Itenaissauce and the Protestant Reformation put an end to this literary interest, which, however, was re- newed during the romantic revival of the eigh- teenth and the early ])art of the nineteenth cen- tury. Legend was then considered less as veri- table history than as an expression of sentiment and folk-thought. Fnnn a primal application to Christian hagi- ologTi-. the legend has been extended to include histories belonging to other faiths. It is in the nature of things that every people shovild pos- sess a nniltitude of traditional narratives, taken to be historical, and explanatory of their usages and beliefs. Jlolianimedan saints also have their legends, which have not. however, fovnid a place in the authorized worship. In dealing with the religion of ancient Greece, it is usual to distin- guish legends of heroes from myths concerning the gods, as if the former had more of an his- torical element, while the latter were more pure- ly imaginative: but this distinction is by no ineans clear or well defined. Among American Indians the name of legend has been given to sacred histories which relate to personages hon- ored in the cult, and which frequently supply information respecting the origin and migrations of the tribe. It is probable that similar legends, of a quasi-historical character, constitute a uni- versal property of races in a primitive condition of culture. BiBUOGRAPHY. For the manner in which legends became part of public worship, as well as for an account of Old English legends, con- sult: Ilorstmann, Altetifiiische Lcficndcii (Heil- bronn, 1881): for remarks on classification and origin of legends, ifaury. f'roynncrx rt Icriendes du moiicn I'lr/e (Paris. 1896) : for literary use of legends in Germany. Billow. Ziir XrirhfoIfiP Chrixti (Leipzig. IS.59) ; for legends of iloham- medans. Weil. Bihlische Legeiiden dcr }fiisel- mannrr (Frankfort. 1845) ; for. ierican-In- dian legends. Jfatthews, "Navaho Legends Col- lected and Translated," in Memoirs of the Ameri- 90 LEGENDBE. can Folk-Lorc Societj/, vol. v. ( Boston, 1897 ). For the immense literature of Christian lives of the saints and legends of the Virgin, consult the authorities referred to under the correspond- ing titles. The Lcgcnda Anrea of Jacobus de ^'oragine was printed in English translation by Caxton (1484); recently reprinted l)y Ellis (London. 1900); a French translation by Roze (Paris. 1902). See Marttrologt; Mttiioloot: Saixt. LEGEND. In music, the title of compositions that are based on some legend of saints. But to-daj- the title is frequently given by composers to shorter instrumental compositions of an ele- giac character which have no underlying pro- gramme whatever. LEGENDE DES SIECLES, lu'zhiixd'da se- iVkl', L.v ( I'r., The Legend of the Centuries). A collection of brilliant narrative poems l)y Victor Hugo (1S.')9), depicting episodes from dilferent ages of the world's history. LEGEND OE GOOD WOMEN. A poem by Chaucer, written probably in 1.38i5. He intended to give the stories of nineteen celebrated women of antiquity, but finished only nine. The plan was taken from Boccaccio's De Claris Mulieribus, but Chaucer cviilcntly drew also from Ovid, Livy, Statins, Vergil, and a Latin translation of Plutarch's Lives. Traces of Dante and Guido delle Colonue can be seen. Tenny.son's Dream of Fair Women was modeled on this poem. LEGEND OF JUBAL, The. The title of a collection of poems by George Eliot (1874). LEGEND OF MONTBOSE, A. A novel by Sir Walter Scott (1819). LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, The. A tale by Washington Irving, in the Sketch Book. The tradition of the Headless Horseman, con- nected with the spot, is used by a rival for the hand of Katrina van Tassel to put a stop to the courtship of Ichaliod Crane, the awkward school- master. Ichabod's wild ride in his fruitless at- tempt to escape his ghostly companion ends at the bridge, when the headless rider rises on his horse and hurls his head at the luckless school- master, who falls to the ground and is not seen again. The discovery of a shattered inimpkin on the spot of the encounter is left unex])lained, hut Katrina's successful suitor laughs knowingly when the suliject is mentioned. LEGENDBE, If-zhiiN'dr'. AniilEX ]Marie (1 752- 18.1.3). A French matheniatieian, born in Paris. He early became professor of mathe- matics in the military school, and lat<'r in the normal school at Paris. He was a member of the Academy and of the Bureau of Longitudes, and in 1816 was appointed examiner for ad- mission to the Ecole Polytechnique. In 1824, in an election at the Academy, because he did not vote for the candidate of the Government, he was deprived of his pension, and he died in poverty. Legendre was one of the leaders in introducing the metric system, and was asso- ciated with Prony in preparing the great centesi- mal trigonometric tables. He contributed ex- tensively to the theory of attraction (from 178.3), and introduced into the discussion of the at- traction of spheroids the special cases of La- place's coeffieients which bear his name. He also wrote important memoirs (17S7-SS) on geodesy, introducing a method of treating the spherical triangle as plane, provided certain corrections arc