Note 1 — THE FIRST PAPYRUS

So far the papyrus is written in late-Victorian English, in what I take to be Mr. Crabbe’s own hand. I may say that I am not inclined to discredit any of the statements, abnormal or otherwise, made by the King of Moxoene (that is to say, by Mr. Nicholas Crabbe). The Oath Compelling Truth, which he here uses, is a recognized and quite respectable formula; and I am not aware of any instance on record of its ever having been belied in any particular, however minute. Indeed, in so far as Truth is the Agreement of Words with Facts, all history seems to shew that the solemn swearing of this Oath Compelling Truth is perhaps the most irrefragable warranty of Truth, as such, which our present state of information can supply. A. H.