The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War — John Shaqi
The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the WarMachen, Arthur
Science
The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War
Machen, Arthur
Paranormal fiction; Supernatural -- Fiction; War stories, English; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
Such are the main points of the article as it concerns the great
legend of "The Angels of Mons." I cannot say that the author has
shaken my incredulity--firstly, because the evidence is second-hand.
Miss Campbell is perhaps acquainted with "Pickwick" and I would remind
her of that famous (and golden) ruling of Stareleigh, J.: to the
effect that you mustn't tell us what the soldier said; it's not
evidence. Miss Campbell has offended against this rule, and she has
not only told us what the soldier said, but she has omitted to give us
the soldier's name and address.
If Miss Campbell proffered herself as a witness at the Old Bailey and
said, "John Doe is undoubtedly guilty. A soldier I met told me that he
had seen the prisoner put his hand into an old gentleman's pocket and
take out a purse"--well, she would find that the stout spirit of Mr.
Justice Stareleigh still survives in our judges.
The soldier must be produced. Before that is done we are not
technically aware that he exists at all.
Then there are one or two points in the article itself which puzzle
me. The Fusilier and the R.F.A. man had seen "St, George leading the
British at Vitry-le-François, when the Allies turned." Thus the time
of the apparition and the place of the apparition were firmly fixed in
the two soldiers' minds.
Yet the very next paragraph in the article begins:--
"'Where was this ?' I asked. But neither of them could tell"
This is an odd circumstance. They knew, and yet they did not know; or,
rather, they had forgotten a piece of information that they had
themselves imparted a few seconds before.
Another point. The soldiers knew that the figure on the horse was St.
George by his exact likeness to the figure of the saint on the English
sovereign.
This, again, is odd. The apparition was of a bareheaded figure in
golden armour. The St. George of the coinage is naked, except for a
short cape flying from the shoulders, and a helmet. He is not
bareheaded, and has no armour--save the piece on his head. I do not
quite see how the soldiers were so certain as to the identity of the
apparition.
Lastly, Miss Campbell declares that "everybody" who fought from Mons
to Ypres saw the apparitions. If that be so, it is again odd that
Nobody has come forward to testify at first hand to the most amazing
event of his life. Many men have been back on leave from the front, we
have many wounded in hospital, many soldiers have written letters
home. And they have all combined, this great host, to keep silence as
to the most wonderful of occurrences, the most inspiring assurance,
the surest omen of victory.
It may be so, but--
Arthur Machen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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