ANACHRONISMS 
 
 
  CHAUCER, in his tale of Troilus, at the 
siege of Troy, makes Pand6rus refer to 
Robin Hood. 
   And to himselfe ful soberly he saied, 
   From hasellwood there jolly Robin plaied. 
                               Book v. 
  GILES FLETCHER, in Christ's Victory, pt. 
ii. makes the Tempter seem to be "a good 
old hermit or palmer, travelling to see some 
saint, and telling his beads!!" 
  LODGE, in The True Tragedies of Marius 
and Sylla (1594), mentions "the razor of 
Palermo" and "St. Paul's steeple," and 
introduces Frenchmen who "for forty 
crowns" undertake to poison the Roman 
consul. 
  MORGLAY makes Dido tell XiEneas that 
she should have been contented with a son, 
even "if he hadbeen a cockney dandiprat" 
(1582). 
  SCHILLER, in his Piccolomini, speaks of 
lightning conductors. This was about 150 
years before they were invented. 
  SHAKESPEARE, in his Coriolanus (act ii. 
sc. 1), makes Menenius refer to Galen above 
600 years before he was born. 
  Cominius alludes to Rowan Plays, but 
no such things were known for 250 years 
after the death of Cominius.-Coriolanus, 
act ii. sc. 2. 
  Brutus refers to the "JMarcian Waters 
brought to Rome by CensorInus."   This 
was not done till 300 years afterwards. 
  In Hamlet, the prince Hamlet was edu- 
cated at Wittemberg School, which was not 
founded till 1502; whereas Saxo-German- 
icus, from whom Shakespeare borrowed 
the tale, died in 1204. Hamlet was thirty 
years old when his mother talks of his 
going back to school (act i. sc. 2). 
  In 1 Henry IV., the carrier complains 
that "the turkeys in his pannier are quite 
starved'" (act ii. se. 5), whereas turkeys 
came from America, and the New World 
was not even discovered for a century 
 
 
after. Again in Henry V., Gower is made 
to say to Fluellen, "Here comes Pistol, 
swelling like a turkey-cock" (act v. sc. 1). 
  In Julius C0sar, Brutus says to Cassius, 
"Peace, count the clock." To which Cas- 
sius replies, "The clock has stricken three." 
Clocks were not known to the Romans, and 
striking-clocks were not invented till some 
1400 years after the death of C0sar. 
  VIRGIL places 2tEneas in the port Velinus, 
which was made by Curius Dentatus. 
  This list, with very little trouble, might 
be greatly multiplied. The hotbed of an- 
achronisms is mediveval romance; there 
nations, times and places, are most reck- 
lessly disregarded. This may be instanced 
by a few examples from Ariosto's great 
poem, Orlando Furioso. 
  Here we have Charlemagne and his pal- 
adins joined by Edward king of England, 
Richard earl of Warwick, Henry duke of 
Clarence, and the dukes of York and Glou- 
cester (bk. vi.). We have cannons em- 
ployed by Cymosco king of Friza (bk. iv.), 
and also in the siege of Paris (bk. vi.). 
We have the Moors established in Spain, 
whereas they were not invited over by the 
Saracens for nearly 300 years after Char- 
lemagne's death. In bk. xvii. we have 
Prester John, who died in 1202; and in 
the last three books we have Constantine 
the Great, who died in 337. 
 
  Anae'reon, the prince of erotic and bac- 
chanalian poets, insomuch that songs on 
these subjects are still called Anacreon'tic 
(B.C. 563-478). 
  Anacreon of Painters, Francesco Albdno 
or Alba'ni (1578-1660). 
  Anacreon of the Guillotine, Bertrand Ba- 
r~re de Vieuzac (1755-1841). 
 
  Anacreon of the Temple, Guillaume Am- 
frye, abb6 de Chaulieu (1639-1720). 
 
 
44 
 
 
ANACREON