E L I Z A B E T H A N D E M O NO L O GY

A N E SSA Y
'

IN ILLUSTRATI O N O F T H E B E L I E F I N T H E E IOST E NC E O F
D E V I LS A ND T H E POWE R S PO SS E SS E D BY TH E M As I T
, ,

W AS GE N E RA LLY H E LD D U R I N G T H E P E R I O D O F
T H E R E FO R M AT I O N ,
A ND T H E T I M E S I MM E

B I AT E LY S U C C E E D I N G ; WI TH S P E C I A L
R E FE R E N C E T O SH A KS P E R E A ND
HIS WO R KS

T H O MAS A L FR ED S PA LD I N G L L B ( LO N D ) ,
.

B A RR I ST ER A T L A W H O NO R A R Y T RE A SURER O F T H E
- -
,

NE W SH A KSP ERE SO C I ETY .

fib ub o n
C HATT O A N D WI N D U S , PI CCA D I LL Y
1 88 0

[ Tin rig h t of tran s lat io n is raw fl ed !

PRI NT E D A T T H E C A! T ON PR ESS. B EC C L ES
‘
 R O B E RT BR O W N I NG ,

P R E S I D E NT OF T HE

NE W S H A KS P E RE S O C I E TY ,

TH I S VO LUM E IS D E D I CAT E D .
 F O RE WO RDS .

T H I S E ssay is an expansion in accordance with ,

a

preconceived scheme ,
Of two papers one on
,
The
Witches in Macbeth and the other on
'

The D emon
ology o f Shakspere ,
which were read be fore the
N ew Shakspere Society in the years 1 87 7 and 1 87 8 .

The Shakspere re ferences in the text are made to

the G lobe E dition .

’
The writer s best thanks are due to his friends
M r F J Fu rnivall and Mr L auriston E Shaw fo r
. . . . .
,

their kindness in reading the proo f sheets and su g ,

g e s t in g emendations .

TE M PL E ,

Octo b er 7, 1 8 79 .
 W e are to o has ty wh en we se t d o wn our an ces to rs in the

g ro ss fo r fo o l f th m
s o r e o n s tro u s in c o n sis t en c ie s ( as hy
t e see m

to u s ) in vo l d i th ir
ve n e c reed o f wit c h c raft . C . LA M B .

Bu t I wi Shak p r w rk g rally that w h a

ll say. O f s e e s
'

o s en e , e ve

no f ll im pr
u f h im th
e ss O a f ll a w ha f ma y
e re , e v e n s u s e ve o n

m en . H i w rk ar s o m a y wi d w th r g h wh i h w
s e so n n o s, ou c e see

a gl im p O f th e wo rl d th a T C A R L YL E
”
se t was i him n .
— . .
 A NA L Y S I S .

1. D ifficu lty in
d r ta di g un e s n n o ur e ld r writ e e rs wit h ou a k n o w e ge o f
t ld
t h ir lan g ag a d id a
e E u e n e s . 2 . s pe c ially i t h n e case of ram atic d o e ts p .

3 E
. a m p l x H a m l t a m es . e
'
s
“
s su e a v irt u e .
4 . Ch
an g es in i eas an d law d
relati g t marriag
n M a si g r
o e . s n e
’
s ai M d Of Ho n o u r
”
as an exam e 5 pl . .

S po n salza dc
’

fu tu ro an d Spaw n /id dc p rz sm t z aks pere s m arriag e

'

. Sh '

6 . St u den t s
'
d ty i
Opi i a d f li g f t h f lk
u s to g e t t o k n o w th e n o ns n ee n s O e o

am g t wh m h i a th
on s li d 7 I t will b oh a d w k b t a gai i s u o r ve . . e r or u n n

th d Fi t i p
e en . ti g it 8 S d ly i p
rs ,ti g ram bl i g
n re ve n n co n ce . . e co n , n rev e n n n

r ad i g A h p t Obj t t ill t at th d ad b li f i D m
'
e 9 t n . . u o rs re sen ec o us r e e e e e n e on

o l gy p ially a fa a it
o . es r Shak p
ec H thi k th at th i m ay
s r s co n c e n s s e re . e n s s

p h ap bri g i t l r ta t with Shak p r l S m '

er s n us n o c o se co n c s e e s so u . 10 . o e o ne

O bj ts that Shak p r a p ak b tt r f him lf Y b u t w m t

ec s e e c n s e e e or se . es . e us

b e u r th at w
s de r ta d th m dia thr g h whi h h
e p ak
e un s n e e ou c e s e s . 11 .

D i isiov f bj t n o su ec .

II .

Re aso n s Wh y th e em ire o f th e su ern atu ra

12 . l is so d d am gst p p e xte n e on

savag e s 1
3 A ll im
. o p
rtant affai a
rs O f ife tr
. l
n sac te u n d d r peri t d ce e su n en en

of S p m P w
u re 4 W ha t
e a r t h o P w r
e rs Thr p i ipl
. 1 . e es e o e s ee r nc es t e

g ard i g t h m n 5 (i ) I ap a i
ety f m a ki
. d t 1a p.t m t h
. i m Tnc h c o n n o cce o no e s . e

Jw e s6 R ma Cath l i i m r ally p lyth i t i al th gh b li

. 1 . o n r w o t c s e o e s c, ou e e ve s on
’

adm it it V i gi M ary Sai ts A g l Pr t ta ti m i th am

. r n . n . n e s . o es n s n e s e

co diti n in a l o n d gr 7 F ra i f A i i
ess G rad all y mad i t a
e ee . 1 . nc s O ss s . u e n o

g d
o 8
.
( )
ii M1a i h i.m E il p
. irit a i e ita bl
n c a g d e 9 (siii ) . v s s s n v e s oo . 1 . .

T d y t tr at th g d o f h til r ligi a d il
en en c o e I th G
e o k s o s e e o ns s ev s . 20 . n e ree

t h o l gy
e o b aip .Plat i m N Plat i mo vec. Mak th l d r on s . 21 . eO - on s . es e e e

g d
o s i t d m
n o J d ai m e R g iz f
o ns ig .
g d at fi
22 t . E l h im u s . ec o n es o re n o s rs . o

b t th ey g t d grad d i tim
u e Beel z b b B l ial t
e 3
e E a ly Chri tia
n e . e u , e , e c . 2 . r s ns

t reat go ds O f Greec i th e am way St Pau l s iew 4 T he Ch r h

’
e n s e . . v . 2 . u c .
 A NA L YS I S .

h w r did o t ti k t its l urs i t hi r pect H e ty o t th e best

o eve , n s c o co o n s es . on s n

po li y A p li y o f m pr m i
c .
5 T h o
ra l s S t
c h i a d St co o se . 2 . e o c e . os en o n n .

M i ha l D lphi St Gr g ry sai tli a d magn a imity C f i

c e . e . . e o
’
s n n e ss n n . o n us o n

o f paga g ds a d C h ri t ia ai t
n 6 C h r h i N rth E
o n
p Th a s n s n s . 2 . u c n o u ro e . ou t ,

t
e c ar d il
.
, b t B al da g t id tifi d wit h C h ris t
e ev s
7 C rsi f u e s en e . 2 . o n ve on o

Brito Th ir g d g t t r d i t fairi rath r tha d ils D ce

ns . e o s e u ne n o es e n ev . eu .

O ld N i k 8 S b eq t l ti f b li f Carlyl Abbo t Sam p

c . 2 . u s u en ev o u on o e e . e s
’
so n .

R lig i f rm l a f wit h raft 9 T h R f rm r a d C at h li r i

‘
e o us o u o c c . 2 . e e o e s n o cs e v ve

th ld a
e o at i T h R f rm r
c cu s ly g half way i pti i m Calf
o ns . e e o e s on o -
n s ce c s .

h ill a d M art iall 3 Cath li Si g f Alkmaar U f t at m i tak

n . 0 . o cs . e e o . n o r un e s e

o f a Spa i h p ri r 3 C d it i
n s t hat t d d t i ify t h b li f so n e . 1 . on o ns en e o v v e e e

d rin g E lizab tha ra 3 T h w fr d m W a t f r l f id e

u e n e . 2 . e ne ee o . n o u es o ev en c .

Art h H a k t a d h i m ad
ur S i g C k wi g Ja k daw i
c e n s n es se s . n eez n . oc -c r
o n . c n

th H e f C mm o u se R ll a d Drak b t h mi tak f r d il
o o o ns . u s se n e o s en o ev s .

33 C r
. d l f p
e pl T m a
u o u s n ess ok da ak d A par s eo e . o e o ne ,
n se n e .
!
so n
’

pr f f t a b ta tiati
oo o 34 B t
r n sn t h E lizab tha h ad tr g s mm
'

n on . . u e e ns s on co o n

rt h l
se n se , n e ve P pl d wr g if th y t th m d w a f ls I f e ess . eo e o on e se e o n s oo .

w h ad
e t l ar d t o b wi r t ha th y w h l d ha t b a ham d
no e ne e se n e , e s ou ve o e s e

o f r l ou W hall l arn o th i g fro m t h m if w do t t ry t

se ve s . dr
e s e n n e e n
’
o un e
‘
sta d t h m n e .

III .

35 . Th e t hr ee d l G h ade 36 ( i )
s . as si catio n o f evi s
. rea t e r an d
. Cl fi .

l r d il G
e sse ev s . h oo l fi d ad n b ad an g e s 37 An o t er c assi catio n ; n o t l . .

po p lar 38 Nam u . d . bly h es b a te r e vils

o f g re H o rri u n co u t T h e n u m er . .

f th m Shak p r d ils 39 ( ii ) F rm f d il o f th gr at r '

o e . s e e s ev . . . o o ev s e e e .

4 0 O f
. t h l r Th h r e g g g l y es se a d t ail S t ar al
. e o n s, o e e es , n . co
’
s c n

mi d d n s eH g t h i b k h m t ; a d writ t
n es . ag ai t by Jam s I
e e s s oo -
u n en ns e .

4 1 Sp.e id l d i l
n se r s4 D ra m a
'
t i t at ir o f op p l-
ar O p i i
ev
43 . 2 . s s
’
s e o u n o n . .

Fa u rit f m f r app ari g i wh

vo e or j r d D il i M a b th 44
o e n n en co n u e . ev s n c e . .

P w r f d il 45 Cath li be li f i d il po w r t r at b di
o e s o ev s . . o c e n ev
’
s e o c e e o es .

4 6 R fo. rm r d e y t h i b t ad m it t h
e sa t h d i peo pl i t b li i g
en s, u e ece v es e n o e ev n

t h at h a d e c ith r by g tti g h l d f a d ad b dy a d
n o so : e t ri g e e n o o e o , n res o n

a imati
n 47 O r by m aon . f ill i 48 T h . mm p pl s t k e ns o us on . . e co on eo e uc

t th C ath l i d
o e tri D il app ar i lik
o c f an
oc di ary h ma ne . ev s e n e n e ss o or n u n

b ei g 49 n E . a l i i g . w h i h wa m
ve n t im e a w k w a rd T he v n o ne, c s so e s .

Tr bl m Raigou e so f Ki g J h e Th y lik t app ar as pri ts r ne o n o n . e e o e es o

par Th
so n s d il q ti g S ript r 5 O th r h ma h ap
. e ev
5 uo n c u e . 0 . e u n s es . 1 .

A imal n Ari l 5 sP k 53 Th W it h f E dmo t

. e . T h d il
2 . uc . . e c o n on . e ev on

th tag
e s Fli U ba G a di r Sir M Hal 54 D il a a g ls
e . es . r n r n e . . e . . ev s s n e .

A C hri t
s 55 A d as d fr i .d R f rm r d i
. d t h p ib i
sl i ty fg h e ts en . e o e s en e e o ss o os ,

an d aid th app aras alled w r d il

e Jam I a d h i pi i
e n c e s so e e e ev s . es . n s o n on .

5 6 T h e co m m p eo p l e b e li d in th gh o sts B i
o ns h o p P ilki g t o s t ro u bl es ev e e n n
'

7
. . .
 A NA 1 . mm .

J
57 . T h e two t h eo rie s . I llu s trate d in “
J li u us C e sar . M a b th 5 8 A d
!
c e . . n

n le t is exp ain s an Th l appar it y i H aml t

gyP
59 . en t in c o n s s e n c
. n e .

o ssess io n an d o ses s io n Again t h e at o ic s n ro es n s b

er . C h l a d P t ta t diff .

61 . Bu t t h e c o m m o n eo e e ie v e in o sse ssio n 62 I gn o ran c e o n th e p pl b l p . .

b
su j ec t o f m e n ta dise as e T h e e xo rc is t s 63 o ln o t t a o n o sses s io n . . . J h C p .

W h at th l ar d ph y i i
e e ne s c on kn e w . 64 . W h at was m an ifes t to th e vu lgar
v ie w . W ill S m m Th o H arsn et s
e rs .Dec ara e D evil is an Ass . 65 .
’
l
t io n an d Kin g L ear
, 66 Th e Ba in g to n co n s irac 67 W esto n alias . . b p y . .
,

d
E mo n s d
H is e xo rc ism s M ain y T h e as is o f H arsn et s s tateme n ts
. . . b '
.

d l ev i s in Lear
”
7 0 Edgar an d M ain y ein s o o se m o ra ls . . . M y l ’
.

d l
7 1 T h e evi s tem t wit kn iv es an d at ers
.
“
p
M ain y s seve n evi s h h l .
J '
d l
P d C
ri e ; o ve t o u s n es s L u xu r ; E n v W rat ; y Sl h
u tt o n ; ot T he y y h Gl .

h l b
N ig tin g ae u sin ess 73 re a t m e n t o f t h e p O s s ess e d : fi c o n .n e m e n t; . T
flag e llatio n 74 D r P hin c N ic k.n am es 75 O h
t. e r mh d Th
e t o s . a t o f . . . .

l P l
E ias an d aw e h ly h
Th e o c a ir ; sack an d o il b rim sto n e
. F7 6 ir in g . .

o ut 7 7
. Bo d ly d
i is e as es .t h e w o rk o f t h e d le v i h p
B is o pH o o e r o n .

7 8 B t d il l d t kill p pl l th y r d Go d ’
h ygi e e . . u ev s co u n eo e u n ess e e n o u n ce .

7 it h raft 8 P pl c w a day
c a t ym path iz with t h Wit h
. 0 . eo e no - - s c n
’
s e e c

p t r
e rse c u o b au s th y d t b li i th d il Sata i a m
s, ec e e on
'
e e ve n e ev . n s ere

th ry
eo w 8 B t th y b li
no d i h im
. a d th r f r kill d
1 . u e e eve n o n ce , n e e o e e

peo pl that w r e p t d f ha i g t d with h im 8 A d we e e su s ec e o v n o o . 2 . n

d t ym pathiz with th pers t d Wit h altho gh w m ak a gr at

’

w
o n s e e ec u e c es , u e e e

fu ss abo t t h ff ri g uf th R f rm rs e su83 e n s o e e o e . .

S m o tak th m t
e b No r e 8 G r i e Hi pi i o 85 Mr e ns . e v nu s . s o n o n . . .

F G Fl ay H i pi i
. . e 86 id . Sim F rma s o t 87 n on . . v en ce . on o n s no
'

e . .

H li h d a 88 C rit i i m 89 I t i aid t hat th app ara

’
o ns t e s cc o u n . . c s . . s s e e n ce

a d po w r
n f th i ter ar e s t th of wit h 90 I t i g i g t o
e s s s e no o se o c es . . s o n

b e h w t h at th y ar
s o 9
n A third pi f rit i i m 9e O bj t i e . 1 . ec e o c c s . 2 . ec o ns .

93 / C t m p ra r y don e rip t i f w i t h o S t ; H ar t W it h
e sc o ns o c es : co sn e . c es
’

beards 94 Ha N r happy fi g . . ki y lip ve a d b a d ! 95 o ns c n e rs , s nn s, n e r s .

P w r f wit h
o e s o l ki g i t th d f tim
c es :B i R y h w h oo n n o e see s o e . e ss e o : o S e

l k d i t t h m 9 6 M a i g ffi r t
oo e n o e f M a b th .
97 W i t .h e n n o s scen e o c e . . c es
'

p w t a i h O i tm t fo r th p rp
o er o v n s S t i ta f th ir n en s e u o se co
’
s ns n ce o e

W hy Shak p r
. .

e ffi a y 9 8c cW ird i t r.
9 9 O th r
. id e S s e s . . e ev en c e . 1 00 . s e e

c h wit h
o se C mm a d c r l m es t . P lia t S t h trialo n o ve e e en s . 1 01 . e cu r o co c s

o f 59 9 1 E a li r a
0— 1 fB
. i D l p— a p r tar d half daft
1 02 . r e c se o ess e un o oo , s ve ,
-

r at r
c e Th m R id a d h w h t m pt d h r H a y S t h
u e . o e , n o e e e e . er c nn co c

pr d u P r B i g t b r t f all that
e n ce . oo 3 R a f r pess e l iarity e s u n or . 10 . e so n o ec u

o f trial f 59 Jam I I m fr m D m ark t S tla d T h wit h s

s o 1 0 . es . co es o en o co n . e c e

rai a t rm at th i tigati
se s o f th d il H w th trial w r e d td
ns on o e ev . o e s e e co n uc e .

1 04 J h . Fia Rai i g a m i t T ad m
o n n . Ship i ki g 5 Si s n s . o -
o en .
-
s n n . 10 . ev e

s aili g E n it m t . th f th B rd r T h
xc e D wm enl gi Stat te
so u o e o e . e ono o e . u

o fJam agai t Wit h raft es 6 Th rigins f th i b ad c b s c . 10 . e o n o e n cu us n su cc u u .

10 7 M . a l 8 D i
o o nc i i f o p i i a
ve s m o g t R
. f r m r10g a d i g . v s on o n o n n s e o e rs e r n

d il Gi rda Br
ev s . B lli g r o pi i ab t Sadd
no a d E pi r
uno . u n e
’
s o n on ou u ce e s n c u es .

10 9 E m .a c ip atio a g rad a l p nr E x o r i m in E d war d nV I P r a y er u o cess . c s .

'
s.
xii A NA L YSI S .

b oo k . 1 1 0. Th e au t h r ho pe s h e h as bee re eren t i h is treatm n t o f th e

o n v n e

su bj ec t . An y sin ce r b li f
e e t itl d t r p t
e en O r pe t b l i f m ay so m
e o es ec . u e e s e

day a ppe ar as dead a d ridi u lo u s as th ese n c .

IV .

111 . devil diff r i d gr e t i o rigi 1 E vid ce

Fairi es an d s e n e e , no n n . 12 . en .

11 3 C.a f d f
i f r
u se o F l k til di t r b d b y
e en c e r l ig i u .s d b t d
o t , un s u e e o ou , on
'

b li i d il b t fairies
e ev e n ev 4 R f r m
s, a t io u h k p o p l u p .a d m a d
11 . e o n s o o e e , n e

th m th i k f h ll a d d il
e n o 5 T h h
e a g cna m i t hev t w s b. fo r 11 . e c n e e n e o ns e e

th e co u nt ry Fairi h l d a l g tim i th u n try

. es e 6 Shak p re
on on e n e co . 11 . s e

wa a ly im p
s e r d with fairy l r I m iddl lif am i
resse ta t wit h o e . n e e. c e n co n c

t w
o th
n g h t a d oud il a d at th d n f it r t r
ev d t s S t ratf rdn a d e en o e u ne o o n

fairyd m o7 Th i i . fl t d i hi w ks
11 . s 8 B t th r is p gr s
s re ec e n s or . 11 . u e e ro e

i
s on o f th gh t t b b ou d i th tag o e o9 Shak p r i dir tly
se rve n es e s es. 11 . s e e n ec

t ll
e h i th
s us gh t if w will tak t h tr bl t l ar t h m
s ou s, e Three e e ou e o e n e . 1 20 .

stag f th
es o gh t t hat m g t hr gh
ou r l ig i u s m att r en H r d itary o o u on e o e s . e e

b li f S pti i m R a d b li f
e e . ce c s Shak p r w t thr gh all
. e so n e e e . 1 21 . s e e en ou

thi I ll trat i ditary b li f A M id mm r N igh t s

'
s. 1 22 . H us o n s. e re e e .
“
su e

D am re Fairi hi fly a adaptati
. esf crr t traditio
e n 3 Th on o cu en n . 12 . e

daw f d bt n o 4 S p ti i mou E il spirits d m i a t

. 12 . ceN g idi g c s . v o n n . o u n

g d 5 C rr p d i g lap f faith i th r m att rs W ma '

oo . 12 . o es on n se o n o e e . o n s

pu rity 6 Ma
. h 12 r 7 . M R ki
n s
'
i w f
o no u Sh a k p re. 12 . r. us
'
n s v e o s e
’

m ag
es s 8 F e. d d hi fly 12 play f ptical p ri d M ag
. o un e c e on s o sce e o . ess e

f t h i d p ri d t i ly d if d beli f Th T mp t ”
o r f r t
e o 9 R aoen re e en . 12 . e s ne e . e e es .

1 3 M a a m a t r il f all f rm if h g ab t it i th rig h t way i

0. n c n s e ev o o s e o o u n e — s

no t t h t y f fat e o3 Pr p r a type o f Shak sper i this fi al stag

o e. 1 1. os e o e n n e

o f th u g h to H w plea an t t th i k this 1
. o s o n
 E L I ZA B E T H A N D E M O NO L O GY .

I . I T is im possible to understand and appreciate

thoroughly the production o f any great literary genius
who lived and wrote in times far removed from our
own without a certain amount O f familiarity not only
, ,

W ith the precise shades o f meaning possessed by the

vocabulary he made use o f as distinguished from the
,

sen s e conveyed by the same words in the present day ,

but also with the customs and ideas political reli , ,

gio n s and m oral that predominated duri ng t h e period

, ,

in which his works were produced Without such .

in for mation it will be found impossible in many

, ,

matters o f t h e first importance to grasp the writer s

,
’

true intent and much will appear vague and li fe less

,

that was full o f p o rn t and vigour when it was first

conceived ; or worse still modern opini o n upon the
, ,

subj ect will be set up as the standard o f in t e rpre

t at io n ideas will be forced into the writer s sentences
’

that could not by any manner o f possibility have had

place in his m ind and utterly false conclusio ns as to
,

his m eaning will be the result Even the man who

.
 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL OG Y .

h as had some experience in the study o f an early

literature occasionally finds some di fficulty in prevent
,

ing the current O pinions o f his day from obtruding

themselves upon his work and warping his j udgment
to the general reader this must indeed be a frequent
and serious stumbling block -
.

2
. This is a special source o f danger in the study
o f the works o f dramatic poets whose ve ry art ,

lies in the representation o f the current opinions ,

habits and foibles o f their times in holding up t h e

,
—

mirror to their age It is tru e that if their works are

.
,

to live they must deal with subj ects o f more than mere
,

passing interest ; but it is also true that many and the ,

greatest o f them speak upon questions o f eternal in

,

t e re s t in the particular light cast upon them in their

times and it is quite possible that the truth may be
,

entirely lost from want o f power to recognize it under

the disg uise in which it comes A certain motive fo r .
,

instance that is an overpoweri n g one in a given

,

period subsequently appears grotesque weak or

, , ,

even powerless ; the consequent action becomes in

comprehensible and the actor is contemned ; and a
,

simile that appeared most a ppropriate in the ears

o f the author s contemporaries
’
seems meani n gless , ,

or ridiculous to later generations , .

3 An .exa m ple or two o f this possibility o f e rror ,

derived from works produced during the period with

w hich it is the obj ect o f these pages to deal will not ,

be out o f place here .

A very s triking illustration o f the man ner in

 S O URCES OF ERR OR .

which a word may mislead is a fforded by the o ft

qu o ted line
Assu m e av i rtu e if yo u hav e it n o t
,
”
.

By most readers the secondary and in the present , ,

day almost universal meaning O f the word assume

, ,

pretend that to be which in reality has no exist

,

e n ce — that is in the particular case

,
ape the ,
“

chas tity you do not in reality possess — is understood

In this sentence ; and consequently H amlet and ,

through him Shakspere stand committed to the

, ,

appalling doctrine that hypocrisy in morals is to be

com mended and cultivated N ow such a proposition.
,

n ever fo r an instant entered Shakspere s head He ’

.

”
u s ed the word assume in this case in its primary
“

and j ustest sense ; excl s u mo take to acquire and the

-
, ,

context plainly shows that Hamlet meant that his

mother by sel f denial would g radually acquire that
,
-
,

virtu e in which she was so conspicuously wanting Y e t .

,

fo r lack o f a little knowledge o f the history o f the word

employed the other monstrous gloss has receiv e d
,

alm ost universal and applauding acceptance .

4 . This is a fair example o f the style o f error

which a reader unacquainted with the history o f the
changes our lan g uage has undergone may fall into .

Ignorance o f changes in customs and morals may

c ause equal or greater error .

The di fference between the older and more modern

law and popular opinion relating to promises o f
, ,

marriage and their fulfilment a ffords a striking illus ,

t rat io n o f the absurdities that attend upon the inter

r t at io n o f the ideas o f one generation by the practice
p e
4 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOL O G Y .

o fanother Perhaps no greater nonsense has been

.

talked upon any subj ect than this one especially in ,

’
relation to Shakspere s own marriage by critics ,

who seem to have thought that a fervent expression

o f acute moral f eeling would replace and render u n
n ecessa ry patient investigation .

In illustration o f this di fference a play o f M as ,

’ ”
singer s The Maid o f H onour may b e adv an
,
“
,

t ag e o u s ly cited as the catastrophe turns upon this

,

question O f marriage contracts C am io la the heroin e .

, ,

1
having been precontracted by oath to Bertoldo the ,

k ing s natural brother and hearing o f his subsequent

’

engagement to the D uchess o f Sienna determines to ,

quit the world and take the veil But before doing so .
,

and without in forming any one except her con fessor , ,

o f her intention she contrives a somewhat dramatic ,

scene fo r the purpose o f exposing her false lover .

She comes into the presence o f the king and all th e

court produces her contract claims Bertoldo as her
, ,

husband and demands j ustice o f the king adj uring

, ,

h im that he shall not

Swayed o r b y fav o u r o r affec t i o n ,

B y a fal se gl o s s o r wre st ed c o m m en t al te r ,

T h e t ru e i n t en t an d l e tt e r o f t h e law
”
.

NO W the only remedy that would occur to the

,

mind o f the reader o f the present day under suc h

circumstances would be an action fo r breach o fpromise
,

o f m arriage and he would probably be aware o f the

,

very recent origin o f that method o f procedure The .

o nly reply th e refore that he would expect from

, ,

Ro b erto would be a mild and sympatheti c assurance

A ct v . so . I .
 I LLUS TRA TI ONS .

o f
inability to interfere ; and he must be some
what taken aback to find this clai m O f C am io la ad
m it t e d as indisp u table The riddle becomes some .

wh at further involved when having established her ,

contract she immediately intimates that she h as not

,

the slightest intention o f observing it hersel f by ,

declaring her des ire to t ake the veil .

5 .This can only be explained by the rules curren t

at the time regarding spousals The betrothal or .
,

h and fastin g was in Massinger s time a ceremony that

, ,
’

e n tailed very serious obligations upon the parties to

There were two classes o f spousals m o m alza d e
'
’
it .
—

spo n s alza ae p rws en tz

’ ’
’
f u t u ro and a promise o f mar
ria e in the f uture and an actual declaration o fpresent
g ,

m a rriage This last form o f betrothal was in fact

.
, ,

m arriage as far as the contracting parties were con

,

1
c e rned . It could not even though not consummated , ,

b e dissolved by mutual consent ; and a subsequent

m arriage even th o ugh celebrated with religious rites
, ,

w as utterly invalid and could be set aside at the,

s uit O f the inj ured p erson .

The results entailed by spo n salza de fu tu ro were

'

less serious Although no spousals o f the same

.

n ature could be entered into with a third person

during the existence o f the contract yet it could be ,

dissolved by mutual consent and was dissolved by ,

subsequent spo n s alza in p ray/an t i or matrimony

'

, .

But such spousals could be converted into valid

matrimony by the cohabitatio n O f the parties ; and
Swin bu rn e A T reatise o f Spo u sals 1 686 p
, , , . 236. I n E n g an d l
th e fsp rin g were n ev ert h el ess ill egitim
o f ,
ate , .
6 E LI Z A B E TH A N DEM ONOLOG Y .

thi s instead o f being look e d upon as reprehens ibl e

, ,

s eems to have been treated a s a laudable action and ,

l
to be by all means encouraged In addition to thi s
.
,

completion o f a contract fo r marriage de fatu ra c o n

firmed by oath if such a contract were not indeed
,

indissoluble as was thought by s ome could at any

, ,

rate be en forced against an unwilling party B u t .

there were some reasons that j ustified the dissolutio n

o f spa w n /{a o f either description A ffinity was o n e .

o f these ; and what is to the pu rpose here in E n g

—
,

land be fore the Reformation and in those parts o f

, ,

the continent una ffected by it the entrance into a —

religious order was another Here then we have

.
, ,

a full explanation o f C am io las conduct She is in ’

.

possession o f evidence o f a contract o f marriage

between hersel f and Bertoldo which whether in , ,

s en tz or in fu t u ro being confirmed by oath she

'

p rce , ,

can force upon him and which will invalidate h is

,

proposed marriage with the duchess H aving estab .

lis h e d her right she takes the only step that can wi th
,

ce rtainty free both hersel f and Bertoldo from th e bo n d

they had created by retiring into a nunnery
,
.

This explanation renders the action o f the pl ay

clear and at the same time S hows that Shaksper e
,

in his conduct with regard to his marriage may hav e

been behavi ng in the most honourable and praise
worthy manner as the bond with the date o f which ,

the date o f t h e birth o f his first child is compared is ,

fo r the purpose o f exonerating the ecclesiastics fro m

any liability fo r pe rformi ng the ecclesiastical cere
mony which was not at all a necessary preliminary to
,

a valid marriage so far as the husband and wi fe we re

,

S win bu rn e p 227 , . .
 KNO W A MAN S ’
C OM P A N Y .

co ncerned although it was essential to render issue

,

o f the marriage legitimate .

6 These are instances o f the deceptions that

.

are likely to arise from the two fertile sources that

h ave been specified There can be no doubt that the
.

e xistence o f errors arising f rom the former source

m isapprehension O f the meaning o f words is very—

ge n erally admitted and e ffectu al remedies h ave been

,

s u pplied by modern scholars f o r those who will make

u s e o f them E rrors arising from the latter source

.

are not so entirely recognized or so securely guarded ,

against But what has j ust been said surely shows

.

t h at it is O f no use reading a writer o f a past age

with merely modern conceptions and therefore that , ,

if such a man s works are worth study at all they

’
,

m ust be read with the help o f the light thrown upon

t hem by contemporary history literature laws and , , ,

m orals T h e student must endeavour to divest him

.

s el f as f
,
ar as possible O f all ideas that are the result
,

o f a development subsequent to the time in which

h is author lived and to place himsel f in harmony

,

w ith the li fe and thoughts o f the people o f that age :

s it down with them in their homes and learn the ,

s ources o f their loves their hates their fears and see

, , ,

w herein domestic happiness or lack o f it made them , ,

strong or weak ; follow them to the m arket place -

,

and witness their dealings with their ellows the

f —

hones t y or baseness o f them and trace the cause ; ,

look into their very hearts if it may be as they kneel

, ,

at the devotion they feel or simulate and become ,

acqu ainted with th e springs o f their dearest aspirations

an d most secret prayers .
8 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

7 A hard discipline no doubt but not more hard

.
, ,

than salutary Salutary in two ways First as a test

. .
,

o f the student s own earnestness o f purpose

’
For in .

these days o f revival o f interest in our elder literature ,

it has become much the custom fo r flipp an t persons ,

who are covetous o f being thought we ll read by -

their less enterprising com p anions to skim ov e r th e

-
,

surface o f the pages o f the wisest and noblest o f ou r

great teachers either not understanding or m isu n de r
, ,

standing them I have read Chaucer Shaks p ere

.
, ,
”
M ilton is the sublimely satirical expression con
,

s t an t ly heard from th e mouths o f those who havin g ,

read words set down by the men they name have no ,

more capacity fo r reading the hearts o f the men

themselves through those words than a blind man
, ,

has fo r discerning the colour o f flowers As a con .

sequence o f this fiippan c y o f reading numberless ,

writers whose works have long been consign ed to a

,

well merited oblivion have o f late years been dis

-
,

interred and held up fo r public admiration chiefly ,

upon the ground that they are a ncient and unknown .

The man who reads fo r the sake o f having done so ,

not fo r the sake o f the knowledge gained by doing

so finds as much charm in these petty writers as i n
‘

the greater and hence their transient and undeserved

,

popularity It would be well then fo r every earnest

.
, ,

student before beginning the study o f any one hav in g

,

pretensions to the position o f a master and who is ,

not o f our own generation to ask himsel f Am I pre , ,

pared thoroughly to si ft out and ascert ain the tru e

i mport o f every allusion contained in this volume ! ”

!
And if h e cannot hon estly answer Y es let h im “
,
 F LI P P A NC Y A ND P EDA NTR Y .
9

sh u t the book assured that he is not impelled to the

,

s t u dy o f it by a sincere thirst fo r knowledge but by ,

i m p ertinent curiosity or a shallow desire to obtain

,

u n de served credit f o r learning .

8The second way in which such a discipline will

.

p rove saluta ry is this : it will prevent the student

fr o m straying too far afield in his reading The .

n u m ber o f classical authors whose works will repay

“

s u c h severe study is extremely limited However .

m uch enthusiasm he may throw into his studies he ,

w ill find that nine tenths o f our older literature

-

y ields too small a harvest o f instruction to attract

an y but the pedant to expend so much labour upon
th em The two g reat vices o f modern reading will
.

b e avoided flipp an c y on the one hand and pedantry

—
,

o n th e other .

9 The .obj ect there fore which I have

,
had in view,

in the compilation o f the following pages is to ,

attempt to throw some additional light upon a con

d ition o f thought utterly di fferent from any belief
,

that has firm hold in the present generation that was

‘

current and peculiarly prominent during the li fetime

o f the man who bears overwhelmingly the greatest

name either in our own or an y other literature It

,
.

may be said and perhaps with much force that

, ,

e nough and more than enough has been written in

, ,

the way O f Shakspere criticism But is it not .

better that somewhat too much should be written

upon such a subject than too little ! We can not
expect that every one Shall see all the greatness o f
Io E L I Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

’
Shaksp ere s vast and complex mind b y one a —

truth will be grasped that has eluded the vigilance

o f others — and it is better that those who can by
no possibility grasp anything at all shou ld have
patient hearing rather than that an y additional ligh t
,

should be lost The u s eless li feless criticism vanishes

.
,

quietly away into chaos the good remains quietly

to be use ful : and it is in reliance upon the justice
.

and certain ty o f this law that I aim at bringing be fo re

the mind as clearly as may be a phase o f belie f th at
, ,

was continually and p owerfully influencing Shak

spere during the whole o f his li fe but is now well ,

nigh forgotten or entirely m is u n de rst o d I f the

’

endeavour is a useless and unprofitable one let it b e ,

forgotten — I am content ; but I h O pe to be able to

S how that an investigation o f the subj ect does furnis h
us with a key which in a manner unlocks the secret s
, ,
’
o f Shakspere s heart and brings us closer to t h e,

real living man to the ve ry soul o f him who with

—
,

hardly any history in the accepted sense o f the word ,

has left us in his works a biography o f far deeper and

more precious meaning if we will but understand it , .

10
.But it may be said that Sh akspere o f all m e n , ,

is able to speak fo r himsel f without aid or c o m

t
men t H is works appeal to all young and old in
.
, ,

eve ry time every nation It is true he can be under

,
.

stood H e is to use again Ben J onson s o ft quote d

.
,
’
-

”
w ords N ot o f an age but fo r all time
,
Y e t he i s
, .

s o thoroughly imbued with the spirit and opinions o f

his era that W ithout a certain comprehension o f th e

,

men o f the E lizabethan period he can not be unde r

 OB yE C T I N VI E W 1r

stoo d fully Indeed his greatness is to a large

.
,

e x te n t due to his sympathy with the men around

h im his power o f clearly thinkin g out the ans wers to
,

the all time questions and giving a voice to them

-
,

that his contemporaries could understand answers —

that thers could not fo r themselves formulate c ould

o —
,

perh aps only vaguely and dimly feel after To under

, .

stan d these answers fully the language in which they ,

were delivered must be first thoroughly mastered .

11 . I intend there fore to attempt to sketch out

, ,

t h e l eading features o f a phase o f religious belie f that

acq u ired peculiar distinctness and prominence during
Sh akspere s li fetime more perhaps than it ever did
’
—
, ,

be o re or h a done since the belie f in the existence

f ,
s —

o f e vil spirits and their influence upon and dealings

,

with mankind The subj ect will be treated in three

.

sections The first will contain a short statement o f

.

t h e law s that seem to be o f universal operation in

the creation and maintenance o f the belief in a
mu ltitudinous band o f spirits good and evil ; and o f ,

a fe w o f the conditions o f the E lizabethan epoch that

may have had a formative and modi fying influence
upon that belie f The second will be devoted to an
.

ou tline o f the chie f features o f that belie f as it existed ,

at the time i n question the organization appearance

—
, ,

and various functions and powers o f the evil spirits ,

’
with special re ference to Shakspere s plays The .

third and concluding section will embody an attempt ,

’
to trace the growth o f Shakspere s thought upon
religious matters through the mediu m o f his allusions
to thi s subj ec t .
 I 2. T HEempire O f the supernatural must obviously
be most extended where civilization is the least
advanced An educated man has to make a con
.

scious and sometimes severe e ffort to re frain from

, ,

pronouncing a dogmatic opinion as to the cause o f a

given result when su fficient evidence to warrant a
definite conclusion is wanting ; to the savage the ,

notion o f any necessity fo r or advantage to b e

,

derived from such self restraint never once occurs

,
-
.

N either the lightning that strikes his hut the blight ,

that withers his crops the disease that destroys th e

,

li fe o f those he loves ; nor on the other hand the

, ,

b e n e fic e n t sunshine or li fe giving rain is by h im

-
,

traceable to any known physical cause They are .

the results o f influences utterly beyond his u n der

standing supernatural matters upon which imagi
—
,
—

nation is allo wed free scope to run riot and from ,

which spring up a legion o f myths or attempts to,

represent in some manner these incomprehensible

processes grotesque or poetic accordi n g to the
, ,

character o f the people with which they originate ,

which if their growth be not disturbed by extran eou s

,
 P R I M I TI VE S UP E RNA T URA LI SM I 3

in fluences eventually develop into the national creed

,
.

T h e most ordinary events o f the savage s eve ry day

’
-

l i fe do not admit o f a natural Solution ; h is whol e

e x istence is bound in from birth to death by a net
, ,

w ork O f miracles and regulated in its smallest details

, , ,

b y unseen powers o f whom he knows little or

n othing .

13
. Hence it is that in primitive societies the , ,

fu nctions o f legislator judge priest and medicine

, , ,

m an are all combined in one individual the great ,

m edium o f communication between man an d the

u n known whose person is pre eminently sacred
,
The -
.

l aws that are to guide the community come in some

m ysterious m anner through him from the high er
p owers I f two members o f the clan are involved in
.

a quarrel he is appealed to to apply some test in

,

o rder to ascertain which o f the two is in the wrong

an ordeal that can have no j udicial operation except ,

u pon the assumption o f the existence o f o m n ipo

tent beings interested in the discove ry o f evil doers -
,

who will prevent the test from operating unj ustly .

M aladies an d famines are unmistakeable signs o f the

displeasure O f the good or spite o f the bad spirits
, ,

and are to be averted by some propitiatory act o n

the part o f the su fferers or the mediation o f the ,

priest doctor
-
The remedy that would put an end
.

t o a long continued drought will be equally e f

- fective
in arresting an epidemic .

14But who an d o f what nature are these super

.
, ,

natural powers whose influences are thus brought to

 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G I ’
.

bear upon every day li fe and who appear to tak e such

-
,

an interest in the a ffairs o f mankind It seems that

th ere are three great principles at work in the ev o lu
tion and modification o f the ideas upon this subj ect ,

which must now be sho rtly stated .

15 .
( )
i
The first o f these is the apparent incapaci t y
.

o f the maj ority o f mankind to accept a purely mono

t heistic creed I t is a demonstrable fact that the

.

primitive religions n o w open to observation att ribut e

specific events and results to distinct supernatural
beings and there can be little doubt that this is the
initial step in eve ry cree d It is a bold and some
.

what perilous revolution t o attempt to ove rturn this

doctrine and to set up monotheism in its place and , ,

when successfully accomplished is rarely permanent , .

The more educated portions o f the communi ty m ain

tain allegiance to the new teaching perhaps ; but ,

among the lower classes it soon becomes degraded to ,

or amalgamated with some form o f polytheism more

,

or less pronounced and either secret or declared

, .

Even the Jews the nation the most conspicuous fo r

,

its supposed uncompromising adherence to a mo n o

theistic creed cannot claim absolute freedom fro m
,

taint in this respect ; fo r in the country places far ,

from the centre o f worship the people were con ,

s tan t ly following a fter strange gods ; and even som e

o f their most notable worthies were liable to the sam e

accusation .

I O It is not necessary however that the indi

.
, ,

v idu ality and speciali z ation o f functi on o f the s upreme

 M ONO TH E I SM I M P O SS I BL E . 15

beings recognized by any religious system should be

s o conspicuous as they are in this case or in the ,

G reek or Roman Pantheon to mark it as in its ,

e sse n ce polytheistic or o f polytheistic tendency It is .

qu ite enough that the immortals are deemed to be

capable Of hearing and answering the prayers o f their
adorers and o f interfering actively in passing events
, ,

e ither fo r good or f o r evil This at the root o f it

.
, ,

constitutes the crucial di fference between polytheism

and monotheism ; and in this sense the Roman
C atholic form o f Christiani ty representing the oldest,

u n disturbed evolution Of a strictly monotheisti c doc

trine is undeniably polytheistic Apart from the
, .

Virgin Mary there is a whole hierarchy o f i n ferior

,

deities saints and angels subordinate to the O ne

, , ,

Su preme Being This may possib ly be denied by

.

the authorized expounders O f the doctrine o f the

Church o f Rome ; but it is neverth eless certain that
it is the view taken by the uneducated classes with ,

whom the saints are much more present and definite

deities than even the Almighty Himsel f It is worth .

n oti n g that during the dancing mania o f 1 4 1 8 not

, ,

G od or Christ or the Virgin Mary but St Vitus was

, , , .
,

prayed to by the populace to stop the epidemic that

1
was a fter wards known by his name There was .

a temple to St Michael o n Mount St Angelo and

. .
,

Augustine thought it necessa ry to declare that angel

”
worshippers were heretics Even Protestantism
.
,

though a much younger growth than Catholicism ,

shows a slight tendency towards polytheism The .

H e ck er , p demics o f th e M iddl e Ages p

E i , . 85
.

ll
B u in ger, p 348 Parker So ciety
. . .
16 EL I ZA BE THA N DEM ONOL OG Y .

saints are o f c o u rg quit e Ou t o f the question and

, ,

ange ls are as far as possible relegated from the citadel

.

o f asserted belie f into the vaguer regions o f poetical

sentime n tali ty ; but — although again unadmitted by

the or thodox o f the sect the popular conception o f
—

Christ is and until the masses are more educated in

, ,

theological niceties than they are at present n ec e s ,

sa rily must be as o f a Supreme Being totally distinct

,

from G od the Father This applies in a less degree

.

to the third Person in the Trinity ; less because H is ,

individuality is less clear G eorge E liot has with .

her usual penetration noted this fact in Sil as ,

”
Marner where in Mrs Winthrop s simple theo
, , .
’

logical system the Trinity is always re ferred t o as

,
-

”
“
Them .

17 .The posthumous histo ry o f Francis o f Assisi

a ffords a striking illustration o f this stra n ge tendenc y
towards polytheism This extraordinary man re .

c e iv e d no little reverence and adulation during his

li fetime but it was not until after his death that t h e

process o f de ific at io n commenced It was then dis .

covered that the stigm ata were not the only points o f
rese m blance between the departed saint and the D ivin e
Master he professed to follow that his birth had bee n
'

foretold by the prophets that like Christ h e u n de r , ,

went t ran s figu rat io n and that he had worked miracles

during his li fe The climax o f the apotheosis w as
.

reached in 1 48 6 when a monk preaching at Paris , , ,

seriously maintained that St Francis was in very .

truth a second Christ the second Son o f G od ; and ,

that after his death he descended into purgatory an d ,

 M A NI CHE I SM UNI VE RSA L . 17

li b erated all the spirits confined there who had the

1
g o od fortune to be arrayed in the Franciscan garb .

18 ( )
.ii . The second principle is that o f the Mani
ch a e is ts : the division o f spirits into hostile camps ,

g oo d and evil This is.a much more common belie f

t h a n the orthodox are willing to allow There is .

h ardly any religious syste m that does not recognize

a first source o f evil as well as a first source o f good
, .

B u t t h e S pirit o f evil occupies a position o f va rying

im p o rtance : in some systems he maintains himsel f
as c o equal o f the S pirit o f good ; in others he sink s
-

t o a lower stage remaining very powerful to do harm

, ,

b u t nevertheless u nder the control in matters o f t h e ,

h ighest importance o f the more b e n e fic e n t Being

, .

I n each o f these cases the first principle is foun d ,

o p erating ever augmenting the ranks ; m o n o dia

, b o lis m
b e ing as impossible as monotheism ; and hence t h e
impo rt ance o f fully establishing that proposition .

19 ( )
iii
. The. las t and most important o f thes e

princi p les is the tendency o f all theological systems

to absorb into themselves the deities extraneous t o
themselves not as gods b u t as in ferior or even evil
, , , ,

spi rits The actual existence o f the foreign deity is

.

n o t fo r a moment disputed the presum p tion in favou r,

o f innumerable spiritual agencies being fa r too stron g

to allow the possibility o f such a doubt ; but j ust as

th e al i en is looked upon as an in ferior being created ,

chiefly fo r the use and benefit o f the chosen people

an d wh at nation is not if i ts opinion o f itsel f may b e
,

Mau ry H isto ire de laMagic p 354

, , . .
 EL I ZA BE THA N D E I V ONOL O G Y .

r elied upo n a chosen people

,
so the god the alie —n

worships is a spirit o f in ferior power and capacity an d ,

can be recognized solely as occupying a positi o n

s ubordinate to that o f the gods o f the land .

This principle has such an important infl u ence in

t h e elaboration o f the belie f in demons that it is ,

worth while to illustrate the generality o f it s appli c a

t ion
.

20 In the G reek system o f theology we fin d in

.

t h e first place a number o f deities o f varying im

portance and power W hose special functions are
,

defined with some distinctness ; and then bel o w ,

t hese an innumerable band o f spirits the souls o f th e

, ,

d eparted — probably the relics o f an earlier pu r e

ancestor worship who still interest themselves in t h e
- —

inhabitants o f this world These 3afp o v £ g were c e r

.

t ain ly accredited with supernatural power an d wer e ,

not o f necessity eithergood or evil in their influenc e

o r action It was to this second class that foreig n
.

deities were assimilated They found it impossibl e

.
,

however to retain even this humble position T h e

,
.

c eremonies o f their worship and the language in ,

which those ceremonies were performed were strang e ,

t o the inhabitants o f the land in which the ac c lim at iz a

tion was attempted and the incomprehensible is firs t
s uspected the n loathed
, It is not surprising then
.
, ,

that the new comers soon fell into the ranks o f purely
-

e vil spirits an d that those who persisted in exercising

,

their rites were stigmatized as devil worshippers or -

,

mag ic ran s .

But in process o f time this polythe i stic system

 ENEM I ES GODS ’
A RE DE VI L S . 19

b eca m e pre eminently unsatis factory to the thought

-

fu l m e n whom Greece produced in such numbers .

The tendency towards m onotheism which is usually

associated with the name o f Plato is hi n ted at in
t h e writings o f other philosophers who were h is

p redecessors The e f
f.ect o f this revolution was to
recognize one Supreme Being the First Cause and , ,

t o subordinate to him all the other deities o f t h e

ancient and popular theology to c o ordinate them
— -
,

i n fact with the older class o f d a

,
e mons the first step
in the descent to the lowest category o f all .

21 . The history o f the n e o Platonic belief is one o f

-

e laboration upon these ideas The conception o f th e

.

Supreme Being w as co m plicated in a manner closely

resembling the idea o f the Christian Trinity and all ,

t h e subordinate d amons were classified into good

an d evil geniuses Thus a theoretically monotheistic
.
,

s ystem wa s established with a tremendous hierarchy

,

o f in ferior spirits who frequently bore the names o f

,

t h e a n cient gods and goddesses o f E gypt G reece , ,

an d Rome strikingly resembling that o f Roman

,

C atholicism The subordinate d a

. e mons were not at

first recognized as entitled to any religious rites but

in the course o f time by the inevitable operation o f
,

the first principle j ust enunciated a form o f theurgy ,

s prang up with the O bj ect o f attracting the kin dly

'

help and patronage o f the good spirits and was ,

t olerated and attempts were made to hold intercours e

with the evil spirits which were as far as possible
, , ,

s up p ressed and discountenanced .

20 EL I ZA BE TH A N DEM ONOLOG I ’
.

The history o f the operation o f this principle

22 .

upon the Jewish religion is very s imilar and extremely ,

interesting Although they do not see m to have ever

.

h ad any system o f ancestor worship as the G reeks -

,

had yet the Jews appear originally to have recognized

,

the deities o f their neighbours as existing spirits ,

but in ferior in power to the G od o f Israel All

”
the gods o f the nations are idols are words that
entirely fail to convey the idea o f the Psalmist ;
”
fo r the word translated idols is E lo h im the very “
,

ter m usually employed to designate J ehovah ; and

the true sense o f the passage therefore is : All the “

gods o f the nations are gods but J ehovah made the ,

” 1
heavens I n another place we read that The L ord
.

2 ”
is a great G od and a great King above all gods
,
.

As however the J ews gradually became acquainted

, ,

with the barbarous rites with which their neighbou rs

did honour to their gods the foreigners seem to h ave ,

fallen more and m ore in estimation until they came ,

to be classed as evil S pirits To this process such .

n ames as Beelzebub M oloch Ashtaroth and Belial

, , ,

”
bear witness ; Beelzebub the p rince o f the devil s ,
“

o f later time being o n e o f the gods o f the hostile

,

Philistines .

The introductio n o f Christianity mad e n o

23 .

di fferen ce in this respect Paul says to the belie v ers.

at Corinth that the things which the G entiles sacri

,
“

fice they sacrifice to devils ( Oatydma) and not to G od

, ,

an d I would not that ye should hav e fellowship

P sal m xcv i 5 ( cv. x .

P alm xcv 3 ( xciv

s . . M au ry p
, .
98 .
 CH RI S TI A NI T Y A ND P A GA NI SM . 21

1
w ith devils and the Septuagint renders the word
E lo /zziiz in the ninety -fift h Psalm by this Sarp é wa
'

w hich as the Christians had already a distinct term

,

fo r good spirits came to be applied to evil ones only

,
.

U nder the influ ence there fore o f the n e w religion , ,

th e gods o f G reece and Rome who in the days o f ,

their supremacy had degraded so ma n y foreign deities

to the position o f d e mons were in their turn deposed ,

fro m their high estate and became the nucleus around ,

which the Christian belief in demonology forme d

itsel f The gods who under the O ld theologies reigned
.

aramount in the lower regions became i m i t l

p p re e n e n y
d iabolic in character in the new sy s tem and it was ,

H ecate who to the last retained her position o f active

patroness an d encourager o f witchcra ft ; a practice
which became almost indissolubly connected with her
nam e N umerous instances o f the completeness with
.

which this process o f diabolization was e ffected and ,

the firmness with which it retained it s hold u pon t h e

popular belie f even to late times might be given ;
, ,

but the following m u st su ffice In one o f the miracle .

”
lays The Conversion f Saul a council o f devils
“
p , o ,

is held at which Mercury appears as t h e messenger

,

ia
o f Belial .

24 But this absolute rej ection o f eve ry pagan

.

belief and ceremony was characteristic o f the Christian

Church in its in fan cy only So long as the band o f .

believers was a small and persecuted one no t e m pt a ,

tion to violate the rule could exist But as the .

1
I Co r . x . 20 .

2
D ig by Mysteries , Ne w S haksp ere So c ie ty , 1 8 8 0, p .
44
.
22 ELI ZA BE THA N D EM ONOLO G Y .

Church grew and acquired influence and position it

, ,

discovered that good policy demanded that the stern

ness an d inflexibility o f its youth ful theories shou ld
undergo some modificat ion It found that it was n o t .

the mos t successful method o f enticing stragglers i n t o

its fold to stigmatize the gods they ignorantly wor
shipped as devils and to persecute them as magicians
, .

The more impetuous and enthusiastic supporters did

p ersecute and persecute most relentlessly the adhe
, ,

rents o f the dying faith but persecution whether o f ,

good or evil always fails as a means o f suppressi n g

,

a hated doctrine unless it can be carried to t h e

,

extent O f extermination o f its supporters ; and t h e

more far seeing leaders o f the Catholic Church soon
-

recognized that a slight surrender o f principle w as

a far surer road to success than stubborn u n co m p ro ,

m is in g opposition .

25
. It was in this spirit that the Catholics dealt
with the oracles o f heathendo m M r L ecky is hardly . .

correct when he says that nothing analogous to t h e

1
ancient oracles waS in c o rp o rat ed with Christianity
'

There is the notable case o f the god So st h e n io n ,

whom Constantine identified with the archangel

Michael and whose oracular functions were continue d
,

2
i n a precisely similar manner by the latter O racles .

that were not thus absorbed and supported were re

cognized as existent but under diabolic control and
, ,

to be tolerated if not patronized by the representa

, ,

fives o f the dominant religion The oracle at D elph i .

1
Ri se an d I n flu en ce o f Ratio n alism i p , . .
31 .

2
Mau ry p 244 cl s q
, .
,
e .
 ORA CLES A RE D I A B OL I C
. 23

gav e forth prophetic utterances fo r centuries after the

com m encement o f the Christian era ; and was the les s
dangerous as its operations could be stopped at any
,

mo m ent by holdi n g a saintly relic to the god or devi l

’
Apollo s nose There is a fable that St G rego ry in
. .
,

the course o f his travels passed near the oracle an d

, ,

his extraordinary sanctity was such as to prevent

all subsequent utterances This so disturbed the
.

presiding genius o f the place that he appealed to t h e,

saint to undo the bane ful e ffects his presence had pro
du c e d ; and G regory benevolently wrote a letter t o
the devil which was in fact a license to continue the
,

business o f prophesying unmolested 1

This non .

sensical fiction sh ows clearly enough that the oracle s

were n o t generally looked upon as extinguished by
Christianity A s the result o f a similar policy w e
.

find the n ames and functions o f the pagan gods and

the earlier Christian saints con fused in the most ex
t rao rdin ary manner ; the saints assuming the dutie s
o f the moribund deities where those duties were o f a
”
harmless or necessary character .

26 . The Church carried out e x actly the s ame pri n

c ip le s in her missiona ry e f
forts amongst the heathen
hordes o f N orthern E urope D o yo u renounc e .

the devils and all their words and works ; T h o n ar

, ,

Wodin and Sax e n o t e

,
was part o f the form o f re
cantation administered to the Scandinavian con
8 ”
verts ; and at the present day O din take you is
”
the N orse equivalent o f the devil take you “
O n th e .

S co t ,
b ko o v ii. ch . i
. Middleto n s Letter fro m Ro me
’
.

3
Milma n, H isto ry o f Lat in C h ri stia ity iii 267 ; ix 65
n , . . .
24 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLO G I '
.

other hand an attempt was m ade to identi fy Bald a

,

the beauti ful with Christ a con fusion o f ch aracter

—

that may go far towards accounting fo r a custo m

“

j oyously observed by our fore fathers at Christm as

tide but which the false modesty o f modern society
,

has nearly succeeded in banishing from amongs t u s ;

fo r Balda was slain by L ok e with a branch o f
mistletoe and Christ was be trayed by Judas wit h
,

a kiss .

7 . U pon the conversion o f the inhabitants o f

G reat Britain to Christianity the native deities u nder
,

went the s am e inevitable fate and sank into the,

rank o f evil spirits Perhaps the j uster O pinio n is

.

that they became t h e progenitors o f our fairy my t h o

logy rather than the subsequent devil lore altho u gh-
,

the similarity between these two classes o f spirits

is su fficient to warrant us in classing th em as species
o f the same genus ; their characters and function s

being p erfectly interchangeable and even at ti m es

,

merging and becoming indistinguishable A cer

.

tain lurking a ffection in the new converts fo r the

religion they had desert ed perhaps under compulsion
, ,

may have led them to look upon their ancient obj ects
o f ve n eration as less detestable in nature an d dan
,

g e ro u s in act than
, the devils imported as an integral
portion o f their adopted faith ; and so originated this
class o f spirits less evil than the other Sir Walter.

Scott may b e c o rrec t in his assertion that many o f

,

t hese fai ry m yths owe their origin to the existence

-

o f a diminutive autochthonic race that was con

quered by the invading Celts and t h e remnants o f
,
 S CA ND I NA VI A N GODS .
25

w h ich lurked about the mountains and forests and ,

e x cited in their victors a superstitious reverenc e

o n account o f their grea t skill in metallurgy ; but
thi s will not explain t h e retention o f many o f the
o ld god names - as that o f the D u s ii the Celtic noc ,
”
t u rn al spirits in our word
, deuce and that o f the “
,

Nik r or water spirits in nixie and o ld N ick

- 1 ” “
.
”

These words undoubtedly indicate the accomplish

m ent o f the fac ilis descensus Averno by the native
deities E lves brownies gnom es and t ro lds were
.
, , ,

all at one time Scotch or Irish gods The t ro lds o b .

t ain e d a character similar to that o f the more modern

s uccubus and have le ft their impression upon E liza
,

”
bethan E nglish in the word trull .

28 The preceding ve ry superficial outline o f the

.

growth o f the belie f in evil spirits is enough fo r the

purpose o f this essay as it shows that the basis o f ,

E nglish devil lore was the annihilated mythologies

-

o f the ancient heathen religions Italic and Teutonic —

,

as well as those brought into direct conflic t with the

J ewish system ; and also that the more important
o f the Teutonic deities are not to be traced in the

subsequent hie rarchy o f fiends on account p robably ,

o f their temporary or permanent absorption into the

proselytizing system or the refusal o f the new converts

,

to believe them to be so black as their teachers

painted them The gradual growth o f the super
.

s tructure it would be well nigh impossible and quite -

u nprofitable to trace It is due chiefly to the cre du

.

lou s ignorance and distorted imaginatio n monkish ,

M au ry p 18 9 1
, . .
26 E L I Z A B E THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

and otherwise o f several centuries Carlyle s graphi c

, .
’

picture o f Abbot Sampson s vision o f the devil in

.
’

Past and Present will perhaps do more to expl ain

how the belief grew and flourished than pages o f
explanato ry statements I t is worthy o f re m ark
.
,

however that to the last communication with evil

, ,

Sp irit s was kept up by mea n s o f form u l e

. and rit e s
that are undeniably the remnants o f a for m o f re
ligio u s worship Incomprehensible in their j argo n
.

as t hese formul e mostly are and strongly tinctured as,

t hey have become with burlesqued Christia n sym

b o lis m and expression fo r those who used the m cou l d
—

only supply the fast dying memory o f the elder form s

-

from the existing system they still in all thei r

—
,

grotesqueness remain the battered relics o f a dead

,

faith
0
.

29 Such being the natural history o f the conflict

.

o f religions it will not be a matter o f su rprise that

,

the leaders o f our E n glish Re formation Should in ,

their turn have attributed the miracles o f the Roman

,

Catholic saints to the same in fernal source as t h e

early Christians supposed to h ave been the origin o f
the prodigies and oracles o f paganism The impulse .

given by the secession from the Church o f Rom e t o

the study o f the Bible by all classes added impetu s
to this tendency I n Holy Writ the Re formers found
.

full authority fo r believing in t h e existence o f evi l

S pirits possession by devil s witchcra ft and di v i n e
,
-

, ,

and diabolic interference by way o f miracle generally

and they consequently acknowledged the possibility o f
the repetition o f such phenomena in the times in which
 REF O RM ERS A ND TH E D E VI L S . 27

they lived a position more tenable perhaps than

—
, ,

that o f modern o rthodoxy that accepts withou t ,

m ur m ur all the supernatural events recorded in t h e

B ibl e and utterly rej ects all subsequent relations o f
,

a si m ilar nature however well authenticated T h e

, .

Re formers believed unswervingly in the truth o f t h e

Biblical accounts o f miracles and that what G od had,

once permitted to take place might and would b e

repeated in case o f serious necessity But they foun d .

it utterly impossible to accept the puerile and mean

in g les s miracles perpetrated under the auspices o f t h e
Rom an Catholic Church as evidence o f divine inter
ference ; and they had not travelled far enough upon
the road towards rationalis m to be able to rej ec t
the m one and all as in their very nature impossible
, ,
.

The consequence o f this was one o f those compromise s

“ric h we s o O ften meet with in the history o f the
'

changes o f o p I n I o n e ffected by the Re formation .

O nly those particular miracles that were indisputably

demonstrated to be impostures and there were —

1—
plenty o f them such as the Rood o f Boxley
,
were
treated as such by them The unexposed remainde r
.

were treated as genuine supernatural phenomena ,

but caused by diabolical not divi n e agency T h e

, ,
.

re forming divine Cal fhill supporti n g this view o f t h e

, ”

Catholic miracles in his answer to M art iall s Treatis e ’

”
o f the Cross ,
points out that the maj ority o f super
natural events that have taken place in this world
have been most undoubtedly the work o f the devil ;
, ,

and puts his opponents into a rather embarrassing

dilemma by citing the miracles o f paganism whic h ,

F ro u de H isto ry o f E n glan d c ab in et ed itio n iii 1 02

, , , . .
28 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y ~
.

both Catholic and Protestant concurred in attributi n g

to the evil one H e then clinches his argument by
.

asserting that it is the devil s cunning that persu ades

“ ’

those that will walk in a popish blindness that they

are worshipping G od when they are in reality servi n g
”
him . Therefore he continues consciously follow
“
, ,

ing an argument o f St Cyprian u s against t h e paga n .

miracles these wicked spirits do lurk in shrines in

, ,

roods in crosses in images : and first o f all pervert

, ,

the pri ests which are easiest to be caught with bait o f

,

a little gain Then work they miracles They appear

. .

to men in divers shapes ; disquiet them when they

are awake trouble them in their sleeps distort their
m embers ; take away their health ; a fflict the m with
diseases ; only to bring them to some idolatry .

Thus whe n they have obtained their pu rpose that

,

a lewd affian c e is reposed where it sho uld not they ,

e nter ( as it were) into a new league and troubl e ,

them no more What do the simple people then !

.

Verily suppose that the image the cross the thin g , ,

that they have kneeled and O ffered unto ( the very

devil indeed ) hath restored them health whereas h e ,

did nothing but leave o ff to molest them This is t h e .

help and cure that the devils give when they leave o ff
” 1
their wrong and i n j ury .

30 Here we have a distinct charge o f devil

.

worship the old doctrine cropping up again a fter

—

centuries o f repose : all the gods o f our opponents“

”
are devils N or were the Catholics a whit behin d
.

the Protest ants in this matter The priests zealously .

C alfh ill pp 31 7 8 P arker So ci ety

, .
- . .
 TH E CA THOL I CS REP L Y ’
. 29

t aught that the Protestants were devil worshippers -

1
an d magicians and the common people so im
p lic it ly believed in t h etruth o f the statement that we ,

find one poor prisoner taken by the D utch at t h e ,

s iege o f Alkmaar in 1 57 8 making a desperate attemp t ,

to save his li fe by promising to worship his captors ’

2—
devil precisely as they did a suggestion that failed
to paci fy those to wh o m it was addressed .

3 1 H aving thus stated so far as necessary the

.
, ,

chief laws that are constantly working the extension

o f the domain o f the supernatural as f ar as demon
ology is concerned without a remembrance o f which
,

t h e subj ect itsel f would remain somewhat di fficult t o

comprehend fu lly I shall now attempt to indicat e
,

one o r two conditions o f thought and circumstanc e

th a t may have tended to increase and vivi fy the
belie f during the period in which the E lizabethan
literature flourished .

32 .It was an era o f change The nation was .

e merging from the dim twilight o f m edi e valism into

t h e full day o f political and religious freedom But .

t h e morning mists which the rising sun had not ye t

,

di s pelled rendered the more distan t and complex

,

o bj ect s distort e d and portentous The very fact that .

d o ubt or rather perhaps independence o f thought

, , , ,

was at last withi n certain limits treated as non

, ,

c riminal in theology gave an impetus to investiga

,

t i o n an d speculation in all branches o f pol i tics and

H u tchi n so n y p 218
’
s E ssa , . . H arsn et, D ec laratio n , p .
30 .

M o tley Du tch Repu b l ic ii

, , .
400 .
 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

science ; and with this change came in the m ain , ,

improvement . But the great de fect o f the ti m e w as

t hat this newly liberated spirit o ffree i n qui ry was n o t
kept in ch eck by any su fficient p revious disciplin e in
logical methods o f reasoning Hence th e possibil it y
.

o f the wild theories that then existed follo wed o u t ,

into act i on or not according as circumstances favo u re d

,

o r discouraged : Arthur H acket with casting o u t o f ,

devils and other madnesses vehemently declari n g

, ,

h imsel f the Messiah and King o f E urope in t h e y e ar

o f grace 1 59 1 and getting himsel f bel i eved by so m e
, ,

so lo n g as he remai n ed unhanged ; or more path e t ic ,

still many weary lives wasted day by day in fruitl e s s

,

s ilent search a f ter the impossible philosopher s sto n e ’

or eli x ir o f li fe A s in law so in science th e re

.
, ,

were no su ffi c i ent rules o f evidence clearly an d

u nmistakably laid down f o r the guidance o f t h e
investigator ; and consequently it was only necessa ry
to broach a novel theory in order to have it accept e d ,

without any previous seri ous testing M e n do n o t .

s eem to have been able to distinguish be t ween an

hypothesis and a proved conclusion ; or rather th e , ,

rule o f presumptions was reversed and m e n accept e d ,

t h e hypothesis as conclusive until it was disprove d .

It was a pe rfectly ratio n al and su fficient explanatio n in

those days to refer some extraordinary even t to s o m e
give r supernatural cause even though there migh t b e
,

no ostensible link between the t wo : now such a s u g ,

gesti on would b e treated by the v ast maj ority with

deris i on o r contempt O n the other h and th e m o st
.
,

trivial occurrences such as sn eezing the appearance

, ,

o f bird s o f ill omen the crow i n g o f a cock an d

, ,
 SI GNS OF TH E TI M ES
'

.
31

e ve n t s o f like unimportance happening at a particular

m o m ent m ight by some unseen concatenation o f
, ,

c au s es and e ffects exercise an incomprehensible in ,

flu e n c e upon men and consequently had important ,

b e ari ngs upo n their conduct It is solemnly recorded .

in t h e Comm ons J ournals that during the discussion

’

o f th e statute against witchcra ft passed in the reign

o f J ames I a young j ackdaw fle wi n to the House ;

.
,

w hic h acciden t was generally regarded as malu m

1
o m en to the Bill E x traordinary bravery on th e
.

p a rt o f an adversary was sometimes accounted fo r by

as s erting that he was the devil in the form o f a man

as the Volscian soldier does with regard to Coriolanu s .

T h is is no mere dramatist s fancy but a fi x ed belie f ’

o f the ti m es Sir William Russell fough t s o despe

.

rat e ly at Z utphen that he got mistaken fo r the ,

2
E vil O ne and D rake also gave the S p aniards good
reaso n fo r believing that he was a devil and no man 8
, .

33 .Th is intense credulousness childish almost in ,

its e l f but yet at the same time combined with the

,
’
s trong man s i n tellect permeated all classes o f society , .

Perhap s a couple o f instances drawn from strangely ,

diverse sources will bring this more v i v i dly be fore

,

t h e mind than any amount o f attempted theorizing .

The first is one o f the tricks o f the j ugglers o f the

p eriod .

To make one dam e naked .

Make a poore boie con federate w i th you so as ,

after charms etc s p oken by you he unclothe him

, .
, ,

See al so D E wes, p F ro u de bid

’
. 688 .
,
x i1. 87 . I . 663
.
32 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

s el f and stand n ak e d s e e m in g ( Wh ilest he u n dre ss e t h

,
~

h im s elfe) to shake stamp and cri e still haste n i n g , , ,

to be unclothed till he be starke n aked ; or if you c an

,

procure none to go so far let h im o n lie beginn e t o ,

stampe and shake etc and unclothe him and th e n ,

.
, ,

you may ( fo r reverence o f the comp anie) seem e t o

1 ”
release him .

The second illustration must have demande d if ,

possible more credulity on the part o f the audi e n c e

,

than this harmless entertainment Cranmer tell s u s .

that in the time o f ! ueen Mary a monk prea c he d

a sermon at St Paul s the obj ect o f which was t o .
’

prove the truth o f the doctrine o f transubstantiatio n

and a fter the manner o f his kind told the follow i n g
, ,

little anecdote in support o f it A maid o f N o rth

gate parish in Canterbu ry in pretence to wipe h e r ,

mouth kept the host in her handkerchief; and wh e n

, ,

she came home she put the same into a pot cl o s e

, ,

covered and she spitted in another pot and a fte r

, ,

a few days she looking in the one pot found a littl e

, ,

young pretty babe about a sh aft m o n d long and t h e ,

” 9
other pot was full o f gore bloo d .

34 That.the audiences be fore which these ah

surdities were s eriously brought fo r amusement o r ,

instruction could be excited i n either case to an y

,

other feeling than good n atured contempt fo r a -

would b e impostor seems to u s now adays to b e

-
,
- -

im p ossible It was not so i n the t i mes when thes e

.

1
S co tt, p 339 . .

C ran mer, A Co nfu tatio n of Un written Veri ties, p 66 . . ker

P ar
S o ci ety .
 EL I ZA BE THA NS NO T F OOL S .
33

t h i n gs transpired : the actors o f them were n o t

k n aves nor were their audiences foo ls to any unusual
, ,

e x tent I f any one is inclin e d t o form a low opinio n

.

o f t h e E lizabethans intellectually on a c count o f the

'
,

d ivergence o f their capacities o f belie f in this respect

from his own he does the m a great inj ustice
,
L et .

h im take at once Charles L amb s warning and try to

’
,

u nderstand rather than to j udge them We who

,
.
,

have had the benefit o f three hundred mo re years o f

ex perience and liberty o f thought than they shou ld ,

have to hide our faces fo r very shame had we not

arrived at j uster and tru e r conclusions upon those
di fficult topics that so bewildered our ancestors B u t .

can we with all our boaste d advantages o f wealth

, ,

po wer and knowledge truly say that all our aims are as
, ,

high all our desires as pure our words as true and

, , ,

our deeds as noble as those whose opinions we feel

,

this tendency to contemn ! I f n o t or if indeed th e y

,

have anything whatsoever to teach us in thes e re

s p e c t s let us remember that we shall never learn the
,

lesson wholly perhaps not learn it at all un less cast

, , ,

ing aside this first impulse to despise we try to ent e r ,

fully into and understand these s t ran ge de ad belie fs

o f the past .
 35. I T is in this spiri t that I now enter upon t h e

s econd division o f the subject in hand in which I ,

shall try to indicate the chief features o f the belief in

demonology as it existed during the E lizabet h an
p eriod These will be taken up in three main head s
.

the classifica tion physical app earance and po wers o f

, ,

the evil spirits .

36 .
( )
i
It is di fficult to discover any classificati o n
.

o f devils a s well authenticated and as universal ly

received as that o f the angels introduced by D io n y

si n s the Areopagite which was subsequently import e d
,

into the creed o f the Western Church and popul ar

.

,
”
iz e d in E lizabethan times by D ekk e r s
’
H ierarchi e .

The subj ect was one which from its nature could n o t, ,

be settle d ex o atfio drd and consequently the subj e c t

,

had to gro w up as best it might each writer adopti n g ,

the a rrangement that appeared to him most suitabl e

‘

There was one rough but popular classification into

greater and lesser devils The former branch was .

subdivided into classes o fvarious grades o fpower the ,

m embers o f which passed under the titles o f kings ,

dukes marquise s lords cap tains and other dignities

, , , , .
 CLA SSI F I CA TI ON OF DE VI L S .
35

E ach o f these was suppo sed to have a certain number

o f legions o f the latter class under h is command .

T h ese were the evil spirits who appeared most

frequently on the earth as the emissaries o f the
greater fiends to carry out their evil designs The
, .

more important class kept fo r the most part in a

mystical seclusion and only appeared u pon earth in
,

cases o f the greatest emergency or when compelled ,

to do so by conj uration To the class O f lesser devils

.

be lo n ged the bad angel which together with a good ,

one w as supposed to be assigned to eve ry person at

,

birth to follow him through li fe the one to tempt the

,
—
,

1
other to guard fro m temptation ; so that a struggle
similar to that recorded between Michael and Satan
fo r the body o f Moses was raging fo r the s oul o f every
existing human being This was not a mere theory
.
,

but a vital active belie f as the beauti ful well known

,
-

li n es at the commencement o f the eighth canto o f

the second boo k o f The Faerie ! ueene and the use ,

made o f these O p posing S pirits in Marlowe s Dr ’

.

”
Faustus and in The Virgin M artyr by Mas
,
“
,

singer and D ekker conclusively s h pw

,
.

37 Another
. clas s ification which seems to retain ,

a re miniscence o f the origin o f devils from pagan

deities is e ffected by reference to the localities
,

su p po sed to be inhabited by the di fferent classes o f

evil spirits According to this arrangement we ge
six clas ses
.

D
D evils o f th e fire who wander in the regio n
,

near the moon .

S co t p 506 , . .
 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

D evils o f the
air who hover round the ea rth
, .

D evils o f the earth ; to who m the fairie s are

allied .

(4 ) D evils o f the water .

l
Submundane devils .

L u c ifu g i .

These devils power and desire to injure man k i n d’

appear to have increased with the proximi ty o f t h ei r

’
locati o n to the earth s centre ; but this classificati o n
had nothing like the hold upon the popular mind th at
the former grouping had and may consequently b e ,

dis m issed with this mention .

The greater devils,or the most importan t o f

38 .

them had distinguishing names strange unco u t h

,
—
,

n ames some o f them telling o f a heathenish origi n

o thers inexp licable and almost u n pronounceable i — as —

Ashtaroth Bael Belial Ze ph ar Cerberus Ph o en ix

, , , , , ,

Balam ( why he and H aagen t i L e raie M arc h o s ias , , ,

Gu s o in Glasya L ab o las Scot enu m erates seventy

,
.

nine the above amongst them and he does not by

, ,

any mea n s exhaust the number As each arch devi l .

-

h ad t wenty thirty or forty legions o f in ferior S pirits

, ,

under his command and a legion was composed o f ,

six hundred and sixty six devils it is not surprisi n g -

,

that the latt e r did not obtain distinguishing nam es

until they made their appeara n ce upon earth when ,

they freque n tly obtained one from the fo rm they love d

to assu m e fo r e x a m ple the fa m iliars o f t h e witches in ,

Macbeth — Paddock ( toad ) G raymalkin ( cat) an d , ,

Cf . 1 H en . VI . V . iii . 10 ; 2 H en . VI . I . ll .
7 7 ; C C I io lan u s,
Iv . v .
97 .
 TH E SE VERA L D E VI L S ’
NA M ES .
37

H arpier ( harpy possibly ) I s it su rprisi n g that , .

,

wi t h res o urces o f this n ature at his comm an d such an ,

ad e pt in the art o f necro mancy as O wen G lendo wer

sh ou ld hold Harry Percy much to his disgust at t h e , ,

least n ine hours

In k o n i n g u p th e s ev eral dev il s
re c
’
nam es
T hat we re h is lac ke y s

Of
the twenty devils mentioned by Shakspere ,

four only belong to the class o f greater devils H e c ate .

~

t h e principal patroness o f witchcra ft is re ferred to ,

1
frequently and appears once upon the scene ,
The .

t w o others are Amaimon and B arb az o n both o f whom ,

are m entioned twice Amaimon was a very important .

personage being n o other than o n e o f the four kings

, .

Z im in ar was King o f the N orth an d is re ferre d to ,

in H en ry VI Part Go rs o n o f the S outh ;.

G oap o f the West ; and Am aimo n o f the E ast H e .

is mentioned in Hen ry IV P art and M e rry “

.
“

4 ”
Wives B arb az o n also occurs in the same passage
.

”5
in the latter play and again in Henry V a fact ,
“
.
—

that d o es to a slight e x tent help to bear out t he

o therwise ascertained chronological sequence o f these
plays The remainder o f the devils belong to the
.

”
second class N ine o f these occur in King L ear
“
.
,

and will be re ferred to agai n when the subject o f

6
possession is touched upon .

1
I t is perh ap wo rthy o f rem a k th at in
s r ev er y c ase e xce pt th e
all u s io n in th p ro babl y sp ri H ry V I
e u o us en .
, I s peak no t to t hat
l
rai in g H e cate , (1 H en . VI . 1 11 . ii . th e n am e is
“
H ecat, a
d i yllabl
ss e .

2
v . iii 6 . .
3 1
1. iv 370
. . II . II .
31 1 .

II . i .
57
. Sco t, p 393 . .
 ELI ZA BE THA N D EM ONOLO G Y .

39 ( ) . It would
IIappear
. that each o f the g r e ater
devils on the rare occasion upon which he made his
,

appearance upon earth assumed a for m peculi ar to ,

himsel f; the lesse r devils on the other hand h ad an , ,

ordinary type common to the whole species w i t h a

, ,

capacity fo r almost infinite variation and trans m uta

t ion which they used as will be seen to the extre m e
, , ,

perplexity and annoyance o f mortals As an illustra .

tio n o f t h e form in which a greater devil might ap p ear ,

this is what Scot s ays o f the questionable B alam ,

above mentioned : Balam cometh with three heads “

,

the first o f a bull the second o f a man and the third

, ,

o f a ram He hath a serpent s taile an d flaming e ie s

.
’

riding upon a furious beare and c arrie n g a hawke o n ,

” 1
h is fist But it w as the le s ser devils not t h e
.
,

greater that ca me into close contact with huma n ity

, ,

who there fore demand careful consideration .

40 . All the lesser devils seem to have possess e d a

normal form which was as hideous and distorted as
,

fancy could render it To the conception o f an ange l

.

imagination h as given the only beauti ful append ag e

the human body does not possess w ings to that o f
—

a devil it has added all those organs o f the b rut e

creation that are most hideous or most harm fu l .

Advancing civilization has almo st exterminated t h e

belief in ab eing with horns cloven hoo fs goggle eyes , , ,

and scaly tail that was held up to many yet livi n g as

, ,

the avenger o f childish disobedience in their earlie r

days t o gether perhaps with some strength o f c o n
,

Vic t io n o f t he moral hideousness o f the evil h e wa s

p 361
. .
 H ORNS , H 0OF S, A ND GOGGLE E YE S .
39

intended , in a rough way to typi fy ; but this hazily ,

retained impression o f the Author o f E vil was the

u niversal and e n tirely credited conception o f the ordi

n ary appearance o f those bad spirits who were so

real to our ancestors o f E lizabethan days Some are .

”
so c arn allie minded says Scot that a spirit is no , ,
“

sooner spoken o f but they th in ke o f a blacke man with

,

cloven feet a paire o f ho m es a taile and e ie s as big

, , ,

” 1
as a bas o n Scot however was one o fa very small
.
, ,

m inority in his opinion as to the carnal mindedness o f -

such a belief He in his day like those in every age

.
,

and count ry who dare to hold convictions O pposed to

the creed o f the majority was a dangerous sceptic ; ,

his book was p u blicly burnt by the common hang

man ; and not long afterwards a royal author wrote
2

a treatise against the damnable doctrines o f two

princi p ally in our age ; whereo f the one called Scot , ,

an E nglishman is not ashamed in public print to deny

,

that there can be such a thing as witchcra ft and so ,

m ain t e in e s the O ld error o f the Sadducees in denyi n g

3 ”
o f spirits The abandoned impudence o f the man !
.

and the logic o f his royal opponent

4 1 Spenser has clothed with horror this con

.

c e p t io n o f the appearance o f a fiend j ust as he has ,

enshrined in beauty the belie f in the guardian ange l .

I t is worthy o f remark that he de s cribes the devil as

dwelling beneath the altar o f an idol in a heathen

p .
50 7 . See al so Hu tchinso n , E ssay on W i tchc raft p , . 13 ; an d
H ars n e t, p .
71 .

B ay l e , ix . 1 52.

J ames I .
, D e mo n o lo gie . Edin bu rgh , 1 59 7 .
40 ELI ZA BE THA N D E JI ONOL O G Y .

t e mple Prince Arthur strikes the image thri c e

.

his sword
An d th e th i rd t i m e, o u t o f an h i dden sh ade ,
T h e re fo rt h isse we d fro m u n der t h altar s s m o ake
’ ’

A dre adfu l! fee n d wi t h fo wl e defo rm ed lo o ke ,

T h at hed it se lfe as it h ad lo n g l ye n s t ill
stretc

A n d h e r lo n g taile an d fe th ers st ro n g ly s h o o ke ,

T hat all th e te m p l e did w i t h t e rro u r till

Y et h im n o u ght t errifide t hat fe ared n o t hi n g ill .

An h u ge great beas t it was when it in l en gt h

,

W as stre tc hed fo rt h t hat n igh fille d all t h e p l ac e

, ,

An d see m ed t o b e o f i n fi n i te gre at stre n gt h

H o rrible h i deo u s an d o f helli s h rac e
, , ,

B o rn e o f t h e bro o di n g o f E c h i dn a b ase ,

0 1 o th e r like i n fe rn al! F u ri e s ki n de ,

F o r o f a m ai de s h e h ad th e o u tward fac e
T o h i de th e h o rro u r wh i c h did lu rke b e h in de
T h e b e tter to begu ile wh o m sh e so fo n d did fin de .

Th ere to th e bo dy o f a do g sh e had ,

F u ll o f fell rav i n an d fie rc e gree din es se

A li o n s clawes w i t h po we r an d rigo u r c l ad
’
,

T o re n de an d te are wh at s o s h e c an o pp re ss e
A drago n s t ail e wh o se st i n g wi th o u t redre s se
’
,

F u ll de adl y wo u n ds wh ereso it is em p i g ht ,

A n d e agl e s wi n gs fo r s c o pe an d s pe e din e s se
’

T h at n o th i n g m ay e s c ape h e r reac h i n g m i gh t ,

W h ere to sh e ev er li st t o m ake h er h ardy fligh t ”

.

42 .The dramatists o f the period make frequ e n t

re ferences to this belie f but nearly a
lways by way o f
,

ridicule It is hardly to be exp ected that they woul d

.

share in the grosser opinions held by the comm o n

people in those times common whether king or
—
,
”
clown In The Virgin Martyr H arpax is m ade
.
,

to say
 NO T SO BLA CK A S H E S P A I NT E D ’
.
41

I ll te ll yo u wh at n o w o f th e de v il
’

He s n o s u c h h o rri d c re at u re, c l o v e n fo o te d,
’
-

B l ack , s au c er- e yed h is n o st ril s b re ath i n g

,
fire ,
A s t h e se lyi n g C h ri st i an s m ak e h im .
”

But his opinion was perhaps a prej udiced one , ,

.

”
I n Ben Jonson s The D evil is an Ass when Fitz
’ “
,

do t t re ll doubting Pug s statement as to his in fernal

’

character says I l o oked on your feet a fore ; you

, ,
“

cannot coze n me ; your shoes are n o t clove n s ir you , ,

are whole hoo fed Pug with great presence o f mind , ,

”
re plies Sir that s a popular error dec e ives many
, ,
.

5 0 too O th e llo when he is questionin g whether Iago

,

is a devil or not says ,

I lo o k do wn t o h is fe et, b ut t h at s
’
a fabl e .
” 2

And when E dgar is trying to persuade the bli n d

G loucester that he has in reality c ast himsel f over
the cli ff he describ e s the being fro m whom he is
,

supposed to have j ust parted thus ,

As I h ere b elo w m eth o u gh t h is e ye s

st o o d ,

W ere two fu ll m o o n s h e h ad a th o u s an d n o se s
H o rn s wh e lk e d an d wav ed like t h e e n ri dg ed se a
I t was s o m e fi e n d ”3
.

I t can hardly be but that the thousand noses are “

i ntended as a satirical hit at the enormity o f the

popular belie f .

43. I n a
ddition to this normal type com m on to ,

all these devils each one seems t o have h ad like

, ,

the greater devils a favourite form in which he made

,

Act i . so . 2. Ac t v . se . II . 1
. 28 5 .
3
L ear, IV . v i. 69 .
42 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

his appeara nce when c o n jured ; generally that o f

some animal real or imagined It was telling o f
, .

m o ldwarp an d th e an t,
th e
O fth e dream er M e rli n , an d his pro ph ec i es ;
A n d o f a drago n an d a fin less fish ,
A c lipwin ged griflin , an d am o u lte n rav e n ,
A c o u c h i n g li o n , an d a ramp i n g c at, ”1
.

t hata n noyed Harry Hotspur so terribly ; and n e i th er

in this allusion which was suggested by a passage in
,

’ ”
H olinshed nor in Macbeth where he m akes the
, ,

three witches conjure up their familiars in the shapes

o f an armed head a bloody child and a child , ,

crowned has Shakspere gone be yond the fa

, ntastic
conceptions o f the time .

44 ( )
. iii But the
. third p roposed section whi ch ,

deals with the powers and funct ions e x ercised by th e

evil s p irits is by far the most i nteresting and im
,

portant and the first branch o f the series is one that

suggests itsel f as a natural sequence upon what h as
j ust been said as to the ordina ry shapes in wh ic h
devils appeared namely the c apacity to assume at
, ,

will any form they chose .

45 . In the early and m i ddle a g es it w as u n i

v e rs ally believed that a devil could o f his own in ,

herent power call into existence any m anner o f bod y

,

that it pleased h is fancy to inhabit or that wo u l d ,

m ost conduce to the success o f any conte m plate d

evil In consequence o f this belief the de vils becam e
.

the rivals indeed the successful rivals o f J upiter him

, ,

1 H en I V 111 i 1 48 . p 521 c 2
. . . . .
, . .
 TH E DE VI L A CREA TOR .
43

s el f in the art o f physical tergiversation There was .

,

in deed a traditio n that a de v il could not create any

,

animal form o f less size than a barley corn and that -

,

it was in consequence o f this incapacity that the

m agician s o f E gypt — those ind u bitable devil wo r -

s hippers — fail ed to produce lice as Moses did , ,

although they had been so success ful in the m atter

o f the serpents and the f rogs ; a v e rie gross ah “

” 1
s u rdit ie as Scot j udiciously remarks This ho wever
,
.
, ,

w o uld not be a se riOu s limi t at ion upon the practical

u se fulness o f the power .

46 .The great Re formation m ovement wrought

a change in this respect Men began to accept
.

ar g ument and reason though savouri n g o f special

,

p leading o f the schools in pre ference to tradition

, ,

t hough never so venerable and well authenticated ;

an d the leaders o f the revolution could not but
recognize the absurdity o f laying down as in fallible
dogma that G od was the Creator o f all things and ,

then insisting with equal vehemence by way o f postu ,

late that the devil was the originator O f some

,
The .

thing was gross and palpable in its absurdity and ,

h ad to be done away with as quickly as might be .

But how ! O n the other hand it was clear as day ,

light that the devil did appe ar in various forms to

tem pt and annoy the people o f G od was at that —

v ery time doing so in the most open and u nabashed

m anner How were reasonable men to account fo r

.

this m anifest conflict between rigorous logic and more

rigorous fact ! There was a prolonged and violen t
p 3 4
1
44 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONO L O G Y .

controversy upon th e po int— the Re formers not see

in g their way t o ag re e amongst themselves — and
tedious as violent Sermons were preached books.

w ere written ; and whe n argument was exhausted , ,

u npleas ant epithets were bandied about much a s in ,

t h e present day in similar cases

:

,
The result was .

that t wo t heories were evolved both extremely in ,

t e res t in g as illustrations o f the hair splitting chop -

,

lo gic tendency which amidst all their straight fo rward

,

n ess was so strongly characteristic o f the E lizabe t han s

, .

The fi rst suggesti o n was that although the devil could ,

not , o f his own inherent po wer create a bo dy he , .

m ight get hold o f a dead carcase and temporarily

restore animation and so serve his tu rn This belie f
,
.

1
was held amon gst others by the e rudite King J am es
, , ,

and is pleas antly sati rized by st u rdy old Ben J onson

”
in The D evil is an Ass Where Satan ( the greater ,

devil who only appears in the first sce n e j ust to set

,

the storm a brewing) says to Pug ( Puck the lesser

-
,

devil who does all the mischie f; or would have done

,

it had not man in those latter times got to be rather

, , ,

be yond the devils in evil than o the rwise) not without ,

a touch o f regret at the waning o f his power

Yo u mu s t g e t a b o dy ready-made, Pu g,
I can c reat e yo u n o n e

and consequently Pug is advised to assume the body

o f a handsome cutpurse that morning hung at
Tyburn .

But the theory though ingenious was in su flic ie n t

, ,
.

T h e devil would oc casionally appear in th e li ke n e ss

D e mo n o l o gi e p
, .
56 .
 THEORI ES F I TTED T O F A CTS .
45

o fa living person and how could that be accounted

fo r ! Again an evil spirit with all his ingenuity
, , ,

w ou ld find it hard to discover the dead body o f a

g ri f
fin or a harpy
, or o f such eccentricity as was,

affected by the before men tion ed Balam ; and these -

an d other similar forms were commonly favoured by

t h e inhabitants o f the nether world .

47 The second
. theory there fore became the , ,

m ore popular amongst the l e arned because it le ft ,

n o one point u nexplained The divines held that .

although the po wer o f the Cre ator had in no wise

been delegated to the devil yet he was in the course , ,

o f providence permitted to exercise a certain super

,

nat u ral influence over the minds o f m e n whereby he ,

could persuade them that they really saw a for m that

h ad no material obj ective existe nce 1
H ere was a .

position incontro vertible not on account o f the argu ,

m ents by which it could be supported but because ,

it was impossible to reason against it ; and it slowly ,

b ut surely took hold upon the popular mind I n

,
.

d eed the elimination o f the diabolic factor leaves

,

the modern sceptical belie f th at such apparitions are

n othing more than the result o f diseas e physical or ,

m ental .

But the semi sceptical state o f thought was

4 8 .
-

in Shakspere s time ma king its way only amongst

’

the more educated portion o f t h e nation The masses .

still clung to the old and venerated if not venerable , ,

D ialo gic all D isco u rse b y D eaco

s, n an d Walker , il
4th D a o gu e
.

I B ul lin ge r p , .
361 . Parker S o c iety .
46 EL I ZA BE TH A N DEM ONOLO G Y .

belie f that devils could at any momen t ass u me wh at

for m soever they might p lease not t roubling them
—

selves fu rther to inqui re into the meth o d o f th e

operation They could appear in the likeness o f an
.

ordinary human bein g as H arpax and Mephisto

1
,

’
p h e le s do creating the reby
,
the mo s t embarrassin g
complications in questions o f ide n tity ; and if thi s
belief is borne in mind the charge o f being a devil , ,

so freely made in the times o f which we write an d

, ,

be fore alluded to against persons who performed ,

extraordinary feats o f valour or behaved in a m an ne r ,

di s creditable and deserving o f general reprobatio n ,

loses much o f its barbarous grotesqueness There .

8
was no doubt as to Coriolanus as has been said ,

4
nor Shylock Even the outward sainted Angelo is
.

5
yet a devil and Prince Hal con fesses that there “

is a devil haunts him in the likeness o f an old fat

”
man an old white bearded Satan 5 -
.

49 The .devils had an inconvenient habit o f

appearing in the gu ise o f an ecclesiastic — at leas t

7
,

so the churchmen were careful to insist especi ally ,

when busying themselves about acts o f temptati o n

that would least become the holy robe they h ad
assumed Thi s was the ecclesiastical method o f
.

accounti n g fo r certain sto ries not very creditable t o ,

the priesthood th at had t o o inconvenient a basis o f

,

evidence to be dismissed as fabricatio n s But t h e .

I n Th e V rg i in M artyr . I n Dr . Fau stu s .

Co ri o lan u s , 1 x
. . 16
. M erchan t o f V en ice , 111 . i
. 22
.

M easu re fo r M easu re , 111 . i 90

. . 1 H en I V . .
, 11 . iv 49 1- 509
. .

1
See th e sto ry abo u t B isho p Sylvan us — . Leck y
, Rati o n alism in

E u ro pe i 79
, . .
 D E VI L S A NTI
’
CS A S M E IV .
47

hones t lay public seem to have thought with down ,

right old Chaucer that there was more in the mat t er

,

than the priests chose to admit This feeling we as .

,

usu al find reflected in the dramatic literature o f our

,
”
period In The Troublesome Raign e o f Ki n g John
.
,

an old play upon the basis o f which Shakspere

co nstructed his own King John we find this ques ,
”

tion dealt with in some detail In the elder play .

,

the Bastard does the shaking o f bags o f hoarding

”
abbots co m m popu lo and thereby discloses a phase
, ,

o f monastic li fe j udiciously suppressed by Shak

sp e re Philip sets at liberty much more than im
.
“

”
pri s oned angels — according to one account and ,
’
th at a monk s imprisoned beings o f quite another sort
, .

”
F aire Alice the nonne having been discovered in
, ,
’
t h e chest where the abbot s wealth was supposed to
b e concealed proposes to pu rchase pardon fo r the
,

o ffe nce by disclosing the s ecret hoard o f a sister nun .

H e r o ffer being accepted a friar is ordered to force ,

t h e box in which the tre asure is suppos e d to be

s e c reted O n being questioned as to its contents
.
,

h e answers

F ri e r Lau re n c e, m y l o rd, n o w h o l y wate r h el p u s

So m e w i t c h o r so m e di v e ll is s en t t o de l u de u s
H an d credo L au ren tiu s t hat th o u sho u ldst b e pen d th u s ’

I n t h e pre s se o f a n u n we a re all u n do n e ,

A n d b ro u ght t o di sc re den ce , if t h o u b e F ri er Lau re n c e .

U n fortunately it proves indubitably to be that good

m an ; and he is ordered to execution not however , , ,

w ithout some hope o f redemption by money pay

H az litt S hakspere
, i
L b rar y
, part I I . vo l
. i p . . 264.
48 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

ment ; fo r times are hard and cas h in hand n o t ,

be despised .

It is amusing to notice too that when assu m in g , ,

the clerical garb the devil carefully considere d t h e

,

religious creed o f the person to whom he inte n d e d

to make himsel f kno wn The Catholic accoun t s o f .

him show him generally assuming the form o f a

1
Protestant parson ; whilst to those o f the re fo rm e d
creed he invariably appeared in the habit o f a
Catholic priest I n the semblance o f a friar t h e
.

devil is re ported ( by a Protestant) to have preac h e d ,

upon a time a v e rie Catholic ,

“
so g o o d ,

indeed that a priest who was a listener could fin d n o

,

fault with the doctrine a stronger basis o f fact t h an —

one would have imagined fo r Shakspere s s ayi n g ’

,
”
The devil can cite Scripture fo r his purpose .

50 .It is not surprising that o f human fo r m s ,

that o f a negro or Moor should be co n sidere d a

f
favourite o n e with evil s p irit s Iago makes all u si o n ’

to this when inciting Brabantio to search fo r h is

‘
dau ghter The power o f comi n g in the likene s s o f
.

hu m anity generally is re ferred to somewhat cyni c ally

5 ”
in Timon o f Athens thus ,

Varro s Serv an t What is a whoremaster fo o l

’
.
,

F o o l A fool in good clothes an d somet h i n g

.
,
’ ’
like thee Tis a spirit : sometime t appears li k e a
.

lord sometime like a lawyer sometime like a p h ilo

sopher with two stones m ore than s artificial o n e :
,
’

he is v ery o ft e n like a k n i ght ; an d gen erally in all , ,

H arsn et , p . 10 1 . S co t p , .
48 1 .

3
Sco t , p . 89 . Ot h ell o , I. i .
9 1 . II . II . 1 1
3
.
 DE VI L S ’
I M A GI NA TI ONS 49

I a p es that man goes up and down in from fourscore ,

”
a thirteen this S pirit walks in
, .

All shapes that man goes up and do wn in

s e e m i n deed to have been at the devils control So ’
.

e n tirely was this the case that to Constance even the ,

fai r Blanche was none other than the devi l te m pting

1
L ou is in likeness o f a n e w u pt rim m e d bride
“
and
p erhaps not without a certain prophetic feeling o f the
fi tness o f things as it may possibly seem to some o f
,

o u r m ore warlike politicians evil sp irits have been

k n o wn to appear as Russians .

But all the shap es that man goes up and dow n

5 1 .

in did n o t su ffice The forms o f the whole o f the

.

a ni mal kingdom seem to have been at the devils

d is p osal ; and not content with th ese they seem t o
, ,

8
h ave sought further fo r unlikely shapes to assume .

P o o r Caliban complains that Prospero s spirits ’

Le ad m e, like a fi reb ran d, in th e dark , ”4

j u s t as Ariel and Puck 5 6

( Will -
o
’
-
t h wisp) mi s le a
’
- d
th e ir victims and that
F o r ev ery t ri fle are t h ey se t u po n m e
So m e t i m e s lik e apes , t h at m o w an d c h att e r at m e,
A n d aft e r bi t e m e t h e n lik e h edge h o g s , wh i c h
L ie t u m bli n g in m y b are fo o t w ay, an d m o u n t
T h e i r p ri c k s at m y fo o tfall So m et i m e am I .

A ll wo u n d wi t h adde rs , wh o wi t h l
c o v en t o n gu e s,
Do h i ss m e i n t o m adn ess .

1
Kin g J o h n , 111 . i 209
. . H arsn et, p . 1 39 .

1'
Fo r in stan c e , an eye w it ho ut ah ead .
—
I idb .

The Te m p t 11 ii 10
es , . . .
5
I b id . 1. I I . 1 9 8.

A M id u mm er Nigh t s Dream
s
’
, 11 . i 39 ; 111
. . i . 111 .
50 E L I Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

A nd doubtless the s cene which follows this soliloqu y ,

in which Caliban Trinculo an d Steph ano m istak e , ,

o n e another in turn f o r evil spirits fully flavoure d ,

with fu n as it still remains had far more point fo r t h e ,

audiences at the G lobe to who m a stray devil or tw o

—

was quite in the natural order o f things under su c h

c ircumsta n ces — than it can possibly possess fo r u s .

I n this pl ay Ariel Prosp e ro s familiar besides ap

, ,
’

peari n g in his natural shape and dividing into flam e s , ,

an d behaving in such a m anner as to cause you n g

Ferdina n d to leap i n to the sea crying Hell is empt y , , ,

”
an d all the devils are here ! assumes the forms o f a
1 2 11
water n ymph a harpy and also the goddess Ceres ;
-
, ,

w hile the strange shapes masquers and even t h e , ,

h ounds that hunt and worry the would b e king an d -

”
v iceroys o f the island are Ariel s meaner fellows ’
.
,

52 Puck s favourite form s seem t o h ave b e e n

.
’

m ore outlandish th an Ariel s as might have b ee n

’

expected o f that malicious little spirit H e beg u il es .

”
“
the fat an d bean fe d horse by -

Neigh in g like n e ss o f a fill y fo al

in
A n d s o m e t i m es lu rk I in a go ss i p s bo wl
’
,

I n v e ry like n e ss o f aro as te d c rab

An d wh e n sh e dri n k s ag ai n st h er li p s I b o b , ,

A n d o n h er wi t h e re d de wlap po u r t h e ale .

T h e w i se s t au n t t elli n g th e s adde st t al e
, ,

So m e t i me fo r th ree fo o t s t o o l m ist ake t h m e

- 4

T h en slip I fro m h e r an d do wn t o pp l es sh e
”
, .

I .
3 I I. 01 —
3 8
1 .i ii 5 3 W
1
i
1 11 1 66
. . .
1
. . .

1 h i h l
A S co tc w tc , wh en eav in g h er b ed to go t o a sab ath , u s e d b
t o pu t a th ree -fo o t s to o in th e v acan t l
ac e w ic , aft er c arm s du l pl h h h y
bl
m u m ed, ass u m e t h e a p earan ced o f a w o m p
an u n ti h er re tu rn — P it l
cairn iii
, . 61 7 .
 “
HO RSE HO UND HOG BEA R , , , ,
F I RE .
”
5 1

A n d again
So m et im e a h o rs e I ll b m e t i m e a h o u n d,
’
e, so

A h o g , a h eadl e ss b e ar, so m e t i m e a fire

An d n e i gh , an d b ark , an d gru n t , an d ro ar, an d b u rn ,
L ik e h o rs e, h o u n d, h o g, be ar, fire, at e v e ry t u rn
”1
.

W ith regard to this l ast passage it is worthy note , o f

t h at in the year 1 58 4 stra n ge n ews came out o f ,

S omersetshire entitled A D read ful D iscourse o f the

,

D ispossessing o f one Margar e t Cowper at D itc h e t , ,

11 ”
fr o m a D evil in the Likeness o f a H eadless Bear .

53 In Heywood
. and Brome s Witch o f E d
”
m onton the devil appears in the likeness o f a black
,

do g and takes his part in the dialogue as if his

, ,

presence were a matter o f quite ordinary occurrence ,

n o t in any wa y calling fo r S pecial remark H owever .

gro ss and absurd this may appear it must be remem ,

b e red that this pl ay is in its minutest details merely , ,

a dramatizati o n o f the events duly proved in a court

o f law to the s a ,
tis faction o f twelve E nglishmen in the ,

y ear The S h ape o f a fly too was a f avourite , ,

o n e with the evil spirits ; so much so that the term

” 4
fly became a common synonym fo r a familiar .

”
T h e word Beelz e bub was supposed to mean the
“ “

k i n g o f flies At the execution o f U rban Gran die r

.
,

t h e famous magician o f L ondon in 16 34 a large fly

’

, ,

w as seen buzzing ab o ut the stake and a priest

‘

, ,
'

romptly seizing the opportunity o f imp ro v in g t h e

p
1
111 . i
. 111 .
1
H u tch in so h, p .
40 .

1 P o t ts , D isco v er es i . E dit Cheetham S o ciety

.
‘
.

1 Cf B . .
Jo n so n s
’
A lch e mist .
52 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

occas ion fo r th e benefit o f the onlookers decl are d ,

that Beelzebub had come in his own proper person

to carry o ff Gran die r s soul to hell In 1 664 occu rre d ’
.

the celebrated witch t rials which took place b e fo re -

Sir Matthew Hale The accused were cha rged with .

bewitching two children ; and part o f the evide n c e

against them was that flies and bees were seen t o
carry into the victi m s mouths the nails and pin s ’

1
w hich they a fte rwards vomited There is an allu s io n .

to this belief in th e fly killing scene in Titus A h -

“

” 11
dro n ic u s .

54 But it. was not in v a riably a repulsive o r

ri diculous form that was assum e d by these enem ie s

o f mankind Their ingenui ty would have been b u t
.

little worthy o f commendation had they been cont e n t

to appear as ordinary human beings or animals o r , ,

e v en in fancy costume The Swiss divine Bulling e r .

,

after a lengt hy and elaborately lear ned argument as t o

the particular day in the week o f creation upon whi c h
it was most probable that G od called the ang e l s
into bei n g says by way o f peroration L et us le ad
, , ,
’
a holy and angel like li fe in the sight o f God s h o ly -

angels L et us watch lest he that t ran s figu re t h an d

.
,

turneth himsel f into an angel o f light under a go o d

s ”
sho w and likeness d e ceive u s They even went s o .

‘
far according to Cranmer as to appear in the lik e
, ,

1
A C o llec tio n o f Rare an d C u ri o u s Tracts re latin g to V itch c raft
V

1 8 38 .

1
1 11 . II. 5 1 , ci rco .

1
Bu ll i g
n e r, F o u rt h
De cade, 9th Serm o n ark er S o c et . P i y
.

1
C ran m e r , C o n fu tatio n , 42 p
Park er So cie t
. . y .
 S UGGES TI NG WI TH H EA VENL Y SHO WS .
53

n ess o f Christ in their desire to mislead mankind

, ;

W h en dev il s will th e blac k est s i n s pu t o n,

T h e y do s u gge s t at first wi t h heaven ly s ho ws .

55 But .one o f the most ordinary forms supposed

at this period to be assumed by devils was that o f
a dead friend o f th e obj ect o f the visitatio n Before .

th e Re fo rmation the belief that the spirits o f the

,

d eparted had power at will to revisit the scenes and

co mpanions o f their earthly li fe was almost universal .

T he re forming divines distinctly denied the possi

b ility o f such a revisitation and accounted fo r the ,

u n doubted phenomena a s usual by attributing them , ,

11
t o the devil J ames I says that the devil when
. .
,

ap peari n g to men frequently assumed the form o f a

,

p erson newly dead to make them believe that

, it was
s ome good spirit that appeared to them either to ,

forewarn them o f the death o f their friend or else ,

to discover unto them the will o f the defunct or what ,

w as the way o f his s lau c h t e r For he dare not .

s o illude anie that knoweth that neither can the spirit

o f the de funct re t u rn e to his friend nor yet an angell ,

”
u s e such f ormes 1
H e further explains that such
.

devils follow mortals to obtain two ends : the one “

i s the t in s e ll ( loss) o f their li fe by induci n g them to

s uch pe rrilo u s places at such times as he either follows

O th e l o , 11 iii 357
l C f Lo v e s Labo u r s Lo st, I V iii 25 7 ;
’ ’
1
. . . . . .

C o medy o f E rro rs , I V iii 56 . . .

See H o o pe r s D ec laratio n o f th e T en C o mman d m en ts

’
1
Parke r .

So cie ty H o o pe r, 326
. .

1
De mo n o lo gie , p . 60 .
54 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOL OG I ’
.

o r po ss es s eth e m Th e o th er th in g that
s . he preas es
1 ”
to o btain is the t in s e ll o f their so ule .

56 B
. u t t h be lief in t h e ap pearance o f gho s ts
e

was too deeply rooted in the po pular mind to be ex

t irp ate d or eve n greatly a f
,
fected by a dogmatic ,

declaration The mas ses went on b e lieving as they

.

al ways had beli e ved an d as their fathers h ad believed,

be fore them in spite o f the Reformers and to their

, ,

n o little discontent Pilkington Bish o p o f D urham

.
, ,

in a letter to Archbishop Parker dated 1 564 com , ,

plains that among other things that be amiss here

,

in your great cares ye shall und e rstand that in ,

Blackburn there is a fantastical ( and as some say ,

lunati c ) young man which says that he has sp o ken ,

w ith o n e o f his neighbours that died four year since ,

or more D ivers times he says he has seen him and

.
,

talked with him and took with him the curate the
, ,

s choolmaster and other neighbours,

who all a ffir m ,

that they see him Tliese t/zing s b e s o co m mo n lzere

.

that none in authority will gainsay it but rather ,

believe and confirm it that eve rybody believes it I f , .

I had known how to examine with authority I wou ld ,

1 ”
h ave don e it Here is a little glimpse at the prac
.

tical troubles o f a well intentioned bishop o f the -

s ixteenth centu ry that is surely worth preservi n g .

57 .There were thus two opposite schools o f belie f

in this matter o f the s upposed spirits o f the departe d
-
the conservati ve which held to the old doctrine o f
,

g hosts ; and the re forming which denied the possibility ,

1
C f Ham et,
. i l
v 60 80 ; a
- n d po st,
1 .
58 . .

1
Park er C o rrespo n en ce, 222 ark er S o c d . P iety .
 S OM E A NGEL, OR S OM E DE VI L e ”
55

o f ghosts and held to the theory o f devils In the

, .

m idst o fthis disagreeme n t o f doctors it was di fficult

fo r a plain man to come to a definite conclusion u po n
the question ; and in consequence all who were n o t
, ,

co n tent with quiet dogmatism were in a state o f utter

u ncert a inty upon a point not entirely without import
ance in practical li fe as well as in theory This was. .

p r o bably the position in W hich the ma j ority o f

thoughtful men found themselve s and it is accurately
reflected in three o f Shakspere s plays which fo r ’

, ,

other and weightier reasons are grouped together in ,

”
th e same chronological division — J ulius C e sar “
,

“
M acbeth and H amlet
,
”“
In the firs t mentione d .
-

pl ay Brutus who a fter wards con fesses his belief that

, ,

th e apparition he saw at Sardis was the ghost o f

1
C e sar whe n in the actual presence o f the spirit,
,

says
Art t h o u so m e go d so me an ge l o r so m e de v il !
,
”
,
1

The same doubt flashes across the min d o f Macbeth

o n the second entrance o f Banquo s ghost
’
— which is
probably intended to be a devil appearin g at t h e
instigation o f the witches when he says with ev i dent
—
,

allusion to a diabolic power be fore re ferred to

W hat
m an dare , I dare
A pp ro ac h th o u like th e ru gge d Ru ssi an be ar,
T h e arm ed rh i n o c e ro s, o r t h e H yrc an t iger,
T ak e an y sh ap e b u t that
”3
.

5 But it is in H amlet that the undecided state

8 .

o f O pinion upon this subj ect is m o st clearly reflected ;

1 J u liu s C e sar
, v . v. 17 .
1
I b id. I V. iii . 279 .

1
Macbeth , 111 . iv . 1 00 .
56 ELI Z A B E TH A I V D E J! ONOL O G Y .

an d hardly enough in fluence h as b e en allowed to t h e

doubts a risi n g from this conflict o f b elie f as u rgen t or ,

deterrent motives in the play bec au se t his temporary ,

c ondition o f though t has be en los t sight o f I t is

'

e x ceedingly interesting to n ote h o w freq uently t h e

cha racters who have to do wi t h the appa rition o f the

late King Hamlet alternate betwee n the theories th at
it is a ghost and that it is a dev il which they h av e
s een .The whole subj ec t h as such an i m portant be ar
ing upon any attempt to estimate the cha racter o f
H amlet that no excuse n eed be o ffered fo r o n c e
,

again traversing such well trodden g round -

.

Horatio it is true is introduced to us in a st ate

, ,

o f determined scepticism ; but this lasts fo r a fe w

s econds only vanishing upon the first e ntra n ce o f t he
,

spectre and never again appe aring His first i n clin a

, .

tion seems to be to the belief that he is the vic t i m o f

a diabolical illusion fo r he says
W h at art th o u th at u s u rp s t th i s t i m e o f n ight
,
’
,

T o geth e r w i t h th at fai r an d warlike fo rm

I n wh i c h th e m aj est y o f b u ri ed D e n m ark
D id so m et i m e s m arc h ! 1

And Marcellus seems to be o f the same O pinion ,

fo r
immediately before he exclaims ,

Th o u art a sc h o lar, s peak t o it, H o rat i o

having apparently the same idea as h ad Coach ma n

”
Toby in The N ight Walker when he exclaim s
,
-
,

Let s c all th e b u tl er u p fo r h e s pe ak s Lat i n

’

, ,

An d th at will dau n t t h e dev il ”

.
1

O n the second app e arance o f the illusion howeve r ,

1 i 46
1
. . .
 TH E GHOST OF KI NG HA M LE T .
57

H oratio leans to the opinion that it is really the

g h ost o f the late king that he sees pro bably in con ,

s e q uence o f the conversation that has take n p lace

s ince t h e former visitation ; and he now appeals to the .

g h ost fo r in formation that may enable him to procure

rest fo r his wandering soul Again during his inter .
,

v ie w with Hamlet when he discloses the secret o f

,

the spectre s appearance though ve ry gu arded in h is

’

l anguage H oratio clearly intimates his convictio n

,

t hat he has seen the spirit o f the late king .

The same variation o f opinion is visible in Hamlet

h imsel f; but as might b e expected with much more
, ,

frequent alternations Wh e n first he hears Horatio s

'

s tory he seems to incline to the belie f that it must be

,

t h e work o f some diabolic agency

I f it assu me m y bl e fat h e r s p
noers o n
’
,

I ll sp e ak to it th o u gh h e ll i t se lf s h o u l d gap e
’
, ,

An d b id m e h o ld m y peac e 1

although , characteristically in almost the next line ,

he exclaims
”
M y father s s p i ri t in arm s All is n o t well e tc
’
, .

This too seems to be the dominant idea in his mind

, ,

w hen he is fi rst brought face to face with the appari

t i on an d e x claims
An gel s an d m i n i ste rs o f grac e defen d u s
B e t h o u a s p i ri t o f health o r go blin damn ed , ,

B ri ng wi t h t he e ai rs fro m h e av e n o r blast s fro m h e ll , ,

B e t h i n e i n t en t s wi c ke d o r c h ari t abl e ,

T h o u c o m s t in su c h aq u e st i o n abl e sh ap e
’
,

T hat I wi ll s p eak t o th ee ”1
.

F o r it cannot be supposed that Hamlet imagined that

1 ii 244
1
1
. .1 iv 39. . . .
58 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOL OG Y .

a goblin damned could actually be the spirit o f h i s

dead father ; and therefore the alternative in h is
, ,

mind mu s t have been that he saw a devil assumi n g

f
’
his ather s likeness aform which the E vil O ne kn e w
—

would most incite Hamlet to intercourse But eve n .

as he s p eaks the other theo ry gradually obtain s

,

as cendency in his mind until it becomes stro n g ,

e nough to induce him to follow the spirit .

But whilst the devil theory is gradually relaxi n g

-

its hold upon Hamlet s mind it is fastening itsel f with

’

ever increasing force upon the minds o f his c o m

-

p anions ; and Horatio e x presses their fears in word s

that are wo rth comparing with those just quoted from
’
J ames s D e monologie Hamlet responds to thei r
.

entreaties not to follow the spectre thus

Wh y , h o u ld b e th e fe ar !
wh at s

I do n o t set m y li fe at a p i n s fee
’

An d fo r m y so u l wh at c an it do t o th at
, , ,

B ei ngath i n g i m m o rt al as i t se lf!
”

And Horat io answers

Wh at if it tem pt yo u to ward th e flo o d my lo rd , ,

O r t o t h e dreadfu l s u m m i t o f t h e 0113 ,

T h at b eetle s o e r h is base i n to t h e sea

’
,

An d th ere ass u m e so m e o t h e r h o rrible fo rm ,

W h i c h m ight depri v e yo u r so v e re ign ty o f re aso n ,

An d draw yo u i n t o m adn es s !
”

The idea that the devil assumed the for m o f a dea d

friend in order to procure the t in s e ll o f both b o d
y
and soul o f his v ictim is here vividly be fore the m i n d s
1
o f the speakers o f these passages .

The s ubsequent scene with the ghos t c o nvinc e s

1
See an te, 55
.
 H A M LE T S ’
UNCER TA I NT Y .
59

H amlet that he is not the victim malign influ en c es o f

as far as he is capable o f conviction fo r his very
-
,

first words when alone restate the doubt

0 all yo u h o st o f h e av en O eart h WItal else
An d sh all I c o u p le h e ll ! ”1

an d the enthusiasm with which he is inspired in

c onsequence o f this inte rvie w is su f ficient to support
h is certainty o f conviction until the time fo r decisive
action again arrives It is not until the idea o f t h e
.

play test occurs to him that his doubts are once more
-

ar o used ; and then they return with redoubled

fo rce
Th e s p i rit th at I h av e se e n
M ay b e th e dev il an d t h e de v il h ath po wer
T o as su m e a p l e as i n g sh ape ye a an d pe rh ap s , , ,

O u t o f m y weak n e s s an d m y m e l an c h o l y ,

( A s h e is v e ry p o t e n t w i t h su c h s p i rits ) ,

A bu se s me t o dam n m e ”
.
1

And he again alludes to this in his speech to Horatio ,

j ust be fore the ent ry o f the ki n g and his train to

3
w itness the performance o f the players .

59 This . question was in Shakspere s time quite

, ,

a legitimate el e ment o f uncertainty in the compli

c at e d probl e m that presented itsel f f o r solution to

H amlet s ever analyzing mind ; and this bei n g so

’
-
,

an apparent inconsistency in detail which has usually

b een charged upon Shakspere with regard to this
p lay , can be satis fact o rily explained Some critics .

are never weary o f exclaiming that Shakspere s

’

g enius was so vast and uncontrollable that it must

n o t be tested or expected to be f ,
ound con formabl e
1
I. v .
9 2
.
1
11 . ii 627
. .
1
111 I I
. . 87
.
60 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

to the rules o f art that limit ordinary mort als ; t h a t

there are many discrepancies and errors in his pl ay s
that are to be condoned upon that account ; in fac t ,

that he was a ve ry careless and slovenly work m an .

”
A favourite instance o f this is taken fro m Ham l e t ,

where Shakspere actually makes the chie f charac t e r

o f the play talk o f death as the bourne fro m wh e n c e “

”
no traveller returns not long aft er he has b e e n
engaged in a prolonged conversation with s uch a
returned traveller .

N ow no artist however distinguished or howe v e r

, ,

trans cendent his ge n ius is to be pardoned fo r in ,

sincere workmanship a nd the greater the man t h e

‘
, ,

less his excuse E rrors arisi n g from want o f in form a

.

tion ( and Shakspere c o mmits th e se o ften ) may be

pardoned if the means fo r correcting them b e u n attain ,

able ; but errors arising from mere carelessness are

not to be pardoned Further in many o f these ca s e s
.
,

o f suppos e d contradiction there is a n element o f

carelessness indeed ; but it lies at t h e door o f th e
critic not o f the author and this appears to be tru e
,

in the present instance The dilemma as it presented .

,

itsel f to the c o ntempora ry mind must be carefully ,

kept in view E ither the spirits o f the departed cou l d

.

revisit this world or th e y could not I f they coul d

, .

not then the apparitions mistaken fo r them must b e

,

devils assuming th e ir forms N ow the tendency o f .

,

H amlet s mind immediately be fore the great soliloq u y

’

on suicide is decidedly in favour o f the latter altern a

,

tive The last words th at he has uttered which are

.
,

1
also the last quoted here are those in which h e ,

1
58 p 59 . . .
 P O S SESSI ON — OB SE SSI OI V . 61

declares most forcibly that he believes the devil

t heo ry p ossible and consequently that the dead do
,

n o t return to this world ; and his utterances in his

s oliloquy are only an accentuation and outcome o f

t his feeling o f unce rtainty The very root o f his

.

des ire fo r death is that he cannot discard with any

feeling o f certitude the P rotestant doctrine that no
t raveller does a fter death return from the invisible
w orld and that the s o called ghosts are a diabolic
,
-

d e ce p tio n
.

60. Another power possessed by the ev i l spirits ,

an d o n e that excited much attention and created an

i mmense amount o f stri fe during E lizabethan times ,

w as that o f entering into the bodies o f human beings ,

or otherwise influencing them so as utterly to deprive

t hem o fall sel f control and render them mere automata
-
,

u nder the command o f the fiends This was known .

as possession or obsession
, It was anoth er o f the
.

medi e val beliefs against which the re formers steadily

s et their faces and all the re SO rce S o f their casuistry
p
were exhausted to expose its absurdity But their .

p osition in this respect was an ex t remely delicate one .

O n one side o f the m zealous Catholics were exorcising

devils who shrieked out their testimony to the eternal
,

t ruth o f the Holy Catholic Church whilst at the

s am e time on the other side the zealous Puritans o f
, ,

t h e extremer sort were casting out fien ds who bore ,

equally fe rvent testimony to the superior eflicacy and

‘

pu rity o f the Protestant faith The tendency o f the .

m o re moderate members o f the party there fore was , ,

t o wards a c ompromise similar to that arrived at up on

62 E LI Z A B E TH A N D E M OI VO L O G Y .

the questio n! how the devils came by the forms in

which they appeared upon the earth They could .

not admit that devils could actually enter into and

possess the body o f a man in th ose latter days ,

although during the earlier history o f the Church such

things had been permitted by D ivine Providence fo r
some ins c rutable but doubtless satisfactory reason
that was Catholicism O n the other hand they could
.
,

not fo r an instant tolerate or even sanction t h e

doctrine that devils had no power whatever over
humanity that was Atheism
—
But it was qu it e .

possible that evil spirits without actually ente ring

,

into the body o f a man might so in fest wo rry an d

, , ,

torment him as to produce all the symptoms indic

,

ative o f possession The doct rine o f obsession re

.

placed that o i possession ; and on ce adopted was , ,

supported by a string o f those quaint conceited ,

1
argu m ents so peculiar to the time .

61 .But as in all other case s the refinements o f

, ,

the theologians had little o r no e ffect upon the worl d

outside th e ir controversies To the ordi n ary mi n d .
,

if a man s ey e s goggle d body swelled and mou t h

’
, ,

foamed and it was admitted that these were t h e

,

work o f a devil the question whether the evil do e r

,
-

were actually housed within the su ffere r or o n l y ,

h overed in his immediate neighbourhood seemed a ,

question o f such m inor i m portance as to be hard l y

worth discussing a conclusion that the lay m i n d
—

is apt to come to upon other questions that app e ar

ortentous to the divines — and the theo ry o f po s s es
p
1 D ialo icall D i sc o u rs es by D eaco n an d Wal k er 3rd D ialo gu e
g , , .
 F OOLI SH P H YSI CI A NS .

i n h avin g the advantage in time

s o , o v er that o f
o b session was hard to dislodge
,
.

62 O ne o f the chie f causes o f the persistency

.

w ith which the old belie f was maintained was the

u tter ignorance o f the medical men o f the period on

th e subj ect o f mental disease The doctors o f the .

ti m e were mere children in knowledge o f the scie n ce

th e y pro fessed and to attribute a disease the s ym p ,

toms o f which they could not comprehend to a power ,

o u tside their control by ordinary methods was a sa fe ,

m ethod o f screening a reputation which might other

wi s e have su ffered Ca n st thou not minister to a
.

”
m ind diseased ! cries Macbeth to the doctor in one ,

o f those moments o f yearning a f ter the better li fe

he regret s but cannot return to which come over
, ,

him now and again N o ; the disease is beyond

.

his practice ; and although this passage has in it

,

a deeper meaning than the one attributed to it

h ere it well illustrates the position o f the medical
,

man in such cases Most doctors o f the time were

.

mere empirics dabbled more or less in alchemy ; an d ,

in the treatment o f mental disease were little better ,

than childre n They had fo r c o practitioners all who

.
-
,

by their credit with the p o pulace fo r superior wisdo m ,

found themselves in a position to engage in a p ro fit

able employment Priests pre achers sch o olmasters
.
, ,

— Dr Pinches and Sir Topaz e s— became so com

.

m o u ly exorcists that the Ch u rch found it necessary

,

to forbid the casting out o f spirits without a special

1
li c e n se fo r t hat purpose But as the Re formers o nly
.

1
7 z u d C an o n .
 64 EL I ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

combated the doctrine o f possession u p on stric t ly

theological grounds and did not go on to suggest an y
,

substitute fo r the time honoured practice o f exorci s m

-

as a means fo r getting rid o f the admittedly obnoxiou s

result o f diabolic inte rference it is not altogeth er ,

surprising th at the method o f treatment did not im

mediately change .

63
. U pon this subj ect a book called T ryal o f “

” ”
Witchcraft by John Cotta
,
D octor in Ph ys ike,
“
,

published in 1 61 6 is extremely instructive

, Th e .

writer is evidently in advance o f his time in h is

O pinions upon the principal subj ect with which h e

pro fesses to deal and weighs the evidence fo r an d

,

against the reality o fwitchcraft with extreme precisi o n

and fairness In the course o f his argument he h as
.

to distinguish the symptoms that sho w a person to

have been bewitched from those that point to a
,

1
demon iacal possession Reason doth detect says
.
,

he the sicke to be a fflicted by the immediate super

,

na t u rall p o wer o f the devil two waye s : the firs t

way is by such things as are subj ect and mani fest t o
the learned phys ic io n only ; the second is by suc h
things as are subject and m ani fest to the vu lgar view .

The two S ig ns by which the learned p h ys ic io n “

recognized diabolic intervention were : first the p re ,

t e rn at u ral appearance o f the disease from which th e

patient was su ffering and secondly the in e ffic ac y o f
, ,

the remedies applied I n other words if the leech

.
,

encountered any disease the symptoms o f which w ere

unknown to him or if through some u n fore s ee n
, ,

C h 10 1
. .
 SI GNS OF P OS S ES S I O N . 65

ci rcu mstances the d rug he prescribed failed to O perate

,

in its accustomed manner a c ase o f demoniacal ,

p o ssession was considered to be conclusively proved ,

an d th e medical man was merged in the magician .

64
The second class o f cases i n which the
.
,
'

di abolic agency is palpab le to the layman as well as

t h e doctor Cotta illustrates thus ,
In the time o f
t h eir paroxysmes or fits some diseased persons have ,

b e en sc e n e to vomit crooked iron c o ales brimston e , , ,

h ailes needles pinnes lumps o f lead wax e hayre

, , , , , ,

s t ra we and the like in such quantities figure fashio n

, , , , ,

an d proportion as could never po s s ib lie pass dow n ,

o r arise u p thoro w the natural n a rro wn es se o f the

t h ro at e or be contained in the unproportionable

,

s m all c ap a c it ie nat u rall su sc e pt ib ilit ie and positi o n

, ,

o f the s t o m a ke Poss e ssed persons he says were

.
, ,

also clair v oyant telling what was being said and done ,

at a far distance ; and also spoke languages which at

o rdinary times they did not u nderstand as th e i r ,

s u ccessors the modern spirit m ediums do

,
This gi ft , .

o f ton g ues was one o f the promi n ent features o f the

p ossession o f Will Sommers and the other perso n s

e x orcised by the Protestant preacher John D arrell ,

w hose performances as an exorcist created quite a

domestic sensation in E ngland at the close o f the
1
S i x teenth century The whole a ffair was investigated.

by D r H ars n e t who had already acquired fame as an

.
,

iconoclast in these matters as will presently be seen ,

Tr e Relatio n o fth e Grievo u s Ha dlin g o f William S mm er

1
A u n o s,

et c. Lo d : T H arper 164 1
n on . T h e Tryall o f M aister
,

D arrell 1 599 ,
.
66 ELI ZA BE THA N D E AI O NOL O G Y .

but it wou ld have little more than an antiquari an

inte rest n o w were it not fo r the fact that Be n J o n s on
,

made it the subj ect o f his satire in one o f his m o st

”
hu morous plays The D evil is an A ss
,
“
I n it he .

turns the last mentioned peculiarity to good acco u n t

-

fo r when F it z do t t re ll in the fi fth act feigns mad n ess

, , ,

and quotes Aristophanes and speaks in Spanish an d ,

French the j udicious Sir Paul E ith e rs ide s come s to

,

the conclusion that it is the devil by his sev e ral “

”
languages .

65
. But more interesting and more importan t fo r ,

the present purpose are the cases o f poss ession th at

,

were dealt with by Father Parsons an d his colleag u es

in 1 58 5 6 and o f which D r H arsn e t gave such a
-
, .

highly spiced and e ntertaining account in his

”
D eclaration o f Egregious Popish I m pos tures first ,

published in the year 1 60 3 It is from this work th at .

Shakspere took the names o f the devils mentione d by

E dgar and other references made by him in K i n g
,
“

L ear ; and an outline o f the re lation o f the play to

the book will furnish i n cidentally much matter
illustrative o f the subj ect o f posse ssion But be fo re .

entering upon this o utline a brief glance at the ,

condition o f a ffairs political and do m estic w hich ,

partially caused and nourished these extrao rdinary

eccentricities is almost essential to a proper under
,

standing o f them .

66
. The year 1 58 6 was probably o n e o f the most
c ritical years that E n gland h as pas sed through since

s h e wa s first a nation Stan ding alone a m ongst th e .

 TH E BA BI NG T ON B USI NE SS . 67

E u ropean States with even the N etherlanders growing

,

cold to wards her on account o f her ambiguou s treat

m ent o f them she h ad to fight out the battle o f
,

her independence against odds to all appearances

i rresistible With Sixtus plotting her overthro w at
.

Rome Philip at M adrid Mendoza and the E nglish

, ,

trait o rs at Paris and Mary o f Scotland at Chartley

, ,

while a third o f her people were malcontent and ,

J ames th e Sixth was friend or enemy as it best

su ited his convenience the outlook was anything but
,

reassuring f o r the brave men who held the helm in

t h ose sto rmy times But although E ngland owed her

.

d eliverance chiefly to the forethought and hardihood

o f her sons ,
it cannot be doubted that the sheer
i m becility o f her foes contributed not a little to that
result. To both these conditions she owed the fact
that the great Armad a the embodi m ent o f the ,

foreign hatred and hostili t y threatening to break ,

u pon her shores like a huge wave vanished like its ,

S pray. M edi na Sidonia with his querulous com,

1
pl aints and ge n eral ineffectuality was hardly a ,

m atch fo r D rake and h is sturdy companions ; nor

were th e leaders o f the Babington co n spiracy the ,

representat ives and would b e leaders o f the corre -

s p o n din g internal conv u lsion the in fatuated wor ,

shippers o f the fair devil o f Scotland the m e n to ,

cope fo r a moment with the intellects o f Walsingham

and Burleigh .

events which H arsn e t investigated an d

67 T h e
.

wrote upon with politico theological animus fo rmed -

F ro u de xii p 405 1
, . . .
68 ELI ZA BE TH A I V D E M OA OL O G Y
'
.

an eddy in the main current o f the Babing t o n

conspiracy For some years before that plot h ad
.

taken definite shape seminary priests had b e en ,

swarming into E ngland from the continent and w e re ,

sedulously engaged in preaching rebellion in t h e

rural districts sheltered and protected by the m o re
,

powerful o f the disa ffected nobles and ge n t ry

m odern apostles preparing the way be fore the fu t u re
,

rege n erator o f E ngland Cardinal Allen the wo u l d , ,

b e Catholic Archbishop o f Canterbu ry Among t h e s e .

was one Weston wh o in his enthusiastic admirati o n

, ,

fo r the martyr traitor E dmund Campion had ad o p t e d

-
, ,

t h e alias o f E dmonds This Jesuit was gi fted w i t h

.

the power o f casting out devils and he exercised it in ,

order to prove the divine origin o f the Holy Cath o li c

faith and by I mplication the duty o f all pers o n s
, , ,

religiously inclined to rebel against a sovereign w h o

,

was ruthlessly treading it into the dust The p e r .

fo rm an c e s which H ars n e t examined into took pl ace

chiefly in the house o f L ord Vaux at Hackney an d ,

o f one Peckham at D enham in the end o f the year 1 5 8

5 ,

and the beginning o f 1 586 The possessed pers o n s .

were Anthony Tyrell another Jesuit who rou n d ed ,

upon his friends in the time o f their tribu lati o n ; 1

’
Marwood Antony B ab in gt o n s private servant w h o
, ,

subsequently found it convenient to leave the cou n try ,

and was never examined upon the subj ect T ray fo rd

and Main y two young gentlemen and Sar a an d
, ,

F ris wo o d Williams and Anne Smith maid se rv an ts

, ,
-
.

Richard Main y the most edi fying subj ect o f the m all
, ,

1
Fal l fAn th o n y Tyrell by Perso n
Th e o , u . See Th e Tro u ble s o f o u r
C ath l ic Fo refathers b y J o hn M o rris p 103
o , , . .
 SEM I NA R Y P RI ES TS . 69

was seventeen only when the possession seized him ;

h e had o n ly j ust re turne d to E ngland from Rheims ,

an d when passing through Paris h ad come under

, ,

th e influence o f Charles Paget and Morgan ; so his

an tecedents appeared somewhat open to suspicion 1
.

68 .With the truth or falsehood o f the statements

an d deductions made by H ars n e t we have little or no ,

concern Weston did not pretend to deny that he had

.

t h e power o f exorcism or that he exercised it upon ,

t h e persons in question but he did not admit the ,

t ruth o f any o f the more ridiculous stories which

H ars n e t so t riumphantly brings forward to convict
h im o f intentional deceit ; and his features if the ,
’

p ortrait in Father Morris s book is an accurate re p re

s e n t at io n o f him convey an impre ssion o f feeble

, ,

u npractical piety that one is loth to associate with a

m alicious impostor I n addition to this one o f the

.
,

w itnesses against him Tyrell was a mani fest knave, ,

an d cow ard ; another M ain y as conspicuous a fool ;

, ,

w hile the rest were servant maids all o f them - —

in terested in exonerating t hemselves from the stigma

o f having been adherents o f a lost cause at the ,

e xpense o f a ringleader who seemed to have made

h imsel f too conspicuous to escape punishment .

F u rthermore the evidence o f these witnesses was

,

n o t taken until 1 59 8 and 1 60 2 t welve and sixteen ,

y ears a f ter the events to w h ich it related took place

an d when taken was taken by H ars n e t a violent Pro
, ,

t estant and almost maniacal exorcist hunter as t he -

,

1
H e was e xa i
m n ed b y th e Go ern me t a to h i o ectio
v n s s c nn n wi t
h th e
i
Par s co n s pi rato rs — See S tate P aper o l clx xx 1 6 1 7
s, v . .
, .
7 0 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

miscellaneous collection o f literature evoked by h is

exp o sure o f Parson D arrell s de alings with W i ll ’

Sommers and others will sho w .

’
69 Among th e many devils
. names mentio n ed b y
”
H ars n e t in his “
D eclaratio n ,
and in the exami n a
ti o ns o f wi tn esses annexed to it the following hav e ,
”
undoubtedly been repeated in King L ear — Flib e r
digib e t spelt in the play Flib b e rt ig ib b e t ; Ho b e r
,

didan c e called H o p dan c e an d H o b b ididan c e ; an d

,

Frate re t t o who are called m orris d ancers ; H ab er

,
-

dicut who appears in L ear as O bidicut ; Smol k i n

, ,

one o f T rayfo rd s devils ; M od u who poss es s e d

’

M ain y ; and Maho who possessed Sara Willia m s , .

These t wo latter devils have in the play manage d

to exchange the final vowels o f their names an d ,
1
ap p ear as Modo and Mahu .

A com p ariso n o f the passages in King L ear

7 0 .

s p oken by E dgar when feigning madness with those ,

in H ars n e t s book which seem to have suggeste d

’

t hem will furnish as vivid a picture a

,
s it is possible t o

ive f the state o f c o ntemporary belie f upon t h e

g o

1
I n addi tio n to t h ese, Killico h as p ro bably been c o rru pted i n t o
P illic o c k — a m u ch mo re pro babl e ex plan at io n o f th e wo rd than e i t h e r
o f t h o s e su ggest ed b y D y ce in his glo ssa ry ; a n d I ha v e li t t le d o u b t

t h at th e o rd in ary read in g o f th e l in e , Pu r l th e cat is gray in A c t

111 v i 4 7, is i n co rrec t ; th at P u r is n o t a
. . n i n te rj ec tio n , b u t th e re p e t i

t i o n o f th e n ame o f an o th er d ev il , P u rre, wh o is me n t io n ed by H a rsn e t .

Th e passage in qu estio n o c cu s o l y in th e qu arto s a d there fo re th e

r n , n

fac t t hat t h r is n o sto p at all aft r t h e wo rd

e e P r e a n o t b e re l ie d u c n

u po n a s h l p i g to p ro v e th
e nco rre ct e ss o f t h i
e
pp o s i t io n
n On th s su . e

o t h r h a d t h re is n o th i g i th e text s to j u stif
e n , e n y th e in serti o n o f th e
n

n o te o f e c l am atio n
x .
 M A I NY A ND H I S D E VI LS .
71

su bj e ct o f possession It is impossible not to notice .

that nearly all the allusions in the play refer to the

p e rformance o f the youth Richard Main y E ve n .

E dgar s hypothetical account o f his mo ral failin gs in

’

the past seems to have been an accurate reproduction

o f M ain y s conduct in some particulars as the quo
’

1
t at io n below will prove ; and there appears to be s o
l ittle necessity fo r these remarks o f E dgar s that it ’

s e e ms almost possible that there may have been some

point in these passages that has since been lo st A .

c are fu l search however has failed to disclose any , ,

reason why Main y should be held up to obloquy ;

an d the passages in questi o n were evidently not the
”
r e sult o f a direct re ference to the D eclaration .

A fter his exami n ation by H ars n e t in 1602 M ain y ,

seems to have s unk into the insignificant position

which he was so calculated to adorn and nothing ,

m ore is heard o f him ; so the re ferences to him must

be accidental merely .

7 O ne curious
1 little
. repetition in the play o f a
somewhat unimportant incident recorded by H arsn e t
i s to be found in the fourth scene o f the third act ,

where E dgar says

Who gives anything to poor Tom ! whom the
“

1
H e wo u ld d d th is exam in ate s si ster t h a e
n eeds ha e p
v e rsu a e
’
o v

o e t
n h e ce wit h him in t h e a
n p p are l o f a y o th an d to h a v e b hi u
g ee , n s

b o y an d waited u p o n him
, H e u rged th i e am in ate div rs t i m es
. s x e

t o ha yi el de d to h is carn al des ires u in g ery u n fit tri cks with h r

ve , s v e .

Th re wa also a ery pro per wo man e M istress Plater with wh m

e s v , on , o

t h i e am i ate pe rceived h e ha
s x n d ma y allu re me n t sh o win g great to ken
n s, s

o f e t rao rd in ary affec t i o n to ward h e r

x E id ce o f S ara Will iam
s .
— v en s,

H ar e t p 1 90
sn , Co mpare Kin g Lear A c t iii 50 iv 11 82 10 1 n o te
. .
, . . . .
-

e p ec ial ly l 84
s . .
72 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

foul fiend hath led through fire and through fla m e ,

an d through ford and whirlpool o er bog an d ,

’

quagmire ; tlid i It alic laid kn ives u n der kis pillo w ,

an d b allast in Iris pew ; set ratsbane by his p o r

” 1
ridge etc
, .

The events re ferred to took place at D enham A .

halter and some kni fe blades were found in a corrid o r -

o f the house A great search was m ade in t h e

.

house to know how the said halter an d kni fe blades -

came thither but it could n o t in any wise b e fou n d

,

out as it was pretended till M aster Main y in h is ne x t

, ,

fit said as it was reported that t h e devil layd the m

,
.
,

in the gallery that some o f those that were

,
possess e d
might either hang themselves with the halter or ki ll ,
” 1
t hemselves with the blades .

7 2 But the bulk o f the re ferences relating to th e

.

possession o f M ain y occur further on in the sa m e

scene
F o o l Th i s cold night will turn us all to fools an d
.

madmen .

’
“
E dg ar Take heed o the foul fiend : obey thy
.

parents ; keep thy word j ustly ; swear not ; com m i t

1 ’
n o t with man s sworn spouse ; set n o t thy s weet
h eart on proud array Tom s a cold
’
-
.

“
L ear What hast thou been
.

E dg ar A serving man proud i n heart an d

.
-
,

m ind that curled my hair wore my gloves i n m y

, ,

o f my mistress
’
ca p ,s erved the lust heart and d id ,

1 l .
5 1 , et seq .
1
H arsn et, p . 21 8.
1
Cf
.
5 70, an d n o te .
 F I VE F I ENDS I N P OOR T! M.
73

t h e ac t f
darkness with her ; swore as ma n y oaths
o
1

as I spake words and broke them in the sweet face ,

o f heaven ; one that slept in the contriving o f lust ,

an d waked to do it : wine loved I deeply ; dice dearly ;

1
an d in women out param o u re d the Turk : false o f -

h eart light o f ear bloody o f h and ; hog in sloth fo x

, ,

in stealth wol f in greediness dog in madness lion

, , ,

in prey L et not the creaking o f shoes nor the

.
,

r u stling o f silks betray thy poor heart to woman ;

,

k eep thy foot out o f brothels thy hand out o f ,

f
’
1
p lackets thy pen ,
from lenders books and de y the ,
” 1
foul fiend .

This must be read in conj unction with what E dgar

s ays o f himsel f subsequently

Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once ; o f

lust as O bidicut ; H o b b ididan c e prince o f dumb
, ,

n ess ; Mahu o f stealing ; Modo o f m urder ; F lib

, ,

b e rt ig ib b e t o f mopping and mowing ; who since

,

p ossesses chamber maids and waiting wom en -

1 -
.
”

The following are the chief parts o f the account

g iven by H ars n e t o f the exorcism o f M a in y by
VVe s t o n — a most extraordina ry transaction said to —
,

be taken from Weston s own account o f the matter ’

.

H e was supposed to be possessed by the devils who

represented the seven deadly sins and by instigation ,

o f the first o f the seven b egan to set his hands into ,

h is side curled his hair and u sed such gestures as

, ,

M aister E dmunds present a ffirm ed that that spirit

1
C f 5 70, an d n o te
. .

1
Plack e t pro babl y h e re mean s po ckets ; n o t, as u su al, the slip in a
etti c o a p by M h l
'

p t T o m
. w as o ss esse d a u , t h e p rin c e o f s t e a in g .

1
l 8 2, cl
. seq. 1
A ct IV . i . 61 .
74 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E A! O NOL O G Y .

was Pride H ee re wit h he be gan to curse and t o

.
1

b ann e saying What a po x e do I heare ! I w i ll

, ,
‘

stay no longer among a company o f rasc al priests b u t ,

goe to the court and brave it amongst m y fellow e s ,

the noblemen there asse m bled 1

Then Maist e r ’ ‘

E dmunds did pro c e e de again e with his exorcisme s ,

and sudde n ly the s e n c e s o f Main y were taken fro m

him his belly began to swell and his eyes to sta re
, , ,

and s u ddain ly he cried out T e n pounds in t h e ,

‘

hundred he called fo r a scrivener to make a bo n d ,

s wearing t hat h e would n o t lend his money with o u t

a pawn e There could be n o other talke h ad
.

wi t h thi s spirit but money and usu ry so as all t h e ,

co mpany deemed this devil to be the author o f

1
C o ve t o u s n e s se .

long Maister E dmunds b e g in n e th ag ain e h is

E re
exorcismes wherei n he had not pro ceeded farre b u t
, ,

up cometh another spirit singi n g most filthy an d

b au dy songs : eve ry word almost that he spake was
nothing but ribaldry They that were present with .

one v o yc e a ffi rmed that dev ill to be the author o f

1
L uxu ry .

E n vy was described by di sdain ful looks and con

t e m p t u o u s speeches ; Wrath by fu rious gestures an d , ,

5
talke as though he wo uld have fought ; G luttony by ,

1
A se rvin g - m an, pr d ou of h e art an d m in d , th at cu rle d m y h air,
e tc —
. l 8 7 ; cf a
. l so 1 8 4 C u r in g th e air as a sign o f Main y s po s
. . . l h ’

s e ss io n is m e n tio n e d
again , H ars n e t, p 5 7 . .

1
at Th swo re a s man oa t s as I s a y
k e wo r s , an d ro k e th em h p d b
in th e s wee t face o f h ea e
v n .
”—
l 90 . .

1
Kee p th y pen o u t o f en l d bo k e rs
’
o s. — 1
. 100.
1 W in e l o v ed I ee d ply dice
; dearly ; a d i w n n o men o u t-p r aamo u red
th e T u k
r — I 9 30 .

s u
Do g in m a dn ess li o
, n in p rey .
— l 96
. .
 CON VE RSA TI ONAL DE VI LS .
75

1 1
v om i tin g ; and Sloth by gasping an d snorting as , ,

1 ”
though h e had be en as le e pe .

A s o rt o f praye r meeting was then held fo r the -

relie f o f t h e dist ressed youth Whereupo n the spirit

o f Pride departed in the fo rm e o f a Peac o cke ; the

s pirit o f Slo th in the like n e s s e o f an Asse ; the spirit

o f E n vy in the similitude o f a D og ; the spi rit o f
1 ”
G luttony in t h e for m e o f a Wol fe
‘

The re is in another part o f King L ear a further

re ference to the incidents attendant upon t hese exor

c is m s
5
E dgar s ays
. The foul fiend haunts poor ,
”
T o m in the voice o f a nightingale This see m s to .

re fer to the followi n g incident related by F ris wo o d

W illiams
There was also another strange thing happened
“

at D enha m about a bird M is t ris P e c kham had a .

n ightingale which she kept in a cage wherein Maister

, ,

D ib dale to ok great delight and would o ften be play ,

ing with it This nightingale was one night conveyed

.

o u t o f the cage and being next morni n g diligently

,

s ought f o r could not be heard o f till Maister M ain ie s

’

, ,

devil in one o f his fits ( as it was pretended ) said th at

, ,

t h e wicked spirit which was in this examinate s sister 6 ’

had take n the bird out o f the cage and killed it in ,

”
despite o f Maister D ib dale 7
.

73 . The treatment to which in consequence , o f

1
Wo lf in gre edin e ss .
— I idb .
1
H o g in l th
s o .
”
l .
95 .

1 H ars n et, p 278 . .

1
T h e wo rds , H o g in sl o th , fo x in stealth , wo f in gre ed in ess, do g l
in m adn e ss, l io n in p re y , are c early an im p e rfe c t re m in isc e n c e o f t h is
l
”

p art o f t h e t ran sac t io n .

1
Act 111
. so . v i. 1 31. .
1
Sara W illiam s .
1
H arsn e t, p . 225.
LI ZA B E TH A N D E M O NOL 0G
in p o ssession u n fortunate p e rs o n s l ik e
,

Sommers who were probably on ly s afie r

'

me harmless form o f mental di s ease w e re ,

va s hardly calculated to e ffect a c u re .

g n o ran t quack was considered per fe c t ly

0 deal with cases which in reality req u ir e , ,

elicate and j udicious management c o m ,

the pro foundest physiological as well as ,

11 knowledge
,
The ordinary method o f
.

I these lunatics was as simple as it w as

Bonds an d confinement in a darken e d

th e specifics and the monotony o f th i s
'

as relieved by occasional visits from t h e

d charge o f the case to mumble a praye r ,

I n exorcism Anoth er popular but u n

.

’
e was by fla g e llat io n so that Romeo s
m ad b u t b o u n d m o re th an am adm an is
, ,

u p in p ri s o n k e pt wi th o u t m y f
, ood ,
”1
pp e d an d t o rm en te d,

:rated description o f his own mental co n ,

itsel f no inflated metaphor .

spere in The Comedy o f E rrors an d

,
“
,
”
is o in “
Twel fth N ight has given u s ,

ridiculous illustrations o f scenes whic h

improbably witnessed in the cou ntry at ,

ad which bring vividly be fore us t h e

the methods o f diagnosis and treatm e n t
ted
H o w say yo u n o w ! is n o t y o u r h u sb an d m ad !
-
I is i n c i v ili t y c o n fi rm s n o l ess .

1
1. ii 55
. .
 DO C TOR P I NCH, C O W UR E R .
77

Go o d do cto r Pi n ch , yo u are a c o n j u rer;

E st abli s h h im in his tru e se n se ag ai n ,
A n d I will p le ase yo u wh at yo u wi ll de man d .

L u cian a Alas l h o w fi ery an d h o w sharp h e lo o ks

.

Ca zcrtesan Mark h o w h e t rem ble s in his e xt as y

.

P in ch Gi ve m e y o u r h an d, an d le t m e fee l y o u r p u l se
. .
1

A n t E T he re is m y h an d, an d le t it fee l yo u r e ar
. . .

P in ch I c h arge th e e , Satan , h o u se d wi th i n th i s m an ,
.

T o y i e l d po ssessi o n to m y h o l y praye rs,

A n d t o th y stat e o f darkn e s s h ie t h ee s traigh t
I j
c o n u re t h ee b y
all th e s ai n ts in h e ave n .

A n t E Peace, do t i n g wi z ard, pe ac e I am n o t m ad
. . .

P in ch 0 that th o u wert n o t, p o o r di s tressed so u l !

.
”1

A fter some furt her business Pinch pronounces

, h is
O p inion

M i stre ss,bo th m an an d master are po sses sed

I kn o w it b y t h e i r pal e an d de adl y l o o k s
T he y m u st b e b o u n d an d l ai d in so m e dark ro o m
, .

Bu t good doctor Pinch seems to have been mild

e v en to feebleness in his conj uration ; many o f h is

b reth ren in art had much more e f fective formul e It .

s eems that devils were peculiarly sensitive to any

o pprobrious epithet s that chanced to be bestowed

u p on them The skil ful exorcist took advantage o f

.

th is weaknes s and if he could on ly manage to keep

, ,

u p a flow o f uncomplimentary remarks s u flic ien t ly ‘

long and o ffensive the un fortunate Spirit becam e ,

embarrassed restless agitated and finally took to

, , ,

flight H ere is a specimen o f th e nicknames whic h

.

h ad so potent an e ffect if H ars n e t is to be cred i ted ,

Heare therefore thou s e n c e les s false lewd spirit , ,

1
The cessat o n o f th e i pu lse was ympto ms o f po ssessi
o n e o f th e s o n.

See th e cas e o f S o m mers , Tryal o f Mai t r Darrell 1 599

s e
, .

1
1
I v. iv 48 62
. . I Lid 95
. .
 EL I ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL OG Y .

mai ster devils miserable creature tem pter o f m e n

o f , , ,

de c e av e r o f bad ang e ls c ap t ain e o f h e re t iq u e s fath er

, ,

o f lyes fatuous bestial n in n ie drunkard in fernal

, , ,

t h ee fe wicked serpent ravening wo o lfe l o ane hunger

, , ,

bi t ten impure so w seely b e ast truculent beast c ru el

, , ,

beast bloody beast beast o f all beasts the m o st

, , ,

bestial i ach e ro n tall spirit s m o akie spirit T art are u s

'

, ,
” 1
spirit ! Whether this obj urgation terminates fro m
loss o f breath on the part o f the conj urer o r th e ,

precipitate departure o f the spirit addressed i t is ,

impossible to say ; it is diflic u lt to imagine an y

logical reason fo r its conclusion .

75 O ccasionally
. other and sometimes more ela bo ,

rate methods o f ex o rcism than those mention ed

,

by Romeo were adopted especially when the o pera ,

tion was conducted fo r the purpose o f bringing i n t o

prominence some great religious truth The m o r e .

evangelical o f the operators adopted th e plan o f

lying on the top o f their patien ts after the manner ,

1 ”
o f E lias and Pawle But the Catholic exorcists .

invented and carried to perfection the greatest re fin e

me n t in the art The patie nt seated in a holy .
,
“

chair specially sanctified fo r the occasion was c o m

, ,

e lle d to drink abo u t a pint o f a compound o f sack

p
and salad oil ; a fte r which refreshment a pan o f
burning brimstone was held under his nose until his ,

1
face was blackened by the smoke All this while .

the o fficiating priest kept up his invocation o f t he

fiends in the manner illustrated above ; and under ,

1
H arsn et, p . 1 13 .

1
1
Th e Tryall o f M ai ste r Darrell , 1 599, p . 2
. Ha
rsn e t, p 53. .
 E! OR CI SM S I NF A L LI BLE . .
79

such circumstances it is extrem ely doub tful wheth e r ,

the most d e termined character would not be p re

pared to see somewhat unusual phenomena fo r the
sake o f a short respite .

7 6
Another remarkable method o f exorcism was
.

1
a process termed firing out the fie n d The holy .

flame o f piety re sident in the priest was so t e rrible

to the evil S pirit that the mere co n tact o f the holy ,

han d with that part o f the body o f the afllic te d ‘ ‘

person in which he was resident was enough to make

him shrink away into some more dista n t porti o n ;
so ,
by a j udicious application o f the hand the exorci st ,

could drive the d e vil into some limb from which ,

escape into the body was impossible and the evil ,

spirit driven to the extremity was obliged to depart

, , ,

1
defeated and disgraced This influence could be .

exerted however without actual corporal co n tact as

, , ,

the followi n g quaint extract from H ars n e t s book will ’

s how :

Some punie rash devil doth stay till the holy

“

riest be come somewhat n eare as into the chamber

p ,

w here the de m o n iac k e doth abide purposing as it , ,

s e e m e s to t ry a pluck with the priest ; and then his

,

hart s o dain ly failing him ( as D emas when he saw ,

h is friend C h in ias appro ach ) cries out that he is tor ,

m e n t e d with the presence o f the priest and so is fie rd ,

1 ”
o u t o f his hold .

1
Th is e press io n x o c c u rs in So n n e t licx v. , an d ev iden tly with th e
m e a in g h e e e p l ai
n r x n ed ; on ly th e n ge l
b ad a is su ppo sed to fire o ut

t h e go d o e o n .

1
H arsn e t, pp 7 7 , 96, 9 7 . .
1
I bid p . . 65 .
 ELI ZA BE THA N D E JI ONOL O G Y .

77 The more
. violent or uncommon o f the bo d ily
diseases were as the quotation fro m Cotta s b o o k
,
’

1
shows attributed to the same diabolic source I n
, .

an era when the most pro fou nd ignorance prevai le d

with regard to the simplest la ws o f health when t h e
’
commoner diseases were considered as G od s pun i s h
ment fo r sin and not attributable to nat u ral cau s e s ;
,

when so eminent a divine as Bishop Hooper c o u l d

declare that the air the water and the earth h ad
“
, ,

no poison in themselves to hurt their lord and mas te r

”
m aII 1
,
unless man first poisoned himsel f with sin ; an d
when in consequence o f th is ignora n ce and this fal s e
,

philosophy and the inevitable neglect attendant u p o n

,

them those fearful plagues known as the Bl ac k

,
“

D eath could almost without notice sweep do w n

, ,

upon a country and decimate its inhabitants it is

,
—

not wonderful that these terrible scourges were at

tributed to the malevolence o f the E vil O ne .

7 8 Bu t it is curious to notice that althoug h

.
,

possessing such terrible powers over the bodies an d

m inds o f m ortals devils were not believed
, to be
potent enough to destroy the lives o f the perso n s
they persecuted unless they could persuade thei r
victims to renounce G od This theory probably .

sprang out o f the limitation imposed by the Almigh t y

upon the power o f Satan during his temptation o f
Job and the advice given to the su fferer by his wi fe
, ,
”
Curse G od and die ,
Hence when evil spirits .
,

began their assaults upon a man one o f their first ,

e ndeavours was to induce h im to do some act tha t

1
See 63 64 , 1 H o pe r p 308
. Parker So c iety
1
o , . . .
 DE VI L S B OA S T DON T KI L L
’
. 81

would be equivalent to such a renuncia tion Some .

times this was a bond assigning the victim s soul t o ’

the E vil O ne in consideration o f certain worldly ad

vantages sometimes a formal denial o f his baptism
sometimes a deed that drives away the guardian
angel from h is side and leaves the devil s influence ,
’

1 ”
u ncounteracted I n The Witch o f E dmonton. the ,

fi rst act that Mother Sawyer demands her familia r

to perform a fter she has struck her bargain is to kill ,

her enemy Banks ; and the fiend has reluctantly to

declare that he cannot do so unless by good fortun e
1
h e could happen to catch h i m cursing Both H arp ax .

an d M e ph is t o ph ile s suggest to their victims that

1

they have power to destroy their enemies but neither ,

o f them is able to exercise it Faust can torment .

,

but not kill his would b e murderers ; and Sprin giu s

,
-

and H irc iu s are powerless to take D orothea s li fe ’

.

I n the latter c ase it is distinctly the protection o f the

gu ardian angel that limits the diabolic power ; so it
is not u nnatural that G ratiano should think the
c ursing o f his better angel from his side the most “

desperate turn that poor old Brabantio could have

done himsel f had he been living to hear o f his
,
’ 1
daughter s cruel death It is next to impossible fo r
.
‘

people in the present day to have any idea what a

consolation this belief in a good attendant spirit ,

specially appointed to guard weak mortals through

li fe to ward o ff evils and guide to eternal safety
, , ,

mus t have been in a time when according to th e ,

c u rre n t belie f an y pe rson however blameless how

, , ,

1
Act 11 . se . i .
1
Th e V rg i in M artyr , Act 111 s e iii . . .

1
Dr. Fau stu s , Ac t 1. sc . iii . . O thello , Act v sc I I 204
. . . .

G
82 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

ever holy was liable at any moment to be posse s s e d

,

by a devil or harried and tortured by a witch

,
.

79
. This leads by a natural sequ e nce to the c o n

sideration o f another and more insidious form o f

attack upon mankind adopted by the evil spiri t s .

Possession and obsession were methods o f ass au l t

adopted against the will o f the afllic t e d person an d ‘
,

hardly to be avoided by h im without the supernatu ral

interv ention o f the Church The practice o f witc h .

c ra ft and magic involved the absolute and voluntary

barter o f body and soul to the E vil O ne fo r the purp o s e ,

o f obtaining a f e w short years o f superhuman po we r ,

’
to be emplo yed fo r the gratification o f the culpri t s
avarice ambition or desire fo r revenge
, ,
.

80
. In the strange history o f that most in e x plic
able mental disease the witchcra ft epidemic as it, ,

has been j u stly called by a high authority on suc h

m atters we moderns are by the nature o f our educ a
1
, ,

tion and prej udices completely incapacitated fo r ,

s y m pathizing with either the persecutors or thei r

v ictims . We are at a loss to understand h o w clear
s ighted and upright men like Sir Matthew H al e , ,

could consent to become parties to a relentless pers e

c u t io n to the death o f poor helpless beings whos e

c hie f crime in most cases was that they had su f

, fere d , ,

s tarv ation both in body and in mind We can n o t .

understand it because none o f us believe in t h e

,

e xistence o f evil spirits N one ; fo r although th e re

.

are still a few persons who nominally hold t o the

1
See D r . C arp en ter in F raz er fo r N o ve m b er,
18 77 .
 SA TA N M O RI B UND . 33

an c i ent faith as they do to many other respectable

,

b u t e ffete traditions yet they would be at a loss fo r ,

a r e ason fo r the faith that is in them should they ,

'

c h an ce to be asked fo r one ; and not one o f them

w o u ld be prepared to make the smallest material

s ac rifice fo r the sake o f it It is true that the exist .

e n ce o f evil spirits recently received a tardy and

s o m ewhat hesitating recognition in our ecclesiastical
1
c o u rts which at first authoritatively declared that a
,

d e nial o f the existence o f the personality o f the devil

c o nstituted a man a notorious evil liver and depraver ,

1
o f the Book o f Common Prayer ; but this was
p r o m ptly reversed by the J udicial Committee o f the
P ri v y Council under the auspices o f two L ow Church
,

l aw lords and two archbishops with the very vague ,

p roviso that they do not mean

“
to decide that those
d o ctrines are otherwise than inconsistent with the
” 1
fo rm u larit ie s o f t h e Church o f E ngland yet the
v ery contempt with which these portentous declara

t i ons o f Church law have been received shows how

g reat has been the fall o f the once almost omnipotent

m i n ister o f evil The ancient Satan does indeed
.

e xist in some few formularies but in such a washed ,

o u t and flimsy condition as to be the reverse o f con

s p ic u o u s All that remains o f him and o f his

.

s ubordinate legions is the ine ffectual ghost o f a

d eparted creed fo r the resu s citation o f which no man
,

will move a finger .

1
Se eJ enk in s C o o ke Law Repo rts , , Admi ralt y an d E cclesiastical
C ase s , ol i
v p 463 et eq
. v. .
, s .

1
I b id p 499 Sir R Ph illim o re
. .
, . .

1
Law Repo rts 1 Pro bate D iv isio n p
, , . 1 02
.
84 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y.

81 It is perfectly impossible fo r us there fore t o

.
, ,

comprehend although by an e ffo rt we may perh ap s

,

b ring ourselves to imagine the horror and loathi n g ,

with which good men entirely believi ng in the ex i st

,

ence and omnipresence o f countless legions o f e vi l

spirits able and anxious to perpetrate the mischi e fs
,

that it has been the obj ect o f these pages in s o m e

part to describe would regard those who fo r th ei r
, ,

o wn selfish gratification deliberately surrendered th ei r

,

hopes o f eternal happiness in exchange fo r an allia n c e

with the devils which would render these ten ti m es
,

more capable than be fore o f working their wick e d

wills To men believing this no punishment cou l d
.
,

seem too sudden or too terrible fo r such o ffend e rs

'

against religion and society and no means o f possibl e ,

detection too slight or far fetched to be neglected ; -

indeed it might reasonably appear to them bette r

,

that many innocent persons should perish with t h e ,

assurance o f future reward fo r their undeserved su ffer

ings than that a single guilty one should escap e
,

undetected and become the medium by which t h e

,

devil might destroy more souls .

82 But the persecuted far more than the perse

.
,

c u t o rs deserve our sympathy although they rarely

, ,

obtain it It is frequently asserted that the absolu t e

.

truth o f a doctrine is the only support that will enabl e

its adherents successfully to weather the storm s o f
p e rsecution Those who assent to this propositi o n
.

must be prepared to find a large amount o f truth in

the beliefs k n own to us u n der the name o f witchcra ft ,

if th e position is to be success fully maintained ; fo r

 B UT IVA S ONCE BEL I E VED I N '

. 85

n ever was any sect persec u ted more systematically ,

or with more relentlessness than these little o ffending

,
-

h eretics . Pro testants and Catholics Anglicans and ,

Calvinists so ready at all times to commit one another

,

to the flames and to the headsman found in thi s ,

matter common ground upon which all could heartily,

u nite f o r the grand purpose o f extirpating error .

When out o f the quiet o f our o wn ti m es we look back

, ,

u pon the terrors o f t h e Tower and the smoke and ,

glare o f Sm it h fie ld we think with m in gie d p it an d

admiration o f those brave men and wo m
,

en who in ,

t h e sixteenth century enriched with their blood and

,

ashes the soil from whence was to spring our political

an d religious freedom But no whit o f admiratio n
.
,

h ardly a glimmer o f pity is even casually ev inced ,

fo r those poor creatures who neglected despised and , , ,

abhorred were at the same time dying the same

, , ,

agonizing death and passing through the torment o f

,

t h e flames to that something a fter death the undis —

”
covered country without the sweet assurance which
,

s ustained their better remembered fellow su fferers

- -
,
’
t hat beyond the martyr s cross was waiting the
martyr s cro wn N o such hope supported those who
’
.

were condemned to die fo r the crime o f witchcraft ;

their anticipations o f the future were as dreary as
t heir memorie s o f the past and no friendly voice was
,

raised or hand stretched out to encourage or console

, ,

the m du ring that last sad j ourney Their hope o f .

mercy from man was small strangulation be fore the

—

application o f the fire instead o f the more linge ring

,

and pain ful death at most — their h O pe o f mercy from

H eaven nothing yet under these circumstances t h e
, , ,
86 E LI Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

most auspicious perhaps that could be imagined fo r

the extirpation o f a heretical belief persecution fai l e d ,

to e ffect its obj ect The more the G overnment bu rn t

.

the witches the more the crime o f w i tchcraft S pread

,

and it was not until an attitude o f contemptuo u s ‘

toleration was adopted towards th e culprits that t h e

belie f died down gradually but surely not on acco u n t
, ,

o f the conclusiveness o fthe arguments directed agai n s t

1
it but from its own inherent lack o f vitality
, .

The history and phenomena o f witchcraft h av e

83 .

been so admirably treated by more than one moder n

investigator as to render it u nnecessary to deal ex
,

h au st iv e ly with a subj ect which presents such a vast

amount o f material fo r arrangement and commen t .

The scope o f the following remarks will there fore

be limited to a consideration o f such features o f t h e
s ubj ect a s appear to thro w light u pon the super
”
naturalism in Macbeth This consideration will b e
.

carried out with some minuteness as certain modern ,

critics importing mythological learning that is t h e

,
,

outcome o f comparatively recent investigation int o

the interpretation o f the text have declared that t h e ,

three sisters who play such an important part in

that drama are not witches at all but are or are , ,

intimately allied to the N orns or Fates o f Scan

,

din av ian paganism It will be the obj ect o f t h e

.

following pages to illustrate the contemporary belie f

concerning witches and their powers by showing that ,

1
'

. lb
See Mr L e cky s e a o rate an d n terest
’
i in g desc ript io n o f th e
i b li
dem se o f th e e ef in th e fi rst c a ter o f his hp H i sto ry o f th e Ris e o f
i li
Rat o n a sm in E u ro pe .
 M A CBE TH WI T CHES , NORNS !

nearly every characteristic point attributed to t h e

sisters has it s counterpart in contemporary witch
lore ; that some o f the allusions indeed bear s o , ,

strong a resemblance to certain events that h ad

transpired not many years before Macbeth w as
written that it is not i m probable that Shakspere
,

was alluding to them in much the same o ff hand -

,

curso ry manner as he did to the M ain y incident when

”
writing King L ear .

84 The first critic whose comments upon thi s

s u bj ect call fo r notice is the eminent Ge rv in u s I n .

evident ignorance O f the history o f witchcraft h e

‘

says In the witches Shakspere has made use o f t h e

,

popular belie f in evil geniuses and in adverse p erse

c u t o rs o f mankind and has produced a similar but
,

darker race o f beings j ust as he made use o f the

,
’
belief in fairies in the Midsummer N ight s D ream ’
.

This creation is less attractive and complete but not ,

less maste rly The poet in the text o f the play

.
,

itsel f calls these bei n gs witches only derogatorily

,

they call themselves weird sisters ; the Fates bore

this denomi n ation and the sisters remind u s indeed o f
,

the N orthern Fates or Valkyries They appear wild .

and weather beaten in exterior and attire common in

-
,

speech ignoble hal f human creatures ugly as the E vi l

, ,
-
,

O ne and in like manner old and o f nei ther sex

, ,
.

They are guided by more powerful masters thei r ,

work e n tirely spri n gs from delight in evil and they ,

are wholly devoid o f human sympathies They .

are simpl y the embodiment o f inward temptation ;

t hey come in storm and vanish in air like corporeal ,
88 E L I Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

i mpulses which origi n ating in the blood cast u p

, , ,

bubbles o f sin and ambition in the soul ; they are

weird sisters only in the sense in which men c a rry
”
their own fates within their boso ms 1
Thi s c ritici s m .

is so entirely subj ective and unsupported by evide n c e

ficult to deal satis factorily with it
t hat it is di f It w ill .

b e shown hereafter that this description does n o t

apply in the least to the Scandinavian N orns whi l e , ,

so far as it is true to Shakspere s text it doe s n o t ’

,

clash with contemporary records o f the appeara n c e

an d actions o f witches .

85 The next writer to bring for ward a vie w o f

.

this character was the Rev F G Fleay the w ell . . .

,

known Shakspere critic whose ingenious e ffo rts in ,

iconoclasm cause a curious altern ation o f feeli n g

between admiration and amaze m ent H is argu m e n t .

is un fortunate ly mixed up with a question o f t e xt u al

criticism fo r he rej ects certain sce n es in the play as
1
the work o f the in ferior dramatist Middleto n The .

question relating to the text will only be noticed s o

far as it is inextricably involved with the argu m e n t
respecting the nature o f the weird sisters M r . .

’
F le ay s position is shortly this H e thinks th at
, ,
.

’
Shakspere s play commenced with the entrance o f
M acbeth and Banquo in the third scene o f the fi rs t
act and that the weird sisters who subsequently t ak e
,

part in that scene are N orns not witches and th at ,

in the first scene o f the fourth act Shakspere dis ,

1
S h ak spere C o m m en tari es ,
lated by F E
t ran s . . B u n n e tt , p .
59 1 .

1
O f th e w t c i h sc en es Mr . Fleay reje cts A ct 1 . sc . i , an d
. se . iii
.

do w n to l .
37 an d Ac t
,
11 1 . sc . v .
 E VI DENCE F OR NORNS . 89

arded th e N orns and introduced three entirely n ew

“

c ,

c haracters who were intended to be genuine witches

,
.

86 .The evidence which can be produced in sup

ort f this theo ry apart from question o f style and
p o ,

p robability is three fold

,
The first proo f is derived
.

from a manuscript entitled The Booke o f Plaies and

Notes thereo f fo r Common Pollicie written by a
,
”
,

s omewhat famous magician doctor Simon Forman -

, ,

w h o was implicated in the murder o f Sir Thomas

’
O verbury H e says
. In Macbeth at the G lobe ,
‘
, ,

1 610 ,
the 20th April Saturday there was to be , ,

o bserved first how Macbeth and Banquo two noble ,

m e n o f Scotland riding throu g h a wood there stood

, ,

b e fore them three women fairies or nymphs and , ,

s aluted Macbeth saying three times unto him Hail

'

, , ,

M acbeth King o f Codor fo r thou shalt be a king

, , ,

1
bu t thou shalt beget no kings etc This if For ,
’
.
,

m an s accou nt held together decently in other respects

’

w ould be strong although not conclusive evidence

, ,

in favour o f the theory ; but the whole note is so

fu ll o f inconsistencies and misstatements that it is ,
.

n o t un fair to conclude either that the writer was not ,

p aying marvellous attention to the entertainment he

f y
’

p ro essed to describe or that the pla er s copy

,
di ffered
in many essential points from the present text N ot .

t h e least conspicuous o f these inconsistencies is the

account o f the sisters greeting o f M acbeth just
’

q uoted Subsequently
. Forman narrates that D un
ca n created Macbeth Prince o f Cumberland ; and
that when Macbeth had murdered the king the
“
,

See F u m e V ario ru m p 384

1
ss , , . .
9 0 EL I ZA BE THA N DEM ONOL OG Y

blood on his hands could not be washed o ff by an y

’
means nor from his wi fe s b an ds which h andled t h e
, ,

bloody daggers in hidi n g them by which means th e y ,

”
b ec ame both much amazed and affronted Su c h .

a loose narration cannot be relied upon if the te x t

in question contains any evidence at all rebutting t h e
conclusion that the sisters are intend e d to be wo m e n
”
fairies or n ymphs
,
.

87 The second piece o f evidence is the story o f

.

Macbeth as it is narrated by Holinsh e d from whi c h ,

Shakspere derive d his material In that account w e .

read that It fo rtuned as M akb e th and B an q u h o

j o u r n ie d toward For e s where the king then ,
laie th e y ,

went sporting by the wai c t o git h e r without oth e r

companie saue o n lie th e m s e lu e s passing thorough t h e
, ,

woods and fields wh en s u dde n lie in the middest o f a

,

laund there met them three women in stra n ge an d

wild appareil resembling creatures o f e lder worl d
, ,

wh o m e when they att e n t iv e lie b e h e ld wo o n de rin g m u c h ,

at the S ight the first o f them spake and said ; A ll

,
‘

haile Makb e t h thane o f Glam m is ( fo r he had lat e lie

, ,

entered in to that dig n it ie and o ffice by the death o f

his father Sin e ll) The second o f them said . Hail e ,

M akb e t h thane o f C aw de r But the third said Al l

’

, .

haile M akb e th that h e e re afte r shall be King o f Scot

, ,

land .
’
A fte rwards the common opinion was that
these women were either the weird Sisters t hat is ( as ,

ye would say) the goddesses o f de s t in ie or else som e ,

nymphs or fe irie s indued with knowledge o f pro ,

p h e Sie by their n e c ro m an t ic all science because e v e rie ,

1 ”
thing came t o passe as th e y had sp o ken This is .

H o l i h ed S co tl a d p 1 70 c 2 1 55
1
ns , n , .
, .
, . .
 GOD D ES SES OF D E S TI NI E 2 ”
9 1

all that is heard these goddesses o f D e st in ie

o f
in H o lin sh e d s narrative M acbeth is warned to
’
.

” 1
“
b eware M acdu ff by c e rt e in e wiz z ards in whose ,

w o rds he put g reat confidence and the false

p r o mises were made to him by a c e rt e in e witch “
,

w h o m e he had in great trust ( who ) had told him that ,

h e should neuer be Slain e with man borne o f anie

w o man nor vanquished till the wood o f Bernane came
,

” 1
t o the castell o f D unsinane .

88I n this account we find that the supernatural

.

c o m munications adopted by Shakspere were derived

fr o m three sources and the contention is that he h as

”
retained t wo o fthem — the goddesses o fD es t in ie and “

t h e witches and the evidence o f this retention is the

t h ird proo f relied on namely that the stage direction , ,

in the first folio Act I V s c i is E nter H ecate and

, . . .
, ,
“

t h e o th er three witches when three characters supposed ,

H o lin s h e d s
’
t o be witches are already upon the scene .

n arrative makes it clear that the idea o f the goddesses “

” ’
o f D e s t in ie was distinctly suggested to Shakspere s
m ind as well as that o f the witches as the medium s
, ,

o f supernatural influence The que s tion 13 did he .

,

retain both or did he rej ect one and retain t h e other

,
!

I t can scarcely be doubted that one such influence

ru nning through the play would conduce to harmony

an d unity o f idea ; and as Shakspere not a servile ,

fo llower o f his source in any case has interwoven ,

”
in
“
M acbeth the totally distinct narrative o f the
1
m u rder o f King D u ffe it is hardly to be supposed ,

1
M acb eth I V , . i 71. . H o lin sh ed ,
p 1 74 c 2 l
.
, .
, . 10 .
1
Ib d 1 i . . 13 .

1
I b id p 1 49 . . . A so rt o f witc h es dw elli g i n n a t o wn e o f Mu rre y
lan d calle d F o res ( c. 2, l .
30 ) we re pro min en t in th is ac co u n t .
92 E LI Z A B E TH A N DEM ONOLOG Y .

that he would scruple to blend these t wo di fferen t sets

o f characters if any advantage were to be gaine d by

so doing A s to the stage direction in the first fo lio

.
,

it is di fficult to see what it would prove eve n s u p ,

posing that the folio were the most scrupulous p i e ce

o f editorial work that had ever been e f fected It p re .

supposes that the weird sisters are on the stag e as

well as th e witches But it is perfectly clear that
.

the witches continue the dialog u e s o the other m ore

powerful beings must be supposed to be stan di n g
s ilent in the backgro u nd a suggestio n so m o n —

strous that i t is hardly necessary to re fer to the

s lovenliness o f the folio stage directions to show h o w
u nsatis factory an argument b ased upon one o f t h em
must be .

89 The evidence o f Forman and Holinshed has

.

been stated fully in order that the reader may b e in

,

possession o f all the materials that may be necess a ry

fo r forming an accurate j udgment upon the poin t in
question but it seems to be less relied upon than the
s u pposition that the appearance and powers o f the

beings in the admittedly genuine part o f the third

scene o f the first act are not those formerly attrib u ted
to witches and that Shakspere having once decided
, ,

to represent N orns would never have degraded them

,

to three old women who are called by Paddock an d

,

G raymalkin sail in sieves kill swine se rve Hecate

, , , ,

and deal in all the common charms illusions and , ,

incantations o f vulgar witches The three who lo o k .

‘

’
not like the inhabitants 0 th ea rth and ye t are on t
“
’ ’

t hey wh o c an look into the seeds o f ti m e and say

‘
,
 OR MI ! ED WI T CH E S A ND NOR NS 93

w h ich grai n will g row they who seem corporal b u t ,

.

m e lt into the air like bubbles o f the earth ; the ,

w e yward sisters who m ake themselves air an d hav e

, ,

in them more than mortal knowledge are not beings ,

1 ”
o f this stamp .

9 0 . N ow there is a great mass o f contempora ry

,

e vidence to show that these supposed characteristic s

o f the N orns are in fact some o f the chie f attributes

, ,

o f the witches o f the sixteenth and seventeenth

c e nturies I.f this be so — if it can be proved that t h e
”
s u pposed goddesses o f D es t in ie o f the play in reality
“

p o ssess no higher powers than could be acquired by

o rdinary communication with evil spirits then n o ,

w e ight must be attached to the vague stage direction

in the folio occurring as it does in a volume notoriou s
,

fo r the extreme carelessness with which it was pro

du c ed and it must be admitted that the goddesses
“

o f D es tin ie o f Holinshed were sacrificed fo r the sak e

o f the witches I f in addition to this it can be shown

.
, ,

t h at there was a ve ry s atis facto ry reaso n why the

w itches should have been chose n as the representa
t iv e s o f the evil influence instead o f the N orns th e ,

argument will be as complete as it is possible to

m ake it .

9 1 . be fore proceeding to examine the con

Bu t
t e mporary evidence it is necessary in order to obtain , ,

a complete conception o f the mythological view o f the

w eird sisters to notice a piece o f criticism that is at
,

New S h ak spere S o c iety Tran sac tio n s

, vo l. i p
. .
34 ;
2
’
F leay s
Shak sp ere M an u al p 248 ,
. .
94 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

once an expansion o f and a variatio n u pon the th e o ry , ,

l
j ust stated It is suggested that the sisters o f
.

“
Macbeth are but three in number but that Sh ak ,

spere drew upon Scandinavian myt hology fo r a .

portion o f the material he used in const ructing th e s e

characters and that he derived the rest from t h e
,

traditions o f contemporary witchcraft ; in fact th at ,

th e sisters are hybrids between N orns and witch e s .

The supposed proo fo f this is that each sister exercis e s

the special function o f o n e o f the N orns The th ird .

is the special prophe t ess whilst th e first takes co g ,

n iz an c e o f the past and the second o f the present in , ,

a ffairs connected with humani ty These are the task s .

o f U rda Verdandi and Sku lda

,
The first begins b y ,
.

’
asking When shall we t hree meet again
,
‘ ! Th e
s econd decides the time : Whe n t h e battle s los t o r ‘ ’

D
won The th ird the fut u re prophesies : That will b e
.
,

The first again asks Where ! Th e

’
ere set o f sun .
’

,
‘

s econd d ecides : U pon the heath The third t h e .

’

,
’
future prophesies : There to meet with Macbeth .

B u t their réle is most clearly brought out in th e

famous Hails
rs t . Urda [Past ! . . All h ail ,
M acb eth ! h ail to h
t ee, T h an e
o f Glam is
2n d . Verdan az
’’
.
[Pre s en t ! All h ail , M ac beth h ail to t hee ,

T h an e o f C awdo r
3 d
r . Sku lda . All h ail ,
M ac b eth h
t o u s hal t be kin g h ere
”
aft e r .

letter to
In a The A cademy , 8 th Febru ary , 1 8 79 , sig n ed Charlo tte
C armi chael .

3
I h av e tak en th e liberty o f prin ting
qu o tatio n as it stan ds in this
th e text T h e writer in l e Aca
. demy h as effec te d a rearran ge men t o f
th e dialo gu e b y i mp o rt in g what m igh t b e Macb eth s replies t o th e three
’
 M ODERN HYP ERCRI TI CI SM 95

T h is sequence is supposed to be retained in other

o f the sisters speeches ; but a perusal o f these will’

s o o n sho w that it is only in the seco n d o f the above

q u o tati o ns that it is recognizable with any de fin it en e s s ;

an d this it must be remembered is an almost verbal

, ,

t r anscript from H olinshed and not an original con ,

c e p t io n o f Shakspere s who might feel himsel f quite

’

j u s tified in changing the char acters o f the speakers ,

w h ile retaining their utterances I n addition to this .

,

t h e natural sequence is in many cases utterly and

u n n ecessarily violated ; a s fo r instance in Act I s c iii , ,
. . .
,

w h ere U rda who should be solely occupied with past ,

m atters predicts with extreme minuteness the results

, , ,

t h at are to follow from her proj ected voyage to

A l e ppo and that without any expression o f resent
,

m ent but rather with promise o f assistance from

, ,

S k u lda whose province she is thus invading

,
.

9 2 . But this latter piece o f criticism seems open

s is t e rs fro m h is peech b egin n in g at 1 70 an d al ter atin g th em wi th
s .
, n

t h e di f H ails wh ic h in additio n are n o t co rrectl y qu o ted fo r

”
fe re t n
“
, , ,
—

w h at p u rp o se it is diflicu lt t o see I t may b e add ed h ere that i a . n

s b s e qu en t n u m b er o f Tb e A ademy
u a l o g letter u po n th e sam e c ,
n

s u bj e c t a ppeared fro m Mr Karl B lin d whi h seems to pro e li ttle .

, c v

c e p t th e a u t h o r s e ru d itio n H e as me s th e Teu to n ic o rigi o f th e

’
e x . su n

s i t e rs th ro u gh o t a d c o sequ e tly a
s u dd u ces li ttl e e ide ce in fa o u r
, n , n n , v n v

o f th e t h eo ry O e o f h is po i ts is th e d eri atio n o f th e wo rd weird “ ”

. n n v

o r wayward which as w il l b e sh o wn su b sequ e t l y was appl ied to

, , n ,

w i tc h es An o th e r p o i t is that th e wi tc h scen es sa o u r stro n gl y o f th e

. n , v

s t af f rim e o f o ld Ge rman po etry

- I t is in terestin g to fin d two u ph o lders .

o f t h e No m t h e o ry re lyi g m a -
i l y fo r p ro o f f th e ir p o si tio n po n ascen e
n n o u

( A c t 1 s c
. i ) w h ic h M .r F l e.ay says that th e ery statemen t o f th is
. v

t heo ry ( p 249 ) m u st b ran d as p rio u s T he qu estio n o f th e sisters ’

. s u .

b e ard t o o regardin g wh ich M r B l i d b rin gs so m ewh at far fe tch ed

s , . n -

e v iden c e is I t h in k mo re satisfac to rily se ttl ed by th e qu o tat io n s in

, , ,

t h e t ext .
 .

96 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

to one grave obj ection to which the former is not

liable Mr Fleay separates the portions o f t h e play
. .

which are undoubtedly to be assigned to witches

fro m the parts he gives to his N orns and at tri ,

butes them to di fferent characters ; th e othe r m ixes

up the witch and N orn elements in one con fused
m ass. The earlier critic saw the absurdity o f such
a supposition when he wrote Shakspere m ay have
raised the wizard and witches o f the latter part s o f
Holinshed to the weird sisters o f the former parts ,
” 1
but the converse process is impossible I s it con .

c e iv ab le that Shakspere who as most people admit

, , ,

was a man o f some poetic feeling being in possession ,

o f the beauti ful N orn legend — the silent Fate god

- -

desses sitting at the foot o f Igdrasil the mysteriou s

, ,

tree o f human existence and watering its roots with

,

water from the sacred spring could ruthlessly an d

—
,

without cause mar the charm o f the legend by the

,

gratuitous introductio n o f the gross and pri marily

unpoetical details incident to the practice o f witch
craft ! N o man with a glimmer o f poetry in h i s soul
will imagine it fo r a moment T h e separation o f .

characters is more credible than this ; but if t hat

theory can b e shown to be un founded there is no ,

improbability in supposing that Shakspere finding ,

that the question o f witchcraft was in consequ ence o f ,

e vents that had taken place not lo n g be fore th e time

”
o f the production o f Macbe th absorbing the atten
,

tion o f all men from king to peasant should s et

, ,

h imsel f to deal with such a po p ular subj ect an d by , ,

t h e magic o f his art so raise it o u t o f its degradat i on

,

Shakspere M anu al p 249 , . .

 WI T CH D I F F E R S F R OM NORN .
97

into the region o f poetry that men should wonder ,

an d say Can this be witchcra ft indeed

,

93 . I n comparing the evidence to be deduced

fro m the contemporary records o f witchcraft with
”
t h e sayi n gs and doings o f the sisters in Macbeth “
,

t h ose parts o f the play will first be dealt with upon

w h ich n o doubt as to their genuineness has ever been
c ast and which are asserted to be solely applicable
,

t o N orns I f it can be shown that these describe

w itches ra
.

ther than N orns the position that Shak ,

s
p ere intentionally substituted witc hes fo r the god
d e sses o f D e s t in ie mentioned in his authority is prac
t i cally unassailable First then it is asserted that
.
, ,

t h e de sc ript io n o f the appearance o f the sisters given

b y Banquo applies to N orns ra ther than witches
T h ey lo o k not like th e i n h abitan t s 0 ’
th e a
’
rt h ,
”
A n d yet are
’
on t .

This question o f applicabili ty however m u st not , ,

b e decided by the consideration of a single

s entence but o f the whole pas sage from which it is
,

e xtracted ; and whilst con sidering it it should be

, ,

c are fully born e in mind that it occurs immediately

b efore those lines which are chiefly relied upon as

roving the identity o f the sisters with U rda Ver
p ,

dandi and Sku lda

,
.

Banquo on seeing the sisters says

, ,

are th ese, What

So wi t h e re d an d so wild in th eir att i re ,
T h at l o o k n o t like th e i n habi t an t s 0 th earth ,
’ ’
.

A n d yet are o n t !
’
Li v e yo u , o r are yo u au gh t
Th at m an m ay qu est i o n ! Yo u s eem to un derstan d m e,
H
9s ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

B y each at o n c e h er c happ y fi n ger layin g

Up o n h er ski nn y li p s yo u sh o u ld b e wo men ,
An d yet yo u r beards fo rbid me t o in terpret
”
Th at yo u are so .

It is in th e first moment o f su rp rise t hat th e sis t e rs ,

appearing so suddenly seem to Banquo unlike t h e ,

inhab itants o f this earth When he recovers from t h e.

shock and is capable o f deliberate criticism he s e e s ,

chappy fingers skinny lips in fact nothing to dis

,
-
,

t in gu ish them from pove rty stricken ugly old wo m e n -

,

b u t their beards A more accurate poetical cou n t er

.

p art to the prose desc riptions given by contempo r a ry

writers o f the appearance o f the poor creatures w h o
were charged with the crime o f witchc ra ft co u ld
h ardly have been penned Scot fo r instance says .
, , ,

They are women which commonly be old lam e , ,

b le are e ied pale fowle; and full o fwrinkles

-
, ,
T h ey .

are le an e and defo rmed showing melancholie in t h eir ,

” 1
faces ; and H ars n e t describes a witch as an o ld “

weather beaten crone having her chin and kn e e s

-
,

meeting fo r age walking like a bow leaning o n a

, ,

f hollow eyed untoothed fu rrowed having h e r

s ta f
,
-
, , ,

lips trembling with palsy going mumbling in t h e ,

streets one that hath forgotten her Pater noster y e t .

-
,

”
h ath a shrewd tong ue to call a drab a drab It .

m ust be remembered that these accounts are by t w o

sceptics who saw nothing in the witches but poor
, ,

d egraded old women In a descript i on which assumes

.

t heir supernatural power such minute details wou ld

n o t be possible ; yet there i s quite enough in B a n
’
quo s description to suggest negl e ct squalor and , ,

Disco v erie, bo o k i . ch . 3, p .
7
. Harsn et, D ec larati o n , p . 1 36
.
 WI TCHES ’
A P P EA RA NCE .
99

m isery But if this were not so there is one feature

.
,

in the description o f the sisters that would settle the

q u estion once and fo r ever The beard was in .

E lizabethan times the recognized characteristic o f

t h e witch In one old play it is said The women
.
,

t h at come to u s fo r disguises must wear beards and ,

t h at s to say a token o f a witch

’
and in another ,

Some women have beards ; marry they are hal f ,

2
w itches and Sir Hugh Evans gives decisive testi
m ony to the fact when he says o f the dis guised
F alstaff By yea and no I think the om an is a
’

, , ,

w itch indeed : I like not when a oman has a great

’

” 3
p e ard I s p y a great peard under her m u flie r .

E f
’

94. very item o Banquo s description indicate s

t h at he is speaking o fwitches nothing in it is in co m

p a tible with that supposition Will it apply wit h .

e q ual force to N orns ! It can hardly be that these

m ysterious mythical beings who exercise an in c o m ,

p rehensible yet power ful influence over human

destiny could b e described with any propriety in
,

t e rms so revolting A veil o f wild weird grand e ur

.
,

m ight be thrown around them ; but can it be sup

posed that Shakspere Would degrade the m by re pre
s enting them with chappy fingers skinny lips an d , ,

beards ! It is particularly to be noticed too that , ,

although in this passage he is making an almost

verbal transcript from Holinshed these details are ,

in terpolated without the authority o f the chronicl e .

H o n est M an s Fo rtu n e
’
, 11 . i . F u rn ess, Var o ru m, i p .
30
.

D ekk er s
’
H o n est Wh o re , se. x . l . 126 .

M erry Wiv es o f Win dso r , Act IV . se . u .

1 00 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL OG Y .

L et it be supposed fo r an instant that , th e text ran

,

thus
Ban qu o Wh at are th e se
So with e re d an d so wil d in t h e i r att i re l
,

T hat l o o k n o t like th e i n h abi tan t s 0 th earth

’ ’
,

A n d yet are o n t L iv e yo u o r are yo u o u gh t

’ 9
,

T h at m an m ay q u e sti o n 3

M acb etlz Spe ak if yo u c an wh at are yo u !

.
,

1 st Wz tc/t All h ail M ac b eth h ail to t h ee than e o fGlam i s

'

.
, ,

2n d Wz tclt All h ail M ac be th ! h ail t o t hee th an e f

'

.
, , o
5
C awdo r !
d Wz tclz All h ail M ac b eth ! h
t o u sha t l b ki n g hereaft er ” 3
'

e
3r .
,
.

This is so accurate a dramatization o f the paral le l

passage in Holinshed and so entire in itsel f th at , ,

there is some temptation to ask whether it was not s o

w ritten at first and the interpolated lines subsequen t ly ,

inserted by the author Whether this be so or n o t .

,

t h e question must be put Why in such a passage did —

, ,

Shakspere insert three lines o f most striking de

scription o f the appearance o f witches Can an y
other reason h e suggested than that he had made u p
his mind to replace the goddesses o f D es t in ie b y “

the witches and had determined that there should b e

,

no possibility o f any doubt arising about it

9 5 The.next obj ection is that the sisters e x e r ,

cise powers that witches did not possess They c an .

Th ree wo me i tra ge a d wild apparell rese mblin g c rea

n n s n n ,

t u re s o f e l de r wo rl d wh o m e w h e th ey atte ti elie beh eld wo o n de rin g

, n n v ,

m h at th e sigh t th e fi rs t o f th e m sp ak a d said
uc , A ll h aile Mak e n ,

beth tha e f Glammi ( f r h e h ad latelie en tered i to th at dign it ie

, n o s o n

a d o ffice b y th e deat h o f his fat h er Sih ell)

n T h e seco d o f t h e m .
5
n

sa id H ail e Mak b eth than e o f C awder B u t th t h ird said ;

’
, , A ll . e

h ail e Makb eth that h eereaft er sh al t b e kin g o f S co tlan d

, , .
”
 WI TCHES CA N P R OP HES Y . 01

look into the seeds o f time and say which grai n ,

”
w i ll grow and which will not
,
In other words they .
,

fo retell future events which witches could not do ,

.

B u t this is not the fac t The recorded witch trials .

t e e m with charges o f having prophesied what things

w e re about to happen ; no charge is more common .

T he following quoted by Charles Knight in his

,
'

b i o graphy o f Shakspere might almost have suggested ,

t h e simile in the last mentioned lines J

-o h n n e t .

W isch e rt is indicted fo r passing to the green growi n g

“

c o rn in May twenty two years since or thereby sitting

,
-
,

t h ereupon tymo u s in the morning before the sun rising -

,

an d being there found and demanded what she was

I
do ing th o u answered I shall tell thee ; I have been
, ,

e eling the blades o f the corn I find it will be a

p .

de ar year the blade o f the corn grows wit h e rs o n es

,

o f the s u n ! and when it grows

[ c ontrary to the course ,

s o n eg at is about [with the course o f the sun! it will be

9 ”
g o od cheap year The . following is another apt
illustration o f the power which has been translated ,

from the unwieldy L owland Scotch account o f the trial

o f Bessie Roy in I 590 The D ittay charged her thus :
.

Y o u are indicted and accused that whereas when ,

y o u were dwelling with William King in Barra about ,

t w elve years ago or thereabouts and having gone

, ,

in to the field to pluck lint with other women in their ,

p resence m ade a compass in the earth and a hole in ,

t h e midst thereo f and a fterwards by thy conj ura ,

tions thou c au s edst a great worm to come up first out

,

o f t h e said hole and creep over the compass ; and

,

n e x t a little worm came for t h which crept over also ; ,

p .
438
ro z E L I Z A B E TH A N DEM ONOL OG Y .

an d las t [tho u ! c au s eds t a great worm t o come fort h ,

w hich could not pas s over the co m pass but fell do w n ,

an d died . Which enchan tment and witchcraft th o u

in t e rpre t e ds t in t his fo rm : th at the firs t great wo rm
that crept over the compas s was the goodm an
William King who should live ; and the little wo rm
,

was a child in th e go odwi fe s womb who w as

’

unknown to any one to be with child and that t h e ,

c hild s hould live ; and thirdly the las t great worm , ,

thou in t erpret e ds t to b e th e goodwi fe who should die ,

I ”
w lziclz came to pas s a f ter tly p
z s eaking Surely th e re .

could hardly be plainer instances o f looking into th e “

seeds o f time and saying which grain will grow an d

, ,
”
which will not than th ese ,
.

9 6.Perhaps this is the most convenien t place fo r

pointing out the fu ll meaning o f th e firs t sce ne o f
”
“
Macbeth and its nec essary co n ne ction with t h e
,

rest o f the play It is in fact the fag end o f a

.
, ,
-

W itches sabbath which if fully re presented woul d

’

, , ,

bear a strong resemblance to the scene at the c o m

m e n c e m e n t o f the fo urth act But a lo n g s cene o n .

such a subj ect would be tedious and unmeaning at

the commencement o f the play The audienc e is .

therefore le ft to assume that t h e witches h ave met ,

performed their conj urations, obtained from t h e

evil spirits the in formation conc erning Macb e th s ’

career that they desired to obtain and perhaps have ,

been commanded by the fien ds to perform the mission

they subsequently carry through All that is needed .

Pitcairn I n 20 7
, . . . . l
C f as o I i b d pp
. . 2 1 2, 2 1 3, an d 231, he re
w
th e c ri m e is d esc ri bed as ld ”
fo rekn o w e ge .
 WI TCHES CA N VA NI SH . 1 03

fo the dram atic e ffect i s a s light h i nt o f probabl e

r

diabolical interference and that Macbeth is to be the ,

s p ecial object o f it ; and this is do n e in as artistic a

m anner as is perhaps imaginable I rr th e first scen e .

-

t h ey obtain their in formation in the se cond they utter

t h eir p rediction Eve ry minute detail o f these scenes
.

is based upon the broad recognized facts o fwitchcraft ,

.

It is also suggested that the power o f vanish

97 .

in g from the sight possessed by the sisters the —

p ower to make themselves air— was not characteristic

o f witches But this is another assertion that would
.

n o t have been made had the authorities upon th e ,

s ubj ect been investigated with only sl ight attention .

No feature o f the crime o f witchcraft is better attested

t han this ; and the modern witch o f sto ry books is -

s till represented as ridin g on a broomstick — a relic o f

t h e enchanted rod with which the devil used to

p rovide his worship p ers upon which to come to his ,

1
sa bbaths O ne o f the charges in the indictment
.

against the noto rious D r Fian ran thus : F ylit fo r .

suf fering himsel f to be c are it to N orth B e rwik kirk ,

as if he had bene so u ch an d at h o irt [whizzing above!

2 ”
t h e e ird Most e ffectual ointments were prepared
.

fo r effecting this method o f locomotion which have ,

b een recorded and are given below as an illustration

8
,

Sco t, bo o k iii . ch . iii p

. .
43 .

Pitcairn , 1 . ii. 21 0 . C f also Ib id

. . p . 21 1 . Sco t ,
bo o k iii
. ch . vu .

p .
5 1 .

i d p
Su n drie rec e i ts an d o n tme n ts m a e an d u sed fo r th e transpo r
t atio n h h
o f witc e s , a i l
n d o t er m ra cu o u s effects .

Rx Th e fat o fyo o n g c hildren 8: se et h it wi th water in a bra

. z en ,

v esse ll reseru i g th e t hic k est o f t h a

, n t which remain eth bo il ed in th e
b o tto me which th ey lai e u p
, ke ep u n till o ccasio n serveth to u se it .
 1 04 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M O JVOL O G Y .

o f th e
wild kind o f recipes which Sh akspere rendere d
more g rim in his caldron scene The e flic ac y o f .

these ointments is well illustrated by a sto ry narrate d

by Reginald Scot which un fortunately on account o f , ,

certain incidents cannot be given in his own ters e ,

words The hero o f it happened to be stayi n g

.

temporarily with a friend and on one occasion fou n d ,

her rubbing her limbs wi th a certain preparation an d ,

mumbling the while A fter a time she vanished o u t .

o f his sight and he being curious to investi g ate t h e ,

a ffair rubbed himsel f with th e remaining oint m e n t

, ,

and almost immediately he found himsel f transporte d

a long distance through the air and deposited righ t ,

in the very midst o f a W itches sabbath N atu rall y ’

.

alarmed he cried out , I n the name o f G od what ,

‘
,

make I heere ! and upon those words the whol e ’

” 1
as se m b lie vanished awaie .

The on ly vestige o f a di fficulty therefore that

9 8 .
, ,

remains is the use o f the term weird sisters in “

describing the witches It is perfectly clear that .

H o linsh e d used these words as a sort o f synonym

fo r the goddesses o f D e s t in ie but with such a m as s
o f evidence as has been produced to show that Shak

spere elected to introduce witches in the place o f t he

Norns it surely would not be unwarrantable to suppos e
,

that he might retain this term as a poetical and not

Th ey p t h erei to E leo seli m Ac n itu m fro n des po pu leas 81 S o o te

u n nu , o , , .

Th i is gi ve al m o t erbatim in Midd leto Witc h

s n s v n s
’
.

Rx S i m A caru m V lgat e Pen taph yllo

. u , th e blo n d o f a F litte r
u , n,

m o u se S o l an m S o m n iferu m o l eu m
”
, u , .

I t wo u ld seem that fern seed had th e sam e v irtu e 1 He I V 11 i .

— n. . . .

Sco t bo o k iii ch v i p 46 , . . . . .
 WA Y WA RD WO M EN ,
”
SI S TERS . 19 5

u nsuitable description o f the characters to whom it

was applied And this is the less improbable as it
.

ca n be shown that both words were at times applied

t o witches As the quotation given subsequently

.
1

proves the Scotch witches were in the habit o f

,

s peaking o f the frequenters o f a particula r sabbath as

“
the sisters ; and in Heywood s Witches o f L anca ’ “

”
s h ire
, one o f the characters says about a certain act
o f supposed witchcra f t I remember that some three “
,

m onths s m ce I cross ed a wayward woman ; one that

2 ”
I now suspect .

99 . Here then in the

,
very stronghold ,
o f the sup
p osed proo f o f the N or m theo ry it is possible to -
,

extract convincing evidence that the sisters are in

”
tended to be merely witches It is not surprising .

that other portions o f the play in which the sisters

are mentioned should confirm this view Banquo .
,

u pon heari ng the fulfilment o f the prophecy o f the

second witch clearly expresses his opinion o f the

,
”
origin o f the foreknowledge he has received in
“
,
”
the exclamation What can the devil speak true ! , ,

F o r the devil mos t emphat ically spoke through the

w itches ; but how could he in any sense be said to
s peak through N orns ! Again Macbeth in forms his ,

wi fe that o n his arrival at Forres he made inquiry

-

i n to the amount o f reliance that could be placed in

the utterances o f the witches and learned by the ,

p er fectest report that they had more in them than

3
m ortal knowledge This would be possible enough
if w
.

itches were the subj ects o f the investigation fo r ,

5 1 07 p
p 1 14
, . Ac t v se iii.
3
Act I se v 1 2 . . . . . . . .
1 06 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOLO G Y .

their chief title to authori ty wou ld rest upo n the

general opinion current in the neighbourhood in
which they dwelt ; but how could such an inquiry
be carried out success fully in the cas e o f N orns It
is noticeable too that Macbeth knows exactly wher e
, ,

to find the sisters when he wants them and when h e

says
Mo re s h all they s pe ak fo r n o w I am b e n t to kn o w,
”1
B y th e wo rst m ean s , t h e wo rst ,

he makes another clear allusion to the traffi c o f th e

witches with the devil A fter the events recorded in .

Act I V s c i Macbeth speaks o f the prophecies upo n

. . .
,

3 ”
which he relies as the equivocation o f the fiend “
,

and the prophets as these j uggling fiends an d

with r ason fo r he has seen and heard the ve ry
e —

devils themselves th e masters o f the witches an d ,

sources o f all their evil power E very point in th e .

play that bears upon t h e subject at all ten ds to show

that Shakspere intentionally replaced the goddesses
o f D es t in ie by witches and that th e supposed N orn
origin o f these characters is the result o f a somewh at
too g reat eagerness to un fold a novel and s t artling
theory .

1 00 Assuming therefore
. that the witch natu re , ,
-

o f the sisters is conclusively proved it now becomes ,

necessa ry to support t he assertion p reviously made ,

1
Mr. Fleay av o ids th e d iffic u lty created by thi passage whi ch s ,

allu de s to th e witches as th e weird s isters by su ppo i g that th ese

”
, s n

lin es were in terpo l ated b y Middleto n — a m etho d o f c ri tic ism that hardly

n e e d s co mm en t Act 111 . . se . iv 1
. . 1 34.
3
A ct V se v 1 43
. . . . .
3
I bid . sc. v iii l
. . 19 .
 UNT YI NG TH E WI ND S . 107

t hat good reason can be shown why Shakspere should

h ave elected to repr esent witches rather than N orns .

It is impossible to read M acbeth without “

n o ticing the prominence giv en to the belie f that

w itches had the power o f creating storms and oth e r
atmospheric disturbances and that they delighted in so ,

do ing The sisters el ect to meet in thunder lightning

.
, ,
”
o r rain To t hem fair is foul and foul is fair as they
.
“
, ,
”
h over through the fo g and filthy air The whole o f .

t h e earlier part o f the third scene o f the first act is

o n e blast o f tempest with its attendant devastation .

1
T hey can loose and bind the winds cause vessels ,

t o be tempest tossed at se a and mutilate wrecked-

,

11
b o dies They describe th em selves as posters o f
.

”3
t h e sea and lan d ; the heath they meet upon is
4
b lasted ; and they vanish as breath into t h e “

5”
w ind . M acbeth conj ures them to answer his
u estions thus
q
h o u gh yo u u n t i e th e wi n ds an d let them fight
T ,

Ag ai n s t th e c h u rc h e s t h o u gh th e y e s t y wav e s
C o n fo u n d an d swallo w n av i gat i o n u p
T h o u gh bl ade d c o rn b e l o dged an d t ree s bl o wn do wn ,

T h o u gh c ast l e s t o pp l e o n t h e i r warde rs h eads

’

T h o u gh pal ac e s an d p yram i ds do s l o pe
T h e i r h eads t o th e i r fo u n dat i o n s th o u gh th e t reasu re
O f n atu re s ge rm en s tu m bl e all t o ge th e r
’
,

E v e n t i ll destru c t i o n s i c ke n
”6
.

10 1 N ow this command over the el ements does

.
,

n o t form at all a prominent f eature in the E nglish

records o f witchcra ft A fe w isolated charges o f the .

1
1 . iii . 1 1, 1 2.
1
Ac t 1 . se iii l 28
. . . .

1
b
I id 1 32 . . . I bid . 1 77 . .
1
I bid 11 8 1
. .
, 82
.

Act IV . sc . i
II 52- 60 . . .
1 08 E LI Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL OG Y .

kind may be found In 1 565 fo r instance a witch .

, ,

was burnt who con fessed that she had c aused all t h e
tempests that had take n place in that year Sc o t
'

.
,

too h as a fe w short sentences upon this subj ect b u t

, ,

does not give it the slightest pro m inence 1

No r in .

the earlier Scotch trials recorded by Pitcairn does thi s

charge appear amongst the accusations against t h e
witches It is exceedingly curious to notice the utte r
.

harmless nature o f the charges brought against t h e

earlier culp rits ; and how as time went on and t h e ,

panic inc reased they gradually deepened in col o u r

, ,

until no act was too gross too repulsive or t o o , ,

ridiculously impossible to be excluded from the in

dict m en t The following quotations from one o f t h e
.

earliest reported trials are given because they ill u s -s

trate most forcibly the conditi o n o f the poor wom e n

w h o were supposed to be witches and the real basi s ,

o f fact upo n which the belief in the crime su b s e

quently built itsel f .

102 Bessie D unlop was tried fo r witchcra ft in

.

1 57 6 . O ne o f the principal accusations against her

was that she held intercours e with a devil who ap
a r e d to her in the shape o f a neighbour o f hers
p e ,

one Thom Reed who h ad recently died ,

Being .

asked how and where she met Thom Reed sh e said , ,

As she was gan gan d betwixt her own house and the
yard o f Mo n kc as t e ll dryv an d her ky t o the pasture , ,

1
and m akan d heavy sair dule with hersel f gre t an d ,

ve ry fast fo r her cow that was dead her husband and ,

1
B o k iii ch 1 3 p 60
o . .
, . .

1
W eep in g I ha e o n ly half tran slated th is passage fo r I feared
. v ,

s po il th e sad si mplic i ty o f it .
 BESSI E D UN O
L P — HER CRI M ES .

c hild that wer lya u d sick in the la n d ill and she new ,

1
risen out o f gissane the a foresaid Thom met her by ,

2
t h e way h e als it ,
her an d said G ude day Bessie , , , ,
’

and she said G od speed you guidman ,

‘
Sancta ,
.
’ ‘

M arie said he Bessie why makes thow s a great dule

’

, , ,

and sair gret in g fo r ony wardlie thing ! She an ’

s we re d Alas ! have I not great cause to make great

,

dule fo r our gear is t rakit and my husband is on the

,
3
,

point o f deid and one babie o f my own will not live

, ,

and mysel f at ane weak point ; have I not gude cause

then to have ane sair hart But Thom said Bessie , ,

4
thou hast crabit [G od and ask it some thing you ,

s uld not hav e done ; and t h are f o re I counsell thee to

mend to H im fo r I tell thee thy barne sall die an d

,

the seik cow or you come hame ; and thy twa sheep
,

shall die too ; but thy husband shall mend and shall ,

be as h ale and fair as ever he was And then I was .

’

something blyt her fo r he tauld me that my guidman ,

w ould mend Then Thom Reed went away fra me

.

i n through the yard o f M o n kc ast e ll and I thought ,

th at he gait in at ane narrower hole o f the dyke nor

anie e rdlie man culd have gone throw and swa I was ,

5 ”
s omething fleit .

This was the first time that Thom appeared to

her. O n the third occasion he asked her if she “

6 ”
w ould not trow in him Sh e said she would .
“

”
trow in ony b o dye did her gude Then Thom pro .

m is e d her much wealth if she would deny h e r

C hristendom She answered that if she should be
.
“

riven at h o rs is taillis s h e suld never do that but , ,

1
C h ild b ed - . Salu ted .
1
Dw in dled away .

D ispleased .
1
Frighten ed . Tru st .
 1 10 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M O NOL O G Y .

p r o m i se d to b e le a l a n d t rew t o him in o n y thin g s h e

”
c o uld do whereat h e was an gry
, .

O n th e fou rth o cc asio n th e po o r wo m an fe l l ,

furt h e r i n to s in and accompa n ied Th o m to a fairy

,

m e eting Tho m as ked her to j oi n t h e party ; b u t

.

s h e s aid she sa w n a pro ffe it t o gan g th ai kin d o f

“

”
g a i t t is ,
u n le s s s h e kend w h er e for Thom o f
f e r e d .

t h e o ld i n ducement wealth ; but she replied t h at

,

”
s h e dwelt with her awin husband and b airn is an d
“
,

c o uld not leave them And so Thom began to be

.

very crabit with her and said if so she thought s h e

,
“
,

would get lyt ill gude o f him .

She was then demanded if she had ever as k e d

an y favour o f Thom fo r herself or any o t her pers o n .

She answered that when s u n drie persons came to

her to seek help fo r their beast their cow or ewe o r , , ,

fo r any barne that was tane away with ane ev ill blas t
1
o f wind or e lf grippit she gait and s p e irit
, , at Thom
what mygh t help them ; and Thom would pull ane
herb and gif her out o f his awin hand and bade h e r ,

” the same with ony other kind o f h e rb is an d

s c h e ir ,

o ppin the b e is t e s mouth and put thame in and the , ,

1 ”
b e ist wald mend .

It seems hardly possible to be lieve that a story

l i ke this which is hal f marred by the attempt t o
,

p arti ally modernize its simple pathetic language an d ,

wh i ch would probably bring a tear to the eye if n o t ,

a shilling from the pocket o f the most unsympatheti c ,

b eing o f the present day should be considered su fh ,

cient three hundred years ago to convict the narrat o r

, ,

o f a crime worthy o f death yet so it was This s ad

1
I n qu ired . Ch o p
1
Pitcairn 1 u 5 1 areg
.
1
, . . .
 S TR UGGLE A GA I NS T BEGGA R Y . 111

picture o f the breakdown o f a poor woman s intellect ’

in the unequal struggle against poverty and sickness

is only made vi sible to us by the light o f the flames
t hat merci fully to her perhaps took poor Bessie
, ,

D unlop away fo r ever from the sick husband and ,

w eakly children and the ky and the humble hovel

, ,

w here they all dwelt together and from the daily , ,

heart f ending almost hopeless struggle to obtain

-
,

e nough food to keep li fe in the bodies o f this miser

able family The historian— who m akes it his chie f

.

an xiety to record to the minutest and most irrelevant

,

d etail s the deeds noble or ignoble o f those who

, , ,

h ave managed to stamp their names upon the muster

ro ll o f Fame tu rns carelessly or scorn fully the page
—

which contains such insignificant matter as this ; but

those who believe
T ath awo rm is c l o v en in v ai n
no t
T h at n o t a m o th wi th v ai n de s i re
in a fru i tl e s s fire ,
’
Is s h riv e l d

Or b u t su b serve s an o t h er s gai n , ’

will hardly feel that poor Bessie s li fe and death were ’

e ntirely without their meaning .

10 3 As the trials fo r witchcraft increase however

.
, ,

the details grow more and more revolting ; and in

the year 1 59 0 we find a most extraordinary batch o f
cases extraordinary fo r the monstrosity o f the
—

charges contained in them and also fo r the fact that ,

this feature so insisted upon in Macbeth the raising

, ,

o f winds and storms stands out in extremely bold ,

relief The explanation o f this is as follows In the

. .

year 1 58 9 King J ames VI brought his bride Anne

, .
,
1 12 E L I Z A B E THA N D E M ONOL OG Y .

o f
D enmark home to Scotland D uring the voyag e
, .

an unusually violent storm raged which scattered t h e ,

vessels composing the royal escort and it wou ld , ,

appear caused the dest ruction o f one o f them B y

, .

’
a marvellous chance the king s ship was driven by a,

wind which blew directly contrary to that which fill e d

1
the sails o f the other vessels and the king an d
queen were both placed in extreme j eopardy J am es .
,

who seems to have been as perfectly convinced o f t h e

reali ty o f witchcraft as he was o f his o wn in fallibility ,

at once came to the conclusion that the storm h ad

been raised by the aid o f evil spirits fo r the expres s ,

purpos e o f getting rid o f so powe rful an enemy o f t h e

Prince o f D arkness as the righteou s king The res u l t .

was that a r1go ro u s investigation was made into t h e

whole a ffair ; a great number o f persons were trie d
fo r attempting the king s li fe by witchcraft and th at
’

prince undeterred by the apparent impropriety o f

,

being j udge in what was in reality his own caus e , , ,

presided at many o f the trials condescended t o ,

superintend th e tortures applied to the accused in

order to extort a con fession and even went so far in ,

one case as to write a letter to the j udges command

ing a condemnation .

1 04 U nder these circumstances considering wh o

.
,

the prosecutor was and who the j udge an d t h e , ,

e ffectual methods at the service o f the cour t fo r e x .

11
t o rt in g con fessions it is not surprising that the king s
’
,

surmises were fully j ustified by the statements o f t h e

Pitcairn 1 1 2 1 8
1
, . 1 . .

Th e acco u n t o f th e to rtu res in flict ed u po n F ian are to o ho rri ble

1

fo r qu o tat i o n .
 7 A II E S S VO YA GE T O S CO TLA ND
’
J . 1 13

accused It is impossible t o rea d these withou t

.

”
ha v ing parts o f the witch scen e s in M acbeth ring -

i ng i n t h e ears like an echo John Fian a young .

,

schoolmaster and leader o f the gang or coven as , ,

“

it w as called was charged with having caused the ,

leak in the king s shi p and with having raised the ’

wind and created a mist fo r the purpose o f hindering

1
his voyage O n another occasio n he and several
.

other witches entered into a ship and caused it to ,

2
perish H e was also able by witchcra ft to open
.

3
locks H e visited churchyards at night and dis
.
,

membered bodies fo r his charms ; the bodies o f u n

1
baptized in fants being pre ferred .
‘

Agnes Sam pso u n e con fessed to the king that to

compass his death she took a black toad and hung it
by the hind legs fo r three days and collected the ,

venom that fell fro m it She said that if she could .

have obtained a piece o f linen that the king had

1
P itcair 1 n, . 11 . 21 1 .

2
I bid 2 1 2
. . H e c o n fessed th at S atan co mm an ded h im to c ase cats h
u rpo slie to be cassin in to th e sea t o raise win dis fo r destru c tio u n e o f
p
sc h ippis . M acb e t h , 1 . iii
. 1 5- 25 .

1
F ylit fo r o pe
f an e l o ke b e his so rc erie in D avid Se yt o u n is
n in g o

m o d e 1 is b e awi n g m an e wo man s h an d , h im self sittan d att th e fyre

bl ’

s yd e . See also th e c ase o f B essie Ro y, 1 ii 208 Th e E n gli sh m eth o d . . .

o f o p e n i n g l o c k s was m o re c o m pl ic a s will a
t ed th an th e S co tch , a pp ear
fro m t h e fo o w n g ll i
qu o tat io n fro m S co t b o k ii ch xiv p 246 , o x . . . .

h
A c arme to o pen lo cks Tak e a peece o f wax c ro ssed in b ap .

t is m e a d do o b u t p ri n t ce rt ein e flo re s th er i
,
n an d tie th em i th u e n, n e

h i de r skirt f yo u r shirt an d when yo u wo l d do o the l o cke blo w

n o u un ,

thric e t h ere i n saie in g Arato h o e part ic o h o c marataryk in ; I O p en

, ,

t his d o o re i t h y n ame th a
n t I am fo rc e d t b r ak e a s t h o u b rake st h e l l o e ,

n o mi e p a ri s etc Am e M c be th I V i 46
’
g a t es I n
. t n a n. , . . .

Fin ger o f birth stran gled babe

1 -
,

D i tc h -delivered by a dra
Macbeth W i 30 , . . .
 ELI ZA BE TH A A 7 D E J! OI VOL O G Y .

w orn , sh e ou ld h av e d es tro yed h is li fe with t h i s

c

v en o m ; c ausing him s uch e x t ra o rdin a rie paines as

“

if h e h ad bee n e lying u po n sh arpe tho m es or e n dis

1 ”
o f n eedl es . She wen t o u t t o sea to a vessel calle d
TIce Grace of Go d an d whe n she came away t h e ,

dev il raised a wind an d the v essel was w reck e d ! ,

She delivered a let ter from Fian to another witch ,

which was to t his effect : Y e sall warn e the rest o f

th e s is t e ris t o raise the w inde this day at e lle w in
”
h o u ris to stay the q u e e n is c u m in g in Scotland 3
.

This is her con fession as to th e methods adopte d

fo r raising the sto rm At the time when h is .

Maj esti c was in D e n m arke shee being accompani e d ,

by the pa rties be fore s pec iallie named took a c at ,

an d christened it and a fter wards bounde to each p art

,

o f that cat the c h ee f e s t parts o f a dead man and t h e ,

s e v e ra ll j o yn t es o f his bodie ; and that in the nigh t

follo wing the said cat was conveyed into the midde s t
o f the sea by all thes e witches s a y lin g in their riddl e s ,

o r cives ,
1
as is afore said an d so left the said cat righ t ,

before the town o f L eith in Scotland This don e .

,

there did arise such a tempest in the sea as a greater

hath n o t been sce n e which tempest was th e cause o f ,

t h e perishing o f a vessell coming over from the tow n

o f Brunt Ilande to the to wn o f L eith A g ain e .

,

it is con fessed that the said chri stened cat was t h e

c ause th a tgt h e k in g e s Maj esties sh ipp e at his comi n g
1
P i tcairn I 11 2 1 8
, . . .

To ad that u n der co ld sto n e

,

D ay an d igh ts has thirty o n e

s n -

S weltered en o m sleepin g go t v .

Macbe th w i 6 , . . .

1
I bid 235
. . I bid 236 1
Macbe th 1 iii 8
. .
1
, . . .
 S T O RM S B Y WI T CHCRA F T 115
/
.

fo rt h o f D e n m ark e had a contrarie win d to the rest o f

1
his s h ip p e s .

It is worth a note that this art o f go in g to

105 .

se a i n sieves which Shakspere h as re ferred to in his

,

drama seems to have been peculiar to this set o f

,

wi tches E nglish witches had the reputation o f being

.

ab le to go upo n the water in egg shells and cockle -

sh ells b u t seem never to have detected any p eculiar

,

advantages in the sieve N ot so these Scotch witches . .

Agnes told the king that she with a great many ,

other witches to the number o f two hundreth all

, ,

together went to sea each one in a riddle or cive and , ,

went into the same very substantially with flaggo n s ,

o f wine making merrie and drinking by the way in

, ,

t h e same riddles o r cives to the kirke o f N orth Barrick ,

i n L o wth ian and th at after they landed they tooke

,

h ands on the lande and dau n c e d a reill or short

”
dau n c e They then opened the graves and took the
.

fingers toes and knees o f the bodies to make charms

, ,
2
.

I t can be easily understood that these trials

c reated an intense excitement in Scotland The .

result was that a tract was printed containing a full ,

account o f all the principal incidents ; and the fact

that this pamphlet was reprinted once if not twice 3
, ,

1
i i
P tcarn , Re r n t o f N ewes fro m pi Sco tlan d , 1
. 11. 2 1 8 . See aso l
i l
T r a o f E wsame Mc C algan e, 1 254 . ii . .

1
Pi
tca rn , 1 ii 2 1 7 i . . .

1
On e py o f this
co prin t
re bears th e name o fW . Wright , an o t he r
t h at o f T ho mas N el s o n. The fu ll ti tl i e s

Newes fro m S co tlan d ,

l i bl li
D e c ar n g th e damn a e fe o f D o c to r ian , an o ta F ble S o rcerer wh o ,

b
was u rn ed at E den b o ro u gh in J
an u arie ast, 1 59 1 w l hich Do cto r was
 EL I ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

in L ondon shows that interest in the a ffair spre ad

,

south o f the Border ; and this is confirmed by the

publis her s pre fatorial apology in which he states that
’

t h e pamphlet was printed to prevent the public from

being imposed upon by unauthorized and extravagant
statements o f what h a d taken place 1
U nder o rdi .

nary circumstances events o f this nature would form ,

’
a nine days wonder and then die a natural death ; ,

but in this particular case the public interest c o n

t in u e d fo r an abnormal time ; fo r eight years s u b
s equent to the date o f the trials James published his ,

Da cm o n o lo gic a work founded to a great ex t e n t

—

upon his experiences at the trials o f 1 590 This w as .

a sign to both E ngland and Scotland tha t the subj ec t

o f witchcra f t was still o f engrossing interest to h im
an d as he was then the fully recognized heir appare n t -

to the E nglish crown the publication o f such a w ork

would not fail to induce a great amount o f a
,

ttention
to the subj ect dealt with In 1 603 he ascended th e .

E nglish throne His first parliament met on th e

.

l gth o f March 1 604 and on the 27 t h o f the sa m e

, ,

month a bill was brought into the House o f L o rd s

dealing with the question o f witchcraft It was t e .

i h p
Reg ster to th e D eu ill, t at su n drie t m es reach ed at i
N o rt h B arricke
i b i h ih
k rk e t o an u m er o f n o to rio u s w tc es w t th e tru e e a m in at io n s o f x

t h e said D o c to r an d wi tc h es a they u ttered them i th e p res e c e o f th e

s n n

S c o tti sh k in g D iseo u erin g h o w t h ey p reten de d to be witc h an d d ro wn e

h is M ajesti c in th e sea c o mm i g fro m D en m ark e wit h su ch o ther
, n ,

wo n derfu ll m att ers as th e l ik e h ath n o t b i h eard at an ie tim e

, n .

P blish ed acco rdin g to th e Sco tti h c0pie

1‘
u s .

Prin ted fo r William Wrigh t .

”

1
These even ts are referred t o in an e istin g letter b y th e n oto rio u s x

Th o s Ph elippes to Th o s Barn es Cal State Papers ( May 21

. .
, .
,

1 59 1- 4, p 38 .
 7 A M E S S D E M ONOL 0GI E
’ “
.

fe rred to a committee o f which twelve bishops were

members ; and this committee after m uch debating , ,

came to the conclusion that the bill was imperfect .

I n consequence o f this a fresh one was drawn an d ,

by the 9 t h o f J un e a statute had passed both House s

o f Parliament which enacted ,
among other things , ,

that if any person shall practise o r exercise any

“

i nvocation or conj uration o f any evil or wicked s pirit;

or shall co n sult with entertain fee d or reward any , , ,

e vil and wicked spirit

1
or take up any dead m an , ,

woman or child out o f his her or their grave

,
or , ,

the skin bone or any other part o f any dead person

, ,

1
to be employed or used in any manner o f witchcraft ,

or shall practise any witchcraft

whereby any person shall be killed was ted pined or , , ,

lamed in his or her body or any part thereo f such 3

,

o ffender shall su ffer the pains o f death as felons with ,

”
out benefi t o f clergy or sanctuary Hutchinson in .
,
”
his E ssay on Witchcraft published in 1 7 20 declares
“
, ,

that this statute was framed expressly to meet the

o ffences exposed by the trials o f 1 590 1 ; but —
,

altho u g h this cannot be conclusively proved yet it ,

is not at all improbable that the hurry with which

the statute was passed into law immediately upon
th e accession o f James would recall to the public ,

1 S u c h a P add o ck G raym alk i a d H arp ie r

s ,
n, n .

L i er f bl a ph m i g J M ac be th I V i 26 ”
1 v o ew s e tc e n , .
—
, . . .

I w il l d rai h im dry a h ay
1
n s

S leep sh all ith er igh t o r day ne n n

H an g u p hi pen t ho se lid o n s -
u

H sh all l i e a m a f rb id
e v n o

W eary se ight i e t im e s i e
’
nn s, n n n n ,

S h all h e dw i d l e peak a d p i e n , , n n .
”

Mac be th 1 iii 1 8 23 , . .
-
.
1 18 EL I ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

mind the interest he had taken in those trials in

particular and the subj ect in ge neral and that Shak ,

s pere producing as nearly all the critics agree h is

, , ,

tragedy at about this date should draw upon h is ,

memo ry fo r the hal f forgotten details o f those trial s

-
,

an d thus embody in Macbeth the allusions to the m

that have been pointed out— much less accuratel y
than he did in the case o f th e Babington a ffai r ,

because the facts had been far less carefully record e d ,

and th e time at which his attention had bee n cal le d

1
to them far more remote .

There is one other mode o f temptation wh i c h

1 06 .

was adopted by the evil spi rits implicated t o a grea t

,

ex tent with the traditions o f witchcra ft but n ev e rt h e ,

less more suitably handled as a separate subj e c t ,

which is o f so gross and revolting a nature that it

should willingly be passed over in silence were it ,

not fo r the fact that the belief in it was as Scot says ,

“
so st ro n glie and u n iv e rs allie received in the ti m es
o f E liz a beth and J ames .

From the very earliest period o f the Chr i sti an

era the a ffection o f one se x fo r the other was co n
s idere d to be under the special control o f the devi l .

Mar riage w as to be tolerated ; but celibacy was t h e

state mos t conducive to the near intercourse w ith
heaven that was so dearly sought a fter This o p1n 1o n .

was doubtless generated by the ten dency o f the early

Christi an leaders to hold up th e events o f th e li fe
rath er than the teachings o f t h e sacred Founder o f
Th e e c item en t ab o t th e d et ails o f th w i tch t ri al wo ld cu lm i
1
x u e - s u

H arsn et s bo o k wo u ld b e read by Shaksp ere i 1 60 3

’
nate in 1 59 2 .
n .
 I NC UB U S UCC UB US
S— .

the sect as the one rule o f conduct to be received by

H is followers . To have been the recipients o f the
s tigmata was a fa r greater evidence o f holiness and

favour with Heaven than the quiet and unnoted daily

p ractice o f those virtues upon which Christ p ro

n o u n c e d His blessing ; and i n less impro bable matters

they did not scruple in their enthusiasm to attempt

, ,

t o establish a rule o f li fe in di rect contradiction to

t h e laws o f that universe o f which they pro fessed to
believe Him to be the Creator The futile attempt .

to imitate His immaculate purity blinded their eyes

to the fact that H e never taught or encouraged
celibacy among H is followers and this gradually led ,

them to the strange conclusion that the passion which ,

sublimed and brought under control is the sourc e ,

o f man s noblest and holiest feelings was a prompt

’

ing proceeding from the author o f all evil Imbued .

with this idea religious e n thusiasts o f both s exes

,

immured themselves in convents took oaths o f per

p e t u al celibacy ; and even in certain isolated
, c ases ,

sought to compromise with Heaven and ba ffle t h e ,

tempter by rendering a fall impossible forgetting

,
—

that the victo ry over sin does not cons i st in immunity

from temptation but being tempted not to fall
, , , .

But no convent walls are so strong as to shut great

na ture o u t ; and even within these sacred precincts
the ascetics found that they were not free from the
temptations o f their arch enemy In consequence o f
-
.

this a belie f sprang up and spread from its original

, ,

source into the outer world in a class o f devils called

,

incubi and succubi who roamed the earth with n o

,

other obj ect than to tempt people to abandon their

 1 20 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

p urity o f li fe The c ase s o f assault

. by incubi wer e

much m ore frequent than those by succubi j ust as ,

w omen were much more a f fected by the dancin g

m an ias in t h e fi fte enth centu ry than men ; — t h c reas o n
1
,

perhaps being that they are much less capable o f

,

re isti n g physical privation

s — but according to t h e ,

belie f o f the M iddl e Ages there was no generi c ,

di fference bet ween the in cubus and succubus H e re .

w as a belief that when the witch fu ry sprang u p , ,

attached itsel f as a matter o f course as the phas e o f

t h e crime ; an d it was an almost universal char g e
against the accused that t h e y o f fended in this man n e r
w ith their familiars and hundreds o f poor creat ur e s ,

su ffered death upon such an indictment Mo re .

details will be found in the authori t ies upon t h i s

1
un p leas ant subj ect .

1 07 This intercourse did not as a rule result in

.
, ,

o ffspring but this was not universally the case A ll .

badly deformed or mons t rous children were suspecte d

o f having had such an undesirable parentage an d ,

there was a great tendency to be lieve that they o ugh t

to be destroye d L uther was a decided advocate o f .

this course deeming the destruction o f a li fe far pre

,

fe rab le to the chance o f having a devil in t h e family .

”
I n B rayton s poem The Mooncal f one o f t h e
’

,
“
,

gossips present at the bi rth o f the cal f suggests that

3
it ought to be buried alive as a monster Caliban .

1
i s a mooncal f and his origin is distinctly traced to a
,

1
H ecker E pidem ic s o f th e Middle Ages p 1 36
, , . .

1
H u tchin so p 52 Th e ‘ Vitch o f E d mo n to ; Act v Sc o t
n, . . n .
,

D i c o v erie bo o k iv
s , .

1
E d 1 748 p 1 7 1
.
, . Tempest 11 ii 1 1 1 1 15
.
1
, . .
, .
 CA LI BA N TH E M OONCA LF .

source o f this description It is perfectly cl ear what .

w as the one thing that the foul witch Sycorax did

which prevented her li fe from being taken ; and it
would appear fro m this that the inhabitants o f Argier
w ere far more merci ful in this respect than their
E uropean neighbours Such a charge would have .

sent an y woman to the stake in Scotland without the ,

slightest hope o f mercy and the usual plea fo r respite ,

would only have been an additional reason fo r hasten

1
ing the execution o f the sentence .

1 08 . I n the preceding pages an endeavour has

been made to delineate the most prominent features
o f a belie f which the great Reformation was destined

first to foster into unnatural proportions and vitali ty ,

and in the end to destroy U p to the period o f the .

Re formation the creed o f the nation had been prae

,

tically uni form and one set o f dogmas was u n h es i

,

t at in g ly accepted by the people as in fallible and ,

therefore hardly demanding critical consideration .

The great upheaval o f the sixteenth century rent this

quiescent uni formity into shreds doctrines until then
c onsidered a s indisputable were brought within the pale

o f discussion and hence there was a great diversity

,

o f O pinion not only between the supporters o f the old

,

an d o f the new faith but between the Re formers ,

themselves This was conspicuously the case with

.

regard to the belie f in the devils and their works

'

T h e more timid o f the Re form ers clung in a great

m easure to the Catholic opinions ; a small band ,

u nder the influence possibly o f that knight errant -

1
Cf Ot . h ello , 1
. i .
9 1 . Tit us An d ro n i cu s
, IV . 11.
1 22 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M OIVO L OG Y .

o f fre e dom o f
thought G iordan o Bru no wh o e x e r
, ,

c ised s ome considerable influence during his v is it t o

E ng land by means o f his O x fo rd lectu res an d d is

p u t a t io n s entirely denied
, the existence o f ev il s pi rit s

b u t t h e great maj ority gave in their adherenc e t o a

c re e d that wa s the mean bet ween the doctrin es o f

th e old faith and the n e w scept icism Their stro n g .

c o mmon sen se compelled them to rej ec t the puerili t ie s

advanced as serious evidence by the Catholic Churc h
b u t t h ey cast aside with equal vehemence and m o r e
horror the doctri nes o f the Bru no school Th at .

”
t h e r e are dev i ls says Bullinger reduced apparent l y
, ,

from argument to invective the Sadducees in tim e s ,

p ast d e n i ed and at this day also some scarce rc

,

ligio u s nay rather E picures deny the same ; wh o

, , , ,

unl ess they repent shall one day feel to their e x cee d
, ,

in g gre at p a i n and smart both that there are devil s , ,

an d that they are the tormentors and executioners o f

”
all wi ck e d men and E picures 1
.

1 09It must be remembered too that the eman e i

.
, ,

p atio u from medize v alis m was a very gradual process ,

not as we are too prone to think it a revo lutio n

, ,

s udd e nly and completely e f fected It was an e v o lu .

tion not an explosion There is found in c o n s e

, .
,

q u e n c e a g reat, divergence o f opinion not only ,

b etwe en the earliest and the later Re formers b u t ,

b e twe en the statements o f the same m an at di fferen t

p e ri o ds o f h i s career Tyndale fo r instance seem s
.
, ,

to h ave believed in the actual possession o f t h e

1 Bu lli n ge r , Fo u rth Decade, 9th S erm o n p , .
348 . Parker So c iet y .
 GRA D UA L CH A I VGE OF BEL I EF .

1
h u man body by devils ; and this appears to have
b e en the opinion o f the maj ority at the beginni n g
o f the Re formation fo r the first Prayer book o f
,
-

E dward VI contained the Catholic form o f exorcis m

.

fo r driving devils out o f children which was expunge d ,

u pon revision the doctrine o f obsession havin in t h

, g e

m ean time triumphed over the older belie f It is .

n e c ess ary t o h e ar these facts in mind whilst considering

any attempt to depict the general bearings o f a belief

such as that in evil spirits ; fo r many irreconcilable
statements are to be found among the authorities ;
and it is the duty o f the writer to si ft out and describ e
those views which predomi n ated and these must n o t ,

be supposed to be proved inaccurate because a chanc e

quotation can be produced in contradiction .

1 10 There is great danger in the attempt to

.
,

bring under analysis any phase o f religious belie f ,

that the method o f treatment may appear u n sym pa

thetic if not irreverent The greates t e ffort h as b e e n
,
.

m ade in these pages to avoid this fault as far as

possible ; fo r without doubt any form o f religiou s
, ,

dogma however barbarous however seemi n gly ridi

, ,

c u lo u s if it has once been sincerely believed an d

,

trusted by any portion o f mankind is entitled to ,

reverent treatment N o body o f great and go od

.

men can at any time credit and take com fort from
a lie pure and simple ; and if an extinct creed appears
to lack that foundation o f truth which makes creeds
tolerable it is sa fer to assume that it had a meaning
,

and a truth fulness to those who held it that lapse o f

, ,

1 Ty d al p 8 2 P arke r S o ciety
1
n e, . . .
1 24 E L I Z A B E THA N D E M O NOL O G Y .

time has tended to destroy together with the creed ,

itsel f than to conde m n men wholesale as knaves an d

,

hypocrites But the pa rticular subj ect which h as

.

here been dealt with will surely be considered to b e

specially entitled to respect when it is remembere d ,

that it was once an integral portion o f the belief o f

most o f our best and brav est ancestors o f men an d —

wome n who dared to witness to their own sincerity

amidst the fires o f persecution and in the solitud e
o f exile I t has nearly all disappeared now
. The .

terrific hierarchy o f fi e nds which was so real s o , ,

1
full o f horror three hundred years ago has gradually
-

vanished away be fore the advent o f fuller knowledge

an d purer faith and is now hardly thought o f unles s , ,

as a dead m e dize v al myth But let us deal tenderl y .

with it rememberi n g that the day may come whe n

,

the beliefs that are n earest to our hearts may be

treated as O pen to contempt or ridicule and the ,

dogmas to which we m ost passionately cling wi ll ,

like an insubstantial pageant faded leave not a ,

”
w rack behi n d .

Perhap th f llo win g praye r co tai ed i Th o m as B eco n

1
s e o , n n n
’
s

P o m an d er ho w m o re clearly tha th e co mm e ts o f a y critic th e

,
”
s s n n n

re ality o f th e t rro r e

An i fi ite m b er f wi k ed an gel th e re are 0 Lo rd C h rist

n n nu o c s , ,

w h ic h w ith o t ea i g eek m y d est r c t i n

u c Agai t t h i e c ee d i g
s n s u o . ns s x n

gr a
e t m l t it d e o f e
u il sp iri t sus e d Th m Thy b l evse d a d h ea e ly n ou e s n v n

a gel s w hi c h m ay deli e r m e fro m t h e i r t y ran n y

n , Th O Lo rd
v . ou , ,

ha t d ev o red h el l an d o v erco me th e p ri e o f d ark e a d all h is

s u , nc n ss n

m i ist ers ; yea an d t h at n o t fo r Th yse lf b t f r t h o e t hat be lie e i

n , , u o s v n

Th ee S u ffer m e o t th eref re to b e e m o f S atan a d o f h is

. n , o , ov rco e n

ser a t v b u t rat h e r let m e triu m ph o e r t h m t h at I th ro gh stro g

n s, v e , , u n

faith a d h el p f th e b l esse d a gel h a i g th e i c to ry o f th e h el l i h

n o n s, v n v s

arm y m ay with a j o yf l h eart say D e ath w h ere i th y st i g !

, u He ll , , s n ,

wh ere is t h y icto ry P an d so fo r e e r a d e r m ag ify Thy H l y

v — v n ve n o

N am e Am e . Park er S o c iety p 84
n.
”
, . .
 111 . L ittle attempt has hitherto been m ade in t h e
,

way o f direct proo f to show that fairies are reall y

,

only a class o f devils who exercise their powers in

a manner less terrible and revolting than that de
p ic t e d by theologians ; and fo r this reason c h ic fly
that the proposition is already more than half
established when it has been shown that the at t ri
butes and functions possessed by both fairy and devil
are similar in kind although di fferi n g in degree
,
.

This h as already been done to a great extent in the

preceding pages where the various actions o f Puck
,

and Ariel have bee n shown to di ffer in no essentia l

respect from those o f the devils o f the time ; b u t
before commencing to study this phase o f super
naturalism in Shakspere s works as a whole and as
’

,
.

indicative to a certain extent o f the development

, ,

o f his thought upon the relation o f man to the

invisible w o rld about and above him it is necessary
,

that this identity should be admitted without a

shadow o f a doubt .

1 12It h as been sho wn that fairies were probably

.

the descendants o f the lesser local deities as devi ls

,

were o f the more important o f the heathe n g ods .

 1 26 E LI Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL OG Y .

t hat were overtu rn ed by the advancing wave o f

C hristianity although in the course o f time this dis
,

t inction was entirely obliterated an d forgotten It .

h as also been shown as be fore mentioned that ma n y , ,

o f the powers exercised by fairies were in th e i r

e ssence similar to those exercised by devils esp e
'

c 1ally that o f appearing in divers shapes The s e .

parallels could be carried out to an almost unlimite d

extent ; but a fe w proo fs only need be cited to sho w
this identity In the medi a e val romance o f
. Ki n g “

O rfeo fairyland has been substituted fo r the classi c al

”
H ades 1
King J ames in h is Dmm o n o lo g ie adopt s
.
, ,

a fourfold classification o f devils one o f which h e ‘

,
”
n ames Ph airie and c o ordinates with the incubu s ,
2 -
.

The name o f the devil supposed to preside at t h e

w itches sabbaths is sometimes given as H e c at D ian a
’

, ,

Sybilla sometimes ! ueen o f E lfam e or Fairie 8 1

, .
‘

’
Indeed Shakspere s line in The Comedy o f E rrors
, ,

had it not been unnecessarily tampered with by t h e

c ritics

A fi e n d a fai ry p i t il ess an d ro u gh , , ,

would have conclusively proved this identity o f cha

racte r .

The real distinction between these t wo

1 13 .

c lasses o f s pirits depends on the condition o f national

1
F airy Myth o lo gy o f S hakspere H azli tt p 8 3 , , . .

Da em o n lo gie p 69 An i sta c e o f a fai ry i n cu b s is g ive in

1
o , . . n n u n

L ife o f Ro b i G d fel lo w H a litt s Fai ry My th o l o gy p 1 76

” ’
t he n oo , z , . .

1
P itcairn iii p 1 62 , . . .

1
I b id i p 1 62 an d m an y o ther plac es
. . .
,
.

1
F airy h as bee altered to fu ry b u t c o mpare P eele Battle o f
n
“
,
”
,

A l cazar : Fien d s fairies b ags that fight in b ed o f

, , s
 NA TI ONA L F A I R YDOM 1 27

t hought upon the subj ect o f supernaturalism in its

l argest sense A belie f which has little or no found
.

ation upon indisputable phenomena must be con

t in u ally passing through va rying phases and these ,

p hases will be regulated by the n ature o f the subj ects

u pon which the atte n tion o f the mass o f the people

is most firmly concentrated Hence whe n a nation.

,

h as but one religious creed and one that h as fo r ,

c enturies been accepted by them almost without ques

tion or doubt faith becomes stereotyped and the

, ,

m ind assumes an attitude o f passive receptivity u m ,

disturbed by doubts o r questionings U nder such .

c o nditions a belief in evil spirits ever ready and

,

w atching to tempt a man into heresy o f belie f or

s i nf ul act and thus to destroy both body and soul
, ,

although it may ex ist as a theoretic portion o f the

accepted creed cannot possibly become a vital doc
,

trine to be believed by the general public It may .

e xist a s a subj ect fo r learned dispute to while away

the leis ure hours o f divines but cannot by an y possi

,

b ility obtain an influence over the thoughts and lives

o f their charges M ental disturbance on questions o f
.

d octrinal importance being fo r these reasons out , ,

o f the question the attention o f the people is almost

,

entirely riveted upon questions o f material ease and

advantage The little lets and hindrances o f eve ry
.

day li fe in agricultural and domestic matters are

the tribulations that appeal most incessantly to the
ineradicable sense o f an invisible power adverse to
the interests o f mankind and consequently the class
,

o f evil spirits believed in at such a time will be f airies

rather than devils malicious little Sp irits wh o blight
—
,
 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E AI OzVOL O G Y .

t he growing corn ; stop the butter from formin g in

the churn pinch the sluttish housemaid black an d
blue ; and whose worst act is the exchange o f t h e
baby from its cot fo ra fairy C hangeling — beings o f a
nature most exasperating to thri fty housewi fe an d
hard handed farmer but nevertheless not irrevocab ly
-
,

prejudiced against humanity and easily to b e ,

pacified and reduced into a state o f fawning frien d

ship by such little attentions as could be rend ered
without di fficulty b y the poorest cotter The whol e .

fairy m ytholo gy is perfumed with an honest healthy , ,

careless j oy in li fe and a freedom from mental doubt

, .

I love true lovers honest men good fellowes good

, , ,

huswives good meate good drinke and all thi ngs

, , ,
”
that good is but nothing that is ill declares Robi n
, ,

1
G ood fellow ; and this j ovial materialism only reflect s
the state o f mind o f th e folk who were not unwillin g
to believe that this lively little spirit might be see n
o f nights busying himsel f in their houses by th e
dying embers o f the deserted fire .

Such seems to have been the condition o f

1 14 .

E ngland immediately be fore the period o f the great

Reformation But with the progress o f that rev o lu
.

tion o f thought the condition changes The one tru e .

and eternal creed as it had been deemed is shattered

, ,

fo r ever Men who have hitherto accepted their

.

religious convictions in much the same way as they

had succeeded to their patrimonies are compelled
by this tide o f opposition to think and study fo r
themselves E ach man finds himsel f le ft face to face
.

1 H
az li tt Fai ry My tho lo gy p 1 82
, , . .
 NA TI ONA L D E VI L D OM . 1 29

w ith the great hereafter and his relation to it Ter

,
.

rible doctrines are formulated and press themselves ,

w ith remorseless vigour upon his understanding

o riginal sin j ustification by f
,
aith eternal damnation ,

fo r even honest error o f b e lie fi— doctrines that throw

an atmosphere o f solemnity if not gloom about , ,

n ational thought in which no fairy mythology can

,

fl ourish .It is no longer questio n s o f material ease

an d gain that are o f the chie f co n cern ; and con
s equently the fairies and their doings f rom their own ,

t riviality fall far into the background and their place

, ,

i s occupied by a countless horde o f remors eless

s chemers who are never ceasing in their e f
,
forts t o
drag both body an d soul to perdition .

1 15. But it is in the town s the centres o f inter ,

c hange o f thought o f learning and o f controversy,

, ,

that this revolution first gathers power ; the sparsely

populated cou ntry sides are far more impe rvious t o
-

t h e new ideas and th e count ry people cling far l o nger

,

an d m ore tenaciously to the dying religion and its

attendant belie fs The rural districts were but little
.

affected by the Re formation fo r years a fter it had

t riumphed in the towns and consequently the belie fs
,

o f the inhabitants were hardly touched by the

struggle that was going on within so short a distance .

We find a Reginald Scot indeed complaining hal f , , ,

in j oke h al f in sarcasm that Robin G ood fellow h as

, ,

1
long disappeared from the land ; but it is only from
the towns that he h as fled towns in which the spiri t
—

o f the Cartwrights and the L a t im e rs the B arn h ams ,

1
S co t , I n tro d i
u ct o n .
1 30 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

an d the D e lab e rs is abroad I n the same Cambridge

, .

where Scot had been e ducated a young student had ,

h anged himsel f bec ause th e shadow o f the doctrin e

o f predestination wa s too terrible fo r him to live
1
u nder ; and such a place w as surely no home fo r
Puck and his merry h an d But in the cou ntry .

places remote from the growl and trembling o f thi s

,

mental ear thquake he still loved to lurk ; and eve n

,

at the ve ry moment when Scot was penni n g the

denial o f his existe n ce he was nestli n g amongs t
,

the woods and flowers o f A v o n s ide and invisible , , ,

whispering in the ear o f a certain fair haired youth -

there thoughts o f no inconsiderable moment And .

long time after that after the youth had becom e

—

a man an d h ad coined th o se thoughts into words tha t

,

glitter still ; a fter h is monument had been erected

in the quiet Stratford churchyard Puck revelled —
,

harmless an d undisturbed along m any a country ,

s ide nay even to the present day in some old world

, ,
-

nooks a faint whispering rumour o f him may still be

,

heard .

N ow perhaps one o f the most distinctive

1 16 .
,

marks o f literary genius is a certain receptivity o f

mind a capability o f receiving impressions from all
surrounding circumstance o f extracting from all
—

sources whether from nature or man consciously or

, ,

unconsciously the material upon which it shall work

,
.

For this process to be perfectly accomplished an ,

e ntire and enthusiastic sympathy with man and the

Fo xe iv p 694 1
, . . .
 S H A KSP E RE S M ENTA z TRAI NI NG
’
. . 1 31

cu rrent ideas o f the time is absolutely essential ,

an d in propo rtion as this sympathy is contracted and

p artial so
,
will the work produced be stunted and
u nt ru e ; and on the other hand
,
the more universal
,

an d entire it is the more pe rfect and vital will be t h e

,

art . Bearing this in mind , and also the facts that

S hakspere s early training was e f fected in a little
’

c ount ry village that upon the verge o f manhood h e ,

c ame to L ondon where he spent his prime in contact

,

w ith the bustle and friction o f busy town li fe ; and

t hat the later years o f his li fe were passed in the
'

q uiet retirement o f t h e home o f his boyhood there —

w ould be good gro u nd fo r an argument ap rio ri even , ,

w ere there none o f a more conclusive nature that h is ,

e arlier works would be found impregnated with the

c ountry fairy myths with which his youth woul d

-

c ome in contact ; that the result o f the labours o f

h is middle li fe would show that th ese earlier remi

n is c e n s es had been gradually obliterated by the
g loomier influence o f ideas that were the result o f
t h e struggle o f opposed theories that had not then
c eas ed to rage in the towns and that the diaboli c ,

e lement and questions relating thereto would pre

dominate and that finally his later works written
, , ,

u n der the calmer influence o f Strat f ord li fe would ,

s ho w a certain return to the fairy lore o f his earlier -

y e ars .

But fortuna tely we are n o t left to rely upo n

1 17 .

an y such hypothetical evidence in this matter how ,

e v er probable it may appear Although the general

.

re ading public can not be aske d t o acce p t as in fallible

1 32 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

’
any chronological order o f Shaks pe re s plays t hat
dogmatically asserts a particular sequence or to in ,

v es t ig at e the somewhat dry and specialist arg u ments

u pon which the conclusions are fou nded yet th ere ,

are certain groupings i n to periods which are agree d

u p on as accurate by n early all critics and which , ,

without the slightest danger o f error may be asserted ,

to be correct For instanc e it is indisputable t h at

.
,

” ”
L ove s L abour s L ost
’
The Comedy o f E rrors
’

, ,

Romeo and J uliet and A Midsu mmer N ight s ,

” ’

” ’
D ream are amongst Shakspere s earliest works
”
that the t ragedies o f J ulius C e sar H aml et “
,
“
,

” ” ”
“
O thello Macbeth and Lear are the produc
,
“
,
“

tions o f his middle li fe between 1 600 and 1606 ; an d ,

” ”
t hat
“
A Winter s Tale and The Tempest are
’ “

1
amo n gst the latest plays which he wrote Here we .

h ave everything that is required to prove t h e questio n

i n hand At the commencement and at the end o f
.

his writi n gs when a youth fresh from the influenc e

—

O f his Country nurture and education and when a ,

mature man settling down into the old li fe ag ai n

,

a fter a long an d victorious struggle with the wo rld ,

with his accumulated store o f experience w e find

—

p lays which are perfectly saturated with fai ry lore : -

”
The D ream and The Tempest These are t h e .

p oles o f Shakspere s thought in this respect ; and in

’

the centre imbedded as it were between two layers o f

,

m aterial that do not bear any distinctive stamp o f

their own but appear rather as a medium fo r uniting
,

1
F o r an labo rate a d m asterly i v estigati o n O f th e qu estio n o f th e
e n n

c h ro n o l gi ca
o l o rder o f th e plays wh ich m t b e assu m ed here see Mr
, us , .

Fu rn ivall s I n tro du ct io n to th e L eo po ld S h ak spe re

’
.
 A ND GR O W TH OF THO UGHT .

the diverse strata lie the great tragedies produce d

, ,

while he was in the very rush and swirl o f town li fe ,

an d reflecting accurately as we have seen many o f, ,

the doubts and speculations that were agitating the

m inds o f men who were ardently searching out tru th .

I t is worth noting too in passing that directly Shak

, ,

s pere steps out o f his beaten path to depict in The ,

”
M e rry Wives o f Windsor the happy country li fe ,

an d manners o f his day he at the same time returns

,

to fai ryland again and brings out the Windsor

,

children trooping to pinch and plague the to wn bred -

,

t ainted Falsta ff .

1 18 But this is not by any means all that this

.

s ubj ect revea ls to us about Shakspere ; if it were ,

the less said about it the better To look upon .

“
T h e Te m pest as in its essence merely a return
to
“
The D ream — the end as the beginnin g ; to
believe that his thoughts worked in a weary unending ,

circle— that the Valley o f the Shado w o f D eath only

l e ads back to the foot o f the Hill D iffic u lt y— is in
tolerable and not more intolerable than false AF !
,
.

t hough based upon similar material the ideas and ,

”
tendencies o f The Tempest upon supernaturalism
“
'

are no more i dentical with those o f A Midsummer

“

”
N ight s D ream than the thoughts o f Be ro wn e upon
’

things in general are those o f Hamlet or Hamlet s ,

’

those o f Prospero But be fore it is possible to point

.

o ut the nature o f this difle re n ce and t o show tha t ,

the change is a n atural growth o f thought not a mere

retrogre s sion a
,

fe w explanatory remarks are acc es

,

s a ry
.
 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y
'

1 34 .

There is no more insu fficie nt and misleadi n g

vie w o f Shakspe re and his work than that which
until recently obtained almost universal credenc e ,

and is even at the present time some what loudly

asserted in some quarters ; namely that he was a ,

man o f considerable geniu s who wrote and got acted

,

s ome thirty plays more or less simply fo r commerci al

,

purpo ses and nothing m o re ; made money thereby an d ,

died leaving a will and that beyond this he and h is

, ,

works are and mu s t re m ain an inexplicable myste ry

, ,
.

The critic who holds this view and finds it equally ,

’
advantageous to commence a study o f Shaksp ere s
”
work by taki n g The Tempest or Love s Labour s
“ ’ ’

”
L o st as his text is about as j udicious as the botan ist
,

who would enlarge upon the structure o f the seed po d -

without fi rst explaining the preliminary stages o f

plant gro wth or the architect who would dilat e
,

upon the most convenient arrangement o f chimney

pots before he had discussed the laws o f foundation .

The plays may be studied separately and studied s o ,

are found beauti ful ; but taken in an approximate

chronological order like a string o f brilliant j ewels
, ,

each one gains lustre from those that precede and

follow it .

For no man ever wrote sincerely and earnestly

1 19 .
,

or indeed ever did any one thing in such a spirit ,

without leaving some impress upon his work o f his

mental condition whilst he was doi ng it and no such
man ever continued his literary labours from the
period o f youth right through his manhood without ,

leaving behind him in more or less legi b le character

, ,
 SHA KSP ERE I N H I S W ORKS . 1 35

a record o f the ripening o f h is thou ght upon matters

o f eternal importance although they may not be o f
,

necessity directly connected with the ostensibl e

subj ect in hand Insincere men may ape sentiments
.

they do not really believe in ; but in the end they

will either be exposed and held up to ridicule or ,

their work will sink into obscurity Sincerity in the .

e xpression o f genuine thought and feeling alone can

stand the test o f time And this is in reality no

.

contradiction to what has j ust been said as to the

n ecessity o f a receptive condition o f m ind in the

production o f works o f t ru e genius This capacity o f .

receiving the most delicate obj ective impressions is ,

i ndeed one essential but without the cognate power

,

t o assimilate this food and evolve the result that

,

these influences have produced subj ectively it is

.

, ,

w orse than useless The two must c o exist and act

.
-

a nd react upon one a n other N or must we be i n duced

.

t o surrender these principles in the present particular,

c ase on account o f the usual fine but vagu e talk about

,

S hakspere s absolute sel f annihilation in favour o f the

’
-

c haracters that he depicts It is said that Shakspere

.

s o identifies himsel f with each person in his dramas ,

that it is impossible to detect the great m aster and

h is thoughts behind this cunningly devised screen .

I f this means that Sh ak e s pe rc has always a per fect

c omprehension o f his characters is competent to ,

m easure out to each absolute and unerring justice ,

and is capable o f sympathy with even the most

repulsive it will not be disputed fo r an instant It
,
.

is so true that it is dangerous to take a sentence out

,

o f the mouth o f any one o f his chara c te rs and s a y .

1 36 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

fo r certain,This Shakspere thought although there ,

are many characters with whom every one must fee l

t hat Shakspere identified himsel f fo r the time bein g
rather than others But if it is intended to assert
.

that Shakspere has so eliminated hi m sel f from h is

writings as to make it impossible to trace anywher e
the tendencies o f his own thought at the time whe n
he was writing it must be most emphatically denie d
,

fo rthe reasons j ust stated Freedom from prej udi c e

.

must be care fully dissociated from lack o f interes t

in the motive that underlies the construction o f eac h
p lay .
There is a tone or key note in each dram a -

’
that indicates the author s mental condition at t h e
time when it was produced ; and if several plays ,

following each other in brisk succession all h ave t h e ,

same predominant tone it seems to be past questio n

,

that Shakspere is incidentally and indirectly uttering

h is own personal thought and experience .

1 20 . it be granted then that it is possible t o

If , ,

follow thus the growth o f Shakspere s though t

’

through the medium o f his successive works there ,

is only one small point to be glanced at be fore

attempting to trace this growth in the matter o f
supernaturalism .

T h e natural histo ry o f the evolution o f O pinio n

u p on matters which fo r want o f a more embracing
,

an d s atis facto ry word we must be content to call

,
”
“
religious follows a uni form course in the mind s
,

o f all men except those

,
duller than the fat weed
“

that roots itsel f at c as e on L ethe s wharf who never

” ’

g et beyond the primary s tage This c o u rs e is .

 M ENTA L S TR UGGL ES . 1 37

s eparable into three p eriods The first is that in

.

w hich a man accepts unhesitatingly the doctrines

w hich he h as received from his spiritual teachers
c u stoma ry not intellectual belief This sits lightly
, ,
.

o n him entails no troublesome doubts and question

i n gs ; possesses or appears to possess formula to
, ,

m eet all possible emergencies and consequently

,

brings with it a happiness that is genuine though ,

s uperficial But this customary belief rarely satis fies

.

fo r long . Contact wi th the world brings to light

o ther a n d opposed theories : introspection and i n de

ende n t investigation o f the b ases o f the heredita ry

p
faith are commenced ; many doctrines that have
b een hitherto accepted as eternally and indisputably
'

true are found to rest upon but slight foundation ,

apart from their title to respect on account o f age ;

doubts follow as to the claim to accepta n ce o f the
w hole system that has been so easily and u n h e s i
t at in g ly s wallowed ; and the period o f scepticism or ,

n o belie f with its attendant misery commences

-
,
—
,
fo r
although D agon has been b u t little honoured in the
t ime o f h is strength in his do wn fall he is much
,

regretted . Then comes that long weary groping ,

after some firm reliable basis o f belief : but heaven

,

and earth appear fo r the time to conspire against

the seeker ; an intellectual flood has drowned out
the old order o f things ; not even a mountain peak
appears in the wide waste o f desolation as assurance
o f ultimate re St ; a n d in the dark overhang i ng firm
, a
ment no arc o f promise is to be seen But this is .

a state o f mind which from it s very nature cannot

, ,

continue fo r ever : n o man could e ndure i t Whil e .

1 38 ELI ZA BE THA N D E M ONOL O G Y .

it lasts the st ruggle must be continuous but s ome ,

where through the cloud lies the sunshine and the lan d
o f peace — the final period o f intellectual belief O u t .

o f the chaos comes order ; ideas that but rec ently a p

p e are d con fused incoherent and ,
meaningless assu m e ,

their true perspective It is found that all the stran d s

.

o f the old conventional faith have not been snappe d

in the turmoil ; and th e se re knit and strengthene d ,

-

with the new and full knowledge o f exp e rience an d

investigation form the cable that secures that strang e
,

holy confidence o f belie f that can only be gained by

a preliminary warfare with doubt a peace that truly —

passes all understanding to those who have n ever

battled fo r it as to its foundation diverse to a
—
, ,

miracle in diverse minds but still a peace , , .

1 21 . be a tru e histo ry o f the course o f deve

I fthis
lo p m e n t o f every mind that is capable o f independen t
thought upon and investigation o f such high matters ,
’
it follows that Shakspere s soul must have experienced
a similar struggle fo r he was a man o f like passion s
—

with ourselves ; indeed to so acute and sensitive a

,

mind the struggle would be probably more prolonge d , ,

and more agonizing than to many ; and it is these

three mental conditions— firs t o f unthinking accept
, ,

ance o f generally received teaching ; second o f ,

pro found and agitating scepticism ; and thirdly o f , ,

belie f founded upon reason and experience that may —

be naturally expec te d to be found impressed upo n

his early middle and later works
, , .

1 22
. It is impossible here to do more than ind icate
 THOUGHT OF TH E “
D REA M ”
1 39

some o f the evidence that this supposition is correct ,

fo r to attempt to investigate the question exhaustively

would involve the minute consideration o f a m aj ority
o f the plays The period o f Shakspere s customary ’
.

or conventional belie f is illustrated in A M ids u m “

”
m e r N ight s D ream and to a certain extent also in
’

the Comedy o f E rrors In the former play we

.

find him loyally accepting certain phases o f the here

dit ary Stratford belief in supernaturalism throwing ,

them into poetical form an d making them beauti ful

,
.

I t has o ften be fore been observed and it is well ,

w orthy o f observation that o f the three groups o f

,

f
c haracte rs in the play the country olk
,
— a class whose
m anner and appearance had most vividly reflected
’
themselves upon the camera o f Shakspere s mind
are by far the most li felike and distinct ; the fairies ,

w h o had been the companions o f his childhood and

youth in countless talks in the ingle and ballads in
the lanes come second in prominence and finish ;
,

whilst the ostensible heroes and heroines o f the piece ,

t h e aristocrats o f Athens are colourless and unin

,

t e re s t in g as a dumb show— -
the real shadows o f the
play T his is exactly the ratio o f impressionability
.

that the three classes would have fo r the mind o f t h e

youth ful dramatis t The first is a creation from li fe ,

the second from traditionary belief the third from ,

hearsay A n d when it has been said that the fairies

.

are a creation from traditionary belief a full and ,

accurate description o f them has been a fforded .

They are an embodiment o f a popular superstition ,

and nothing more They do not conceal any thought

.

o f the poet wh o h as created them nor are they used ,

 1 49 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOGY .

f or any deeper purpose w ith regard to t h e other

persons o f the drama than tempor ary and objectles s

‘a
l

nnoyance Throughout the whole play runs a

healthy thoughtless honest almost riotous hap
, , ,

p in e s s ; no note o f di fficulty no shadow o f coming ,

do u bt being perceptible The p ert and ni m ble spiri t .

o f mirth is fully awakened ; the worst tricks o f t h e

intermeddling spirits are mischievous merely and o f ,

only transitory influence and the summer s till doth ,

”
tend upon their state brightening this fai ryland with
,

its sunshine and flowers Man has absolutely n o .

power to govern these supernatural powers and they ,

have but unim portant influence over him They c an .

affect his com fort but they cannot control his fate
, .

But all this is merely an adapting and elaborating o f

ideas which had been handed down from father to
son fo r many generations Shaksp e re s Puck is only .
’

the Puck o f a hundred ballads reproduced by t h e

hand o f a t rue poet ; no original thought upon t h e
connection o f the visible with the invisible world is
imported into t h e creation All these facts tend t o .

show that when Shakspere wrote A Midsummer “

’ ”
N ight s D ream that is at the beginning o f his caree r
, ,

as a dramatic auth o r he had not broken away fro m

,

the trammels o f the belie fs in which he had bee n

brought up but accepted them unhesitatingly an d
,

j oyously .

But there is a gradual toning down o f thi s

1 23 .

spirit o f unbroken content as time wears on Puttin g .

aside the historical plays in which Shaksp e re was ,

much more bou n d down by his subj ect matter tha n -

 TH E THO UGH T O F “
HA M LE T .
”
1 41

in any other species o f drama we find the comedies , ,

in which his room fo r expression o f individual feeling

was practically unlimited gradually losing their u n
,

alloyed hilarity and deepening down into a sadness

,

o f thought and expression that sometim e s leaves a

doubt whether the plays should be classed as come
dies at all Shakspere has been more and more in
.

contact with the disputes and doubts o f the educated

men o f his ti m e and seeds have been silently so wing
,

themselves in his heart which are soon to bring forth

,

a plenteous harvest in the great tragedies o f which

these semi comedies such as All s Well that E nds
-
,
“ ’

”
Well and Measure fo r Measure are but the first ,

fruits.

1 24 . Thu s when next we find Shakspere dealing

,

w ith questio n s relating to supernaturalism the tone ,

is quite di fferent from that taken in his earlier work .

H e has reached the second period o f his thou ght

u pon the subj ect and this has cast its attendant
,

gloom upon his writings That he was actually .

battling with qu e stions current in his time is demon

s t rat e d by the way in which in three consecutive ,

plays derived fro m utterly diverse so u rces the same

, ,

question o f gh o st or devil is agitated as has before ,

been pointed out But it is not merely a poi n t o f

.

th eological dogma which stamps these plays as the

’
product o f Shakspere s period o f scepticism but a ,

theory o f the influence o f supernatural bei n gs upon

the whole course o f human li fe Man is still in .

capable o f influenci n g these unseen forces or bending ,

them to h is will but they are now no longer harm

1 42 ELI ZA BE TH A N D E M ONOL OG Y .

les s or incapable o f anything but temporary or trivi al

,

evil Puck might lead night wanderers into m is

.

chance and laugh mischievously at the bodily harm

,

that he had cau sed them ; but Puck has n o w dis

appeared and in his stead is found a maligna n t sp irit
, ,

who seeks to laugh his fiendish laughter over the sou l

he h as deceived into destruction ! uestions arise .

thick and fast that are easier put than a n swered .

Can it be that evil influences have the upper hand

in this world that be a man never so honest never
, ,

so pure he may nevertheless become the sport o f

,

blind chance or ruthless wickedness ! May a H amlet ,

patiently struggling after truth and duty be put upon ,

and abused by the darker powers ! May Macbeth ,

who would fain do right w e re not evil so ever present

,

with him be juggled with and led to destruction by

,

fiends May an undistinguishing fate sweep away at

once the good with the evil H amlet with L aertes
—

D esdemona with Iago Cordelia with E dm u nd !

And above the turm oil o f this reign o f terror is there ,

no word uttered o f a Supreme G ood guiding and

controlling the unloosed ill no word o f encourage
—

ment none o f hope

,
I f this be so indeed that man ,

is but the puppet o f malignant spirits away wi th this ,

li fe It is not worth the livi n g ; fo r what power h as

.

man agai nst the fie n ds ! But at this p o int arises a

further question to demand solution : what shall b e
hereafter ! I f evil is supreme here shall it not be s o
,

in tha t undiscovered country th at li fe to come !

—
,

The dreams that m ay come give him pause and he ,

either shu ffles on doubting hesitating and incap able

, , ,
 DE P R OF UND I S . 1 43

o or he hurls himsel f wildly aga i nst his fate

f deci sion , .

In either case his li fe becomes like t o a tale

T o ld b y an i di o t , fu ll o f so u n d an d fu ry,
Sign ify i ng— not h in g
It is strange to note too how the ebb o f this
1 25.
, ,

wave o f scepticism upon questions relating to th e

immaterial world is only recoil that adds force to
a succeeding wave o f cynicism with regard to the
” ”
physical world around Hamlet Macbeth and .
, ,
” ”
O thello give place to L ear Troil u s and Cres ,
“

”
sida , Antony and Cleopatra and Timon
“
So ,
“
.

tr u e is it that un faith in aught is want o f faith in

”
all that in these later plays it would seem that
,

honour honesty and j ustice were virtues not pos

, ,

s e s sed by man or woman or if possessed were only , ,

a curse to bring down disgrace and d estruction upon

the possessor Contrast the women o f these plays
.

with those o f the co m edies immediately prece ding

the H amlet period In the latter plays we find the
.

heroines by their sweet womanly guidance and gentle

,

but firm control triumphantly bringing good out o f

,

e vil in spite o f adverse circumstance Beatrice Rosa .

,

lind Viola Helena and Isabella are all not with

, , , ,

o u t a tinge o f knight errant ry that do e s not do t h e

-

l east violence to the conception o f tender delicat e ,

womanhood the good geniuses o f the little worlds

,

in which their influence is made to be felt Ev e nts .

m ust inevitably have gone tragically but fo r their

intervention But with the advent o f the second
.

period all this changes At first t h e women like .

,

B rut us Portia O pheli a D esdemo na howeve r n obl e

’

, , ,
 1 44 ELI ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

or s weet in chara cter and well meaning in motive ,

are incapabl e o f gras ping the guiding threads o f the

events around them and controlling them fo r good .

They have to give way to characters o f another kind ,

who bear the form without the nature o f women .

Commencing with L ady Macbeth the c o nception falls ,

lower and lower through G oneril and Regan Cressida

, , ,

Cleopatra u ntil in the climax o f this utter despair

Ti mon there is no ch a
, ,
”
,
racter that it would not b e
a pro fanity to call by th e name o f woman .

And j ust as womanly purity and innocenc e

1 26 .

quail be fore unwomanly sel f assertion and voluptuous -

ness so manly loyalty and u n se lfish n ess give w ay

,

be fore unmanly treache ry and sel f seeking It is -

.

true that the bad men do not finally triu m ph b u t ,

they triumph over the good with whom they happe n

”
to come in contact In King L ear what man sho ws
.
,

any virtue who does not receive punishment fo r the

same ! N ot G louc ester whose loyal devotion to h is
,

king obtains fo r him a punishment that is only

merci ful in that it prevents him from fu rther su ffe ri ng
’
the sight o f his beloved master s mise ry ; not Ke n t ,

wh o faith ful in his s e l f denying service through all

,
-

manner o f obl oquy is left at last with a prayer tha t

‘

he may be allowed to follo w L ear to the grave ; an d

beyond these two there is little good to be found -
.

”
But L ear is not by any means the climax The
“
.

utter despair o f good in man or woman rises higher

”
in Troilus and Cressida and reaches its culminati n g
'

”
point in Timon a fragment only o f which is Shak
,

s pe re s The pen fell from the tired ha n d the wo rn

’
.
 R US KI N ON S HA KSP ERE . 1 45

an d distracted brain refused to fulfil the task o f

depic ting the de pth to which the poet s esti m ate ’

o f m ankind had f allen and we hardly know whether

to rej oice or to regret that the clumsy hand o f an
in fe rior writer has screened fro m our knowledge the
fu ll disclosure o f the utter and conte mptuous cyn icism
and want o f faith with which fo r the time being , ,

Shakspere was in fected .

1 27 Before passing on to consider the plays o f

.

the third period as evidence o f Shakspere s final ’

thought it will be well to pause an d re read with

, ,
-

’
attention a summing u p o f Shakspere s teachi n g as
-

it has been presented to us by one o f the greatest

an d most earnest teachers o f morality o f the present
day E ve ry wo rd that Mr Ruskin writes is so evi
. .

de n t ly from the depth o f his own good heart and eve ry ,

doctrine that he enunciates so pure in theory and

s o tru e in practice that a di f ,
fe rence with him upon
the final teaching o f Shakspere s work cannot be too ’

cautiously expressed But the estimate o f this whi ch

.

he has given in the third L ecture o f Sesame and

”
L ilies 1
is so pain ful if regarded as Shakspere s
,
’

latest and most mature opinion that everybody , ,

even M r Ruskin himsel f would b e glad to modi fy

.
,

its gloo m with a few rays o f hope if it were possible ,

”
to do so What then says Mr Ruskin
.
“
, is the .
,
“

message to us o f our own poet and searcher o f

h earts a fter fi ft een hundred years o f Christian faith
,

have bee n numbered over the graves o f men ! Are

’
his words more cheerful than the heathen s ( Homer)
3rd edi t io
1
n 5 1 1 5 , .
146 E L I Z A B E TH A N D E M ONOL O G Y .

is his hope more near his trust mo re sure his reading , ,

of f ate more happy ! Ah no ! H e di ffers from the

heathen poet chiefly in this that he recognizes fo r ,

deliverance no gods nigh at hand and that by petty , ,

ch a nce by momentary folly by broken message by

, , ,
’ ’
fool s tyranny or traitor s snare the stro n gest an d
'

, ,

most righteous are b rought to their ruin and perish ,

without word o f hope He indeed as par t o f h is .

, ,

re ndering o f character ascribes the power and ,

modesty o f habitual devotion to the gentle and the

j ust . The death bed o f Katharine is bright with
-

visions o f an gels ; and the great soldier king standing -

,

by his few dead acknowledges the presence o f t h e

,

hand that can save alike by many or by fe w But .

O bserve that from those who with deepest spirit

meditate and with deepest passion mourn there
, ,

are no such words as these ; nor in their hearts are

an y such cons o lations Instead o f the perpetual
.

sense o f t h e help ful presence o f the D eity which , ,

through all heathen tradition is the source o f heroi c ,

strength i n battle in exile and in the valley o f t h e

, , ,

shadow o f death we find only in t he great Christian

,

poet the consciousness o f a moral law through which ,

‘
the gods are j ust and o f our pleasant vices m ake
,

instruments to scourge us and o f the resolved

arbitration o f the destin i es that conclude into pre ,

c is io n o f doom what we f eebly and blindly began ;

and force u s when our indiscretion serves us an d
, ,

our deepest plots do pall to the con fession tha t ,

there s a divinity that shapes our e nds rough h e w

’
,
-

1 ’
t h e m how we will .

1
Mr Ru sk in has a al yzed Th e Tempest in
. n Mu n era P l eris , u v ,

1 24 et,
ro m a o t h er po in t o f vi e w
b ut f n .
 SHA KSP ERE S F I NA L THO UGHT . 1 47

1 28 . No w it is perfectly clear that this criticis m

,

was written with two or three plays all belonging t o ,

one period very conspicuously be fore the mind O f

, .

th e illustrative exceptions that are made to t h e

g eneral rule one ,

is derive d from a play which
Shakspere wrote at a ve ry early date and the othe r ,

from a scene which he almost certainly never wrot e

a t all ; the whole o f t h e rest o f the passage quoted
” ” ”
is founded upon Hamlet Macbeth O thello and
, , ,

L ear — that is upon the earlier productions o f what

,
’
w e must call Shakspere s sceptical period But thes e .

plays represent an essentially transient state o fthought .

Shakspere was to learn and to teach that those who

m ost deeply meditate and most passionately mourn
are not the men o f n oblest or most infl u ential
c haracter — that such may command our sympathy ,

b u t hardly our respect or admiration Still less did .

Shakspere finally assert although fo r a time h e ,

b elieved that a blind destiny concludes into precision

,

w hat we feebly and bli n dly begin Far otherwis e .

an d n obler was his conception o f man and his mission ,

an d the un s een powers and their i nfluenc es in th e ,

t h i rd and fi n al stage o f h i s thought .

1 29 Had Shaks pere lived longer he would

.
,

doubtless have left us a series o f plays filled with

t h e bright and reassuring tenderness and confidence.

o f this third period as long and as brilliant in

,

e xecution as those o f the second period But as it .

is we are in poss ession o f quite enough material to

e nable us to form accurate conclusions upon the state

o f his final th Ou gh t It is upon The Te mpest that “

.
148 EL I ZA BE THA N DEM ONOLOG Y .

we must in th e main rely fo r an exposition o f this ;

fo r though the other plays and fragments fully exhibit
the restoration o f his faith in man and woman which ,

was a necessary concurrence with his return from

”
scepticism yet it is in The Tempest that he
,
“

brings himsel f as nearly face to face as dramatic pos

s ib ilit ie s would allow him with circumstances that
admit o f the indirect exp ression o f such thought .

It is fortunate too fo r the purpose o f comparing

, ,
’
Shakspere s earliest and latest opinions that the ,

characters o f The Tempest are divisible into t h e

”
same groups as those o f The D ream “
The gros s .

can azlle are represented but now no longer the mos t

'

accurate in colour and most absorbing in interest o f

the characters o f the pl ay or unessential to t h e ,

evolution o f the plot They have a distinct im

.

portance in the movement o f the piece and represen t ,

the unintelligent material res istance to the work o f

,

regeneration that Prospero seeks to carry out and ,

which must be controlled by him j ust as Sebastian ,

and Antonio form the intelligent designing resist ,

ance The spirit world is there too but they like the
.
, ,

former class have no independent plot o f their own

, ,

and no independent operation against mankind they

only re present the invisible forces over which Prospero
must assert control if he would insure success fo r his
schemes Ariel is perhaps one o f the m ost extra
.
, ,
’
ordinary o f all Shakspere s creations H e is indeed .
, ,

formed upon a basis hal f fai ry hal f devil because it , ,

was only through th e current notions upon de m o n o

logy that Sh akspere could speak his ideas But he .

certainly is not a fairy in the sense that Puck is a

 RE VELA TI ON I N A C TI ON . 1 49

fairy ; and he is ve ry far indeed from beari n g even

a slight resemblance to the familiars whom the
m agicians o f the time pro fessed to call from the
vasty deep He is indeed but air as Prospero says
.
,

the embodiment o f an idea the representative o f ,

those invisible forces which operate as facto rs in the

shaping o f events which ignored may prov e re , ,

s is t an t or fatal but properly controlled and gu ided

, , ,

1
w ork fo r good L astly there are the heroes and
.
,

heroine o f the play now no longer shadows but the , ,

centres o f interest and admiration and assuming ,

their due position and prominence .

It is probable therefore that it is not merely

1 30 .
, ,
’ ’
a student s fancy that in Prospero s storm girt spirit -
,
’
h aunted island can be seen Shakspere s final and
matured image o f the mighty world I f this be so .
,

how far more bright and hope ful it is than the

verdict which M r Ruskin finds Shakspere to have .

returned Man is no longer a pipe fo r fortune s

.
“ ’

”
fi n gers to sound what stop she please The evil .

elements still exist in the world and are numerou s ,

and formidable ; but man by nobleness o f li fe and ,

word by patience and sel f maste ry can master them

,
-
, ,

bring them into subj ection and make them tend to ,

eventual good Caliban the gross sensual earthly

.
, , ,

c lement though somewhat raised would run riot

— —
,

and is therefore compelled to menial service The .

brute force o f Stephano and Trinculo is van quished

1
i l
fi cu t to ac ce pt
I t is d f M r Ru sk in s v i ew o f Ariel as th e sp iri t o f
.
’

gen e an d free h earte d

ro u s -
se rvice ( M u n P u l 124) h e is thro u gh o u t
.

th e pla th e m o re than h a
y lfu n willin g agen t
- - -
of P ro pero s .
 150 EL I ZA BE TH A N D E M ONO L O G Y .

by mental superiority E ven the s upermundan e .

spirits now no longer thirsting fo r the destruction

,

o f body and soul are bound down to the work o f ,

carrying out the decre es o f truth and j ustice M an .

is no lo n ger the plaything but the master o f his fate ,

an d he seeing now the possible triumph o f good over

,

e vil ,
and his duty to do his best in aid o f th is
,
f
triumph has no more ear f the dreams the som e
o —

t hing a fter death O ur l ittle li fe is still rounded by

.

asleep but the thought which t e rrifie s Hamlet has

,

no power to a ffright Prospero The hereafter is .

still a mystery it is true ; he has tried to see into it

, ,

and has found it impenetrable But revelation has .

come like an angel with peace upon its wings in , ,

anothe r and an unexpected way D uty lies here .

,

in and around him in this world Here he can right .

wrong succour the weak abase the proud do some

, , ,

thing to make the world better than he found it ;

and in th e performance o f this he finds a holier calm
than the vain stri v ings after the unknowable could
ever a fford L et him work while it is day fo r the
.
,
“

”
night come th when no man can work
,
.

1 31It is not a piece o f pure sentimentali ty that

.

s ees in Prospero a type o f Shakspere in his final

stage o f thought It is a type altogether as it should

.

be ; and it is pleasing to think o f him in the full ,

’
o f his manhood wrapping his seer s cloak
. maturity ,

about him and while waiting calmly the un folding

, ,

o f the mystery which he has sought in vain to solve ,

watching with noble benevolence the gradual work

ing out o f truth order and j ustice It is pleasing to
, ,
.
 TH E F I NA L P E A CE . 1 51

think o f him as speaking to the world the great

Christian doctrine so universally overlooked by Chris
tians that the only remedy fo r sin demanded by
,
’
eternal j ustice is nothing but heart s s o rrow and
“
,

a clear li fe ensuing — a speech which though uttered ,

by Ariel is spoken by Prospero who himsel f beauti

, ,

fully iterates part o f the doctrine when he says

Th e rarer ac t i o n is
In i han in v en gean ce th ey bei n g pen i ten t
v rtu e t ,

Th e s o le dri ft o f m y p u rp o se do th e xt e n d
No t a fro wn fu rth er ” 1
.

I t is pleasant to dwell upon his sympathy with

Ferdinand and Miranda fo r the love o f man and
—

woman is pure and holy in this regenerate world :

no more o f Troilus and Cressida upon his patient —

waiting fo r the evolution o f his schemes ; upon his

faith in their ultimate success ; and above all upon , ,

the maj estic and una ffected revere n ce that appears

”
indirectly in every line reverence to adapt th e ,

words o f the great teac her whose opinion abou t

Shakspere has been perhaps too rashly questioned ,

fo r what is pure and bright in youth ; fo r what is

true and tried in age ; fo r all that is gracious among
the livi n g great among the dead and marvellous in
, ,
”
the Powers that cannot die .

1
v. i . 27
.

P R I NT E D A T T H E CA ! T ON P R E SS, B EC C L BS.