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with the lonthis respect ___

AN ESSAY

UPON THE

GHOST BELIEF OF SHAKESPEARE,

BY ALFRED ROFFE.

"They say, Miracles are past, and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it, that we make trifles of terrors, and ensconce ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit to an unknown fear.

SHAKESPEARE.

LONDON:

HOPE AND CO., 16, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

1851.

To disbelieve in the Objective Reality of Spiritual Appearances in general is the rule of the present age, and is conceived to be one of the marks and consequences of its intellectual progression; and therefore is it, we think, to be accounted for, that the above subject has never (at least as far as is known) been treated of. Most of Shakespeare's admirers doubtless imagine that such an intellect as his, could never have given credence to a Ghost; nor are they very curious to ask, how it was, on Artistic grounds, that the greatest Poet should have produced what many think his greatest work, upon a supernatural theme, or, in other words, upon a theme whose basis is either Nervous Disease, Credulity, or Imposture; for into some one of these things are all Ghosts now resolved.

If, however, the modern philosopher holds it to be part of his appreciation of Shakespeare, that he could not have believed in a Ghost, it is also certain that the Ghost-be