Folklore of Shakespeare - 1884 Author:Thomas Firminger Thiselton Dyer Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. GHOSTS. Few subjects have, from time immemorial, possessed a wider interest than ghosts, and the superstitions associated with them in this an... more »d other countries form an extensive collection in folk-lore literature. In Shakespeare's day, it would ggjprn that tb3 hflJEJC.in ghostswas specially prevalent, and ghost tales were told by the firelight in nearly every household. The young, as Mr. Goadby, in his " England of Shakespeare," says (1881, p. 196), "werejjjutou£h.edb£the prevailing superstitions JP thi- mnstjrp'pggirmah1p years. They looked for theirxcorporeal creatures of whom 'they had heard, and they were quick to invest any trick orriioon- beam shadow with the attributes of the supernatural.""A description of one of theYetaIe-teIITngsTs given iri the " WinterVTale " (ii. 1): "Her. What wisdom stirs amongst you ? Come, sir, now I am for you again : pray you, sit by us, And tail's a tale. Mam. Merry or sad shall't be ? Her. As merry as you will. Mam. A sad tale's best for winter: I have one of sprites and goblins. Her. Let's have that, good sir. Come on, sit down : Come on, and do your best To fright me with your sprites: you're powerful at it. Mam. There was a man, Her. Nay, come, sit down ; then on. Mam. Dwelt by a churchyard : I will tell it softly; Yond crickets shall not hear it. Her. Come on, then, And give't me in mine ear." The important part which Shakespeare has assigned to the ghQstin"Ham|et" has a special value, inasmuch as itillustrates many of the old beliefs current in his day respecting their history and habits. Thus, according to a popular notion, ghosts are generally supposed to assume the exact appearance by which they were usually known when in the material state, even to the smallest detai...« less