one of the favourite haunts of his boyhood. Here it was that he learnt the mysteries of ghostdom, which so impressed his imagination, and thence come embalmed to us. But for him we might not have known that ghosts only visit the earth between the glimpses of the moon-that light, though it be merely a small taper's, keeps them at a respectful distance ; and that the fresh morning air is unsavoury in their nostrils. It is from him we learn that they come neither from heaven nor hell, but from a neutral region, which hangs between both, something in the fashion of Mahomet's coffin, and which has a climate so trying that it quite accounts for their uncomfortable habit of roving Old Truepenny was a different being from the modern goblin, who signifies his presence by a rap on the wall, and answers polite inquiries with his knuckles. He took a questionable shape, spoke in a voice that froze the blood, and, instead of hankering after evening parties, haunted the loneliest spots, where he was shy of appearing to more than one person at a time. Such are the marks by which a true ghost may be known. Shakespeare is just as great an authority about fairies. The belief in fairies was a bequest of the middle ages, embracing the relics of paganism. The popular creed was not adopted by Spencer, who constructed a system of his own; but Shakespeare reflects it as still current in remote districts of England. The little folk were divided into three classes-fairies, elves, and urchins; the first being inoffensive, unless provoked; while the two inferior orders were very malevolent. All were immortal, and the superior class, though diminutive in stature, possessed unfading beauty. They lived underground, or in the clefts of rocks, only appearing on the earth's surface at night, when they held merry meetings in field and forest, tracing rings with their feet on the green sward. These places of resort were all known to Shakespeare By paved fountain or by rushy brook, Or on the beachy margent of the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind." The elfin rings were sprinkled with dew, as the poet faithfully records and this was never touched by damsels gathering May dew, as it was reputed to spoil beauty. Any trespass on their haunts, indeed, was highly resented by the fairies, particularly if it occurred during their nocturnal meetings. Falstaff trembled when he heard the alarm— I smell a man of middle earth;" 66 But, stay, and the punishment was sure and swift— "About him, fairies: sing a scornful chyme, And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time." Shakespeare appears to have learnt this statute of fairy law from a lyric called the Fairies' Dance,' found in a collection of songs then current, and which contains a similar passage :— 3 "Pinch him black and pinch him blue, Oh, thus our nails shall handle you." But fairies, while they shunned men and women, were often so charmed by pretty children that they stole them from their mothers, leaving in their place urchins of the same appearance, who sickened and died. These changelings, as they were called, are repeatedly noticed by Shakespeare, who makes Puck declare that Oberon was enraged with the fairy queen Titania : "Because that she, as her attendant, hath 1 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' act ii. 2. 2 Ibid., ii. 1. "4 3 The collection is entitled, Hunting, Hawking, Dancing, Drinking, Enamouring.' 4 Midsummer Night's Dream,' act ii. 1. The poet also refers to the fairies' love of cleanliness "I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door." The "household maid" who attended to this duty obtained the favour of the little folk, and, some fine morning, found sixpence in her shoe. But, on the whole, fairies interfered in human affairs rather for evil than good, and the devout nightly offered up a prayer against their devices. Thus Imogen exclaims "To your protection I commend me, Gods! From fairies and the tempters of the night, A special service against fairies was introduced by the priests and monks, who regarded them as evil spirits, and threw over the faithful the shield of religion. But their prayers did not exorcise the superstition from the mind of the people, and the fairies took refuge under the mantle of Shakespeare, who secured to them their ancient heritage,immortality and perpetual youth. The realities as well as the superstitions of the age, had their picturesque points, appealing to the imagination, and contributing to mould the wizard boy. As yet, they passed him unheeded, like the tints which the changing sky throws over a landscape, and which do not arrest us at the time, seeming a thing of course. Afterwards they were recalled, or rather he found them treasured in his mind, as they are preserved in a work of art, and rise unbidden to the trained eye. But the impression he received from all that was novel was not only permanent, but immediate. It has been conjectured that his allusion in Midsummer Night's Dream' to Queen Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth 1 Midsummer Night's Dream,' act v. 2. was inspired by an experience of his early life; and all doubt on the point will be removed, when we show hereafter that the family were acquainted with the Earl of Leicester, and owed much to his protection. Shakespeare was in his twelfth year when he beheld this pageant, the last blaze of baronial splendour. Another play introduces Kenilworth itself, by its old provincial name of Killingworth Castle, and here Henry the Sixth receives the submission of the Cadites after their defeat by Buckingham.' Lancham describes the castle in its proudest day, when it was the dwelling of Leicester. On the great occasion of Elizabeth's visit, the hall was thronged with lords and dames and choked with retainers-gentlemen in suits of velvet, each with a gold chain round his neck-sword and buckler men, domestics, and lacqueys. From the terraces of the castle the eye looked down on the park, which was studded with trees, and surrounded a spacious lake, in the midst of which a green islet sparkled in the sunlight like an emerald. Herds of deer browsed on the sward, and copse and thicket aided the undulating ground in diversifying the prospect. Each day of the Queen's sojourn brought new pageants and shows, often protracted far into the night, for which the moon lent her brightest beams. The state, the blazonry, and the gorgeous parade of feudalism exhausted their power in this display. It was chivalry going out like a rocket, in a shower of light, teaching Shakespeare more than he could learn from books-showing the young scholar the image of the past ere it faded for ever. 1 'King Henry VI., Part II.,' act iv. 9. 58 V. HIS EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF RELIGION. Ir may seem strange to affirm that the genius of Shakespeare received an impulse from religion. We know that religion formed Dante and Tasso, and, at a later period, inspired Milton; but who would look for a divine influence in the drama? Yet this it was, in a corrupted form, that gave the drama existence. The Greek tragedies aspired to exhibit the action of the gods in human affairs, and the performance commenced with a religious service. Religion, indeed, did not disdain to use the drama as a means of instruction, under the Christian dispensation, and it may be said to have been kept in chrysalis in the Moralities and Mysteries' till the period of its revival. The Christian faith was itself regenerated at the same time, and this auspicious conjuncture gave birth to Shakespeare. The great movement in progress affected every phase of the epoch. It was so pervading, that we cannot now estimate the extent of its influence, though we see it reflected in almost every event, and can trace it in every sphere. Openly or in secret, it was the mainspring of all hearts. Throughout the realm, from the capital to the remotest hamlet, and, abroad, over the whole continent, it was in operation; vibrating through society like sound through the atmosphere, and everywhere shaping thought, policy, and action. Shakespeare was born just within the verge of Protestantism, in such proximity to the old religion as to remind |