ABSTRACT
The ghost, as such, is no new invention of the romanticists, for it has recurred in literature ever since the Witch of Endor inaugurated the series. Euripides and Seneca made use of ghosts; they were not unknown in French classical drama, and as the previous quotations from Addison and Steele have shown they played a part in English drama. The bursts of laughter become rarer, for as they look on the dark countenance of the pilgrim, the squires and archers feel their merriment die away. Lewis was consequently led to describe his outward appearance in a manner revealing, by its wealth of detail, his special bent for painting material horrors and his inability to interpret the psychological side of such subjects. In Robert outhey’s poetry demoniac witch-women play an important part; on the whole, the idea of such beings was common amongst the terror-romanticists, who often depicted them in the strongest colours.
