Cornell University Library 
 PR 87.M92S8 
 
 Stories as a mode of thinking. 
 
 3 1924 013 356 955 
 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 
 
 STORIES 
 
 AS 
 
 A MODE OF THINKING 
 
 BY 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A.M. 
 
 of Cambridge University, England 
 
 1 Marlowe's Faustus : Thinking about the loss of the soul 
 
 2 Shakespeare's Macbeth : Thinking on Witchcraft 
 
 3 Southey's Kehama : Thinking on Destiny 
 
 4 Scott's Monastery : Speculation upon Supernatural Beings 
 
 5 Spenser's Legend of Guyon : Thinking upon Temperance 
 
 6 Spenser's Cave of Mammon : Thinking upon Worldliness 
 
 •^^- ^ a 
 
/i , :^ 3 y'6 i. 
 
 BOOKS 
 
 For Marlowe's Faustus : Vol. 3 of Morley's Universal 
 Library (Routledge : 40 cents). 
 
 For Macbeth : any edition e. g. Globe edition of Shakespeare 
 (Macmillan $1.25). 
 
 For Southey's Kehama : any edition of Southey containing 
 the poem. [A cheap edition of Kehama by Cassell : price, 15 
 cents cloth, or 10 cents paper covers]. 
 
 For Scott's Monastery : any edition. 
 
 For Spenser : with correct old spelling, Globe edition (Mac- 
 millan, jSl.25) — cheap editions with modern spelling to be had. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 Exercises on each week's lecture will be found below. 
 Answers in writing [to not more than two questions each week] 
 are invited from all persons attending the lectures. They should 
 be addressed to Mr. Moulton, Colonnade Hotel, Philadel- 
 phia, and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the 
 following lecture. Some signature, together with the name of the 
 lecture-centre at which the exercise is to be returned, should be 
 given at the top of the first page. The exercises will be returned, 
 with marginal comments, at the Class, at which further explana- 
 tion of the general subject will be given. All persons attending 
 the lectures are invited to this Class, whether they have sent in 
 exercises to the lecturer or not. 
 
 Copyright 1891 by 
 The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 
 
STORIES AS A MODE OF THINKING 
 
 Story has been in all ages an important department, in some ages 
 (primitive, mediaeval, our own) the leading department, of literature. 
 It has the further importance of being common to two of the great 
 divisions of poetry. Epic and Drama. 
 
 Upon analysis the interest of Story divides into two. 
 
 1. Story as an art in itself: especially Plot, the application of artistic handling to the 
 
 sequence of events. 
 
 2. Story as a mode of thinking : the personages and action may be found to be 
 
 concrete embodiments of ideas and speculations. 
 
 The present course brings forward six studies of famous Stories. 
 In each case hints will be given to Students for the general treatment 
 of the work in his private study ; but the work of lecture and class 
 will be mainly occupied with illustrating the second kind of interest — 
 the way the story seems to embody thought on important topics. 
 
THE STORY OF FAUST 
 
 OR 
 
 Buying the World at the Price of the Soul 
 
 The story of Faust is an Acted Sermon on the text, " What shall 
 it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." The 
 natural heads for such a sermon are two : 
 
 1. What is it to gain the whole world ? 
 
 2. What is it to lose the soul ? 
 
 But to act the answers to these questions is very different from 
 putting them from a pulpit in words. There are two famous versions 
 of this story : 
 
 The Old Version: by Marlowe (before 1597), at the com- 
 mencement of the Romantic Drama. ' 
 
 The New Version : by Goethe (1806), at the culmination of 
 the Romantic epoch. [Unquestionably prompted by close study of 
 Marlowe's version, which it adapts at every turn to the new intel- 
 lectual conditions of Goethe's age.] 
 
 1. As to the first head both versions agree. Gaining the whole 
 world is dramatized under the form of Magic, that is, the suspension 
 of second causes allowing unlimited realization of Will. 
 
 2. The answers to the second head are as widely apart as the 
 sixeenth and nineteenth centuries. 
 
 Marlowe's Version 
 
 In dramatic form, the Romantic Drama is seen in the process of settling down — 
 traces of Greek Chorus, Old English Masque and Miracle, Extempore relief scenes. 
 
 The play treated as a story falls naturally into three divisions : 
 
 A. The formation of a compact with an Emissary from Hell: 
 twenty-four years of " the World " in exchange for the soul. [Avoid 
 confusion between Mephistop^z7w and MephistopA^/^j.] 
 
B. The twenty-four years of " the World. " Mediaeval concep- 
 tion of magic : unlimited pleasure, unlimited knowledge, magic tricks 
 as relief scenes. 
 
 C. The price of the Soul paid at the conclusion of the term of 
 years ; last hour on earth of a doomed soul. A masterpiece of drama- 
 tic realisation ; especially note the device of "dramatic back-ground" 
 (borrowed from /od xxxvi-xxxviii) ; gradual rise through the final 
 hour of the tempest which is to break at the moment of doom. 
 
 Marlowe's answer to the second head is to show a Soul in the 
 process of being lost in this world (to say nothing of the next) by the 
 paralysis of will produced by repeated acts of self-surrender. Espe- ' 
 cially notice ; apparent external restraints on Faust at the end are in 
 reality no more than natural consequences of self-inflicted emotional 
 shocks — thus Marlowe with great skill has reconciled demoniac agency 
 with free will. 
 
 Note such passages as page 34, line 21 ; page 37,* line 3 ; page 63, line 13 ; 
 page 66, lines 21-4; page 68; lines 13, 16, 17. Here Faustus supposes himself 
 to be physically attacked by invisible demons. But it is more in accordance 
 with the general drift of the play to understand these as hysterical convulsions, 
 the natural result of oft-repeated emotional transition from the height of hope to 
 the depth of despair. 
 
 [Goethe's Version 
 
 is not included in the present course, but will be a good companion 
 study. Briefly its thinking on the second head may be summed up 
 thus : The issue is changed at the last moment by a bold evasion of 
 the poet, Faust's acts suggesting, not being saved, but saving others.] 
 
 •The top line of page 37 is in othei- texts given to the Good Angel, not to Faustus : and this 
 makes the belter reading. 
 
II 
 
 To some it might appear that Witchcraft was not a subject worth 
 thinking about seriously. But the Witchcraft itself is the temporary- 
 form given by certain ages to what is a permanent interest — the con- 
 ception of a Supernatural World [other than the Supreme Being] cap- 
 able of affecting (i) the conduct of those who believe in it, (2) or 
 perhaps the actual course of events. It will be interesting to see how 
 such a topic is embodied in a dramatic story of Shakespeare. 
 
 THE SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT IN MACBETH, 
 
 Shakespeare introduces into his dramas supernatural agents and 
 phenomena of a kind not usually recognized at the present day : such 
 as Ghosts and Witchcraft, &c. 
 
 The chief plays are Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard III, Julius Ccesar. — The two 
 plays, The Tempest and Midsummer Nighfs Dream, stand in a different class, 
 as they are wholly divorced from reality. 
 
 The question arises. How is this supernatural element to be regarded 
 by the student of Shakespeare, in accordance with sound principles of 
 analysis ? 
 
 1. Beware of the temptation to explain away the supernatural char- 
 acter of such portions of Shakespeare's plays out of zeal for the poet's 
 ' rationality ' — there may be scenes in which an apparition may be 
 resolved into an hallucination (e.g. Macbeth 3.4, where no one sees 
 the ghost except Macbeth) — but there are cases in which the appari- 
 tions are unquestionably objective and supernatural (e.g. Witches in 
 Macbeth, Ghost in first act oi Hamlet') — and a single example is suffi- 
 cient to establish the assumption by Shakespeare of such supernatural 
 phenomena for his dramatic world. 
 
 2. Shakespeare seems to assume for any story he presents whatever 
 was believed in by the age to which the story belongs— r-but the poet 
 is himself responsible for the interpretation underlying the story, in 
 this case for the use made of the supernatural agency — thus the true 
 ' rationalisation ' enquires how the operation of the supernatural 
 
 ' element in a play harmonises with reason and morals. 
 
 (i) The Beings of Evil have no power over man except by his own 
 consent. ' Compare instruments of darkness ' (1.3. 124). 
 
 Macbeth has long harboured treacherous designs on the crown [1.7.47-59: 
 this must refer to a date anterior to the opening of the play] — connect with this 
 his start and Banquo's surprise (1.3.51). 
 
In the second interposition of the Witches he forces them to speak [3.4.132-6; 
 4.1.50-61, 103-S]. 
 
 This is further brought out by placing alongside of Macbeth the uncorrupted 
 Banquo, subjected to the same temptation. [Compare 1.3; 2.1.1-30; 3.1.1-72]. 
 
 (2) Similarly, what the Witches reveal as Destiny confirms orassists, 
 not alters, the natural working of events. 
 
 E.g. Macbeth's succession to the crown depends upon a train of natural 
 events of which the most important is the flight of Duncan's sons (2.4.21-32). 
 Macduff is the natural leader of an insurrection s^ainst Macbeth [compare 
 2.3.56 &c. ; 3.4.128 ; 4.1.74] — and as the most deeply wronged is bound to 
 be the slayer of the tyrant [5. 7. 15 : and compare 4. 3. 11 1-4 with 4. 3. 
 201-40]. Banquo was a natural rival of Macbeth (3.1. 50-7). 
 
 3. The main function of the supernatural element in a play is to 
 add dramatic force to the working of events. By the interposition of 
 the Witches the 'working of events' takes the form of a ' destiny' 
 which appears 
 
 (i) irresistible : 
 
 Throughout, obstacles thrown in the way of the ' destiny ' become the 
 means by which it is worked out. E.g. proclamation of Malcolm as heir 
 apparent [i. 4. 38-42: compare I. 4. 48-53 with I. 3. 143-7] — ^flight of 
 Duncan's sons [compare 2. 3. 141 with 2. 4. 24-32] — oracle about Dunsm- 
 ane castle leads Macbeth to shut himself in that castle, without which 5. 4 
 would not have taken place. 
 
 (2) dark and unintelligible, till explained by fulfilment : 
 
 Of the two oracles pronounced by the Witches in I. 3. one is clear, the 
 other mysterious — ^mystery drags on Macbeth (3. I. 57-72) to a deed which 
 at once explains and fulfils it. [Compare 3. I. 134; 3. 4. 20-31; 4. I. 
 100-124.] 
 
 (3) flavoured with personal mockery. 
 
 The supernatural aids up to a certain point and then deserts : seeking 
 imholy support finds a nemesis in losing it where most wanted. Effect of the 
 Witches vanishing [l. 3. 78, and compare 4. I. 133]. 
 
 The " honest trifles " principle (l. 3. 122): prying into forbidden knowl- 
 edge finds a fitting nemesis in obtaining only half truths. 
 
 The gods punish men by granting their prayers. [Macbeth's Vision of 
 King's in 4. i . ; especially note 103.-— Compare in 3. 4 apparition of Banquo 
 in response to invitations.] 
 
 To sum up : Macbeth was the actor in the scene of his destiny : did 
 the Witches do more than turn the (coloured) footlights on it ? 
 
8 
 
 Suggestions for Further Study, 
 
 Students who have followed out the matter of this Syllabus will have 
 had suggested to them in the course of it various lines of study, some 
 of which they may care to work out for themselves. 
 
 1. Character-Development is an obvious interest that may be traced through a 
 large number of works of drama or fiction. 
 
 2. The Antithesis of the Practical and Inner Life may be worked out in many 
 characters and stories : it is specially applicable to Shakespeare's plays of Hamlet 
 aoA Julius Caesar. 
 
 3. The treatment of supernatural beings and phenomena in plays and novels. A 
 list of Shakespeare's plays that deal with these is given above. 
 
 4. Subject for Essay. Did Shakespeare believe in Ghosts ? 
 
9 
 
 III 
 
 Thinking on the subject of Witchcraft leads readily to thinking 
 on the wider subject of Destiny, which Witches are supposed to reveal. 
 In Shakespeare's play this has been treated with a mixture of Western 
 and Greek ideas. But Destiny is even more prominent in the think- 
 ing of Oriental peoples ; and Southey has worked up ideas of Hindoo 
 religion into a brilliant picture. 
 
 SOUTHEY'S CURSE OF KEHAMA 
 
 Southey's Kehama is an Epic poem cast in the medium of Hindoo 
 mythology, just as the Iliad is an Epic of Greek mythology, or the 
 Paradise Lost an Epic of Scripture Story. — Many different kinds of 
 literary interest unite in it. 
 
 1. Southey is remarkable for "poetic" power in the strictest 
 sense of the term, that is, power of " creating," or maintaining 
 realisability in the region of pure imagination. In this respect Milton 
 and Southey form a class by themselves. 
 
 As illustrations take the conception of Mount Calasay [xix) — or the Palace of 
 the Elements (vii. lo). 
 
 With this associate the more general " pictorial power." 
 
 Examples of word-painting are the Funeral (i) — the Glendoveer (vii. 3-8) — 
 the Home Retreat (xiii) — the Festival of Jaga-Naut (xiv) — the Submerged City 
 (xv. lo-xvi. 11) — The Regions beyond this World (xx-xxiii). 
 
 2. The Human Interest of the poem is the mutual devotion of 
 Father and Daughter, becoming involved in a World-Struggle of Good 
 and Evil, in which the intervention of Omnipotence is delayed to the 
 last possible moment. 
 
 3. In Plot, Kehama is a master-piece (of the simpler species of 
 plot) : its form consists in the gradual drawing together of all the trains 
 of interest to a single issue, the movement reversing with a surprise 
 close to the end. 
 
 4. In the department of Metrical form, Southey belongs to a 
 group of poets (Scott, Shelley, Byron) who apply tyric rhythm to 
 Narrative — Southey is distinguished by the elasticity and free play of 
 his rhythm. 
 
 Among his feats of rhythm note the Curse (ii. 14) — Moonlight [v. 13) — 
 Sapphic metre (x. 1) — especially, Fount of the Ganges (x. 3-4). 
 
 5. But the most distinctive characteristic of the poem is one 
 which is more strictly " mythological," viz., that the personages and 
 
10 
 
 action are concrete embodiments of metaphysical ideas. [All 
 mythology includes this; but in Greek myths interests of art (story and 
 plastic) predominate, in Hindoo myths thought is supreme.] 
 
 This may be seen in individual conceptions : 
 
 Kehama: Prayer and Sacrifice as spiritual/o;r^j (compare Mattkewxi. 12) — 
 but in Hindoo thought independent of the worshipper's motive : ' drafts on 
 Heaven ' to be honoured at sight. 
 
 The Amreeta-Cup (xviii and xxiv, especially xxiv. 1 7-21) — compare 
 Genesis iii. 22. 
 
 Witchcraft as Anti-Nature : Ixirrinite (xi). 
 
 Casyapa (vi) : Wisdom divorced from Povf er. 
 
 Yamen (especially xxiii. 13) : compare Conscience. 
 
 The Curse (ii. 14) a speculation on the limitations of humanity. 
 
 but more particularly, the action of the poem is continually found to 
 embody meditations on 
 
 Destiny 
 Distinguish : 
 
 Destiny proper : the stream of events apprehended as mere Force. 
 
 Providence : the stream of events apprehended as complete Design. 
 
 Intermediate between these : a Destiny which is Force variegated 
 with flashes of Design. 
 The last is the picturesque conception of Destiny most suitable for 
 Epic poetry. 
 
 To note some of the thought-flashes on Destiny embodied in the action of 
 the poem — mostly of the nature of Nemesis (the rebound of events) or Irony 
 (mockery as a measure of irresistibility). — Such is the motto of the poem: 
 " Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost." [Rescue 
 of Kailyal from the river (iii) — Sacrifice of the Horse (viii) — Rescue in the 
 Shrine of Jaga-Naut (xiv. 8-15) — ^Contest (xvi) with the Monster of the Deep.] 
 
 Forcing the secrets of Fate secures only Half-Truths : compare Macbeth 
 I. 3. 122. [The main crisis : xxiv.] 
 
 The Sinner winning his way only to find it destruction. [Incident of 
 Mariataly's Image : ii. 9-10.] 
 
 The Sinner punished in that wherein he offends. [Arvalan's body in the 
 flames: xiv. 12-14.] 
 
 Destiny assisting up to the point of guilt, stopping short of the prize. 
 [Lorrinite and Arvalan : xi. 14.] 
 
 The single grain of Good in the mass of Evil availing to avert Destruction. 
 Compare Genesis xviii. 23-33. [Baly : xv. 4-6.] 
 
 Footnote. — The References are to the cantos and stanzas in each 
 canto. The latter are not numbered in all editions, but the cantos are 
 so short that no great difficulty will be found in referring. 
 
II 
 
 IV 
 
 Previous Studies have abundantly illustrated how thoughts and 
 speculations can be embodied in concrete personages and stories. 
 Western Romance and Hindoo Mythology have been drawn upon. 
 Quite a different region of speculatiop (chiefly of Arabic origin, but 
 naturalized in Europe during the age of Romance) is embodied in 
 Elemental Beings, of which a very original and suggestive presentation 
 has been made in one of the Waverley Novels. 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MONASTERY 
 
 On account of the diversity of paging in different editions, the 
 References below are to the chapters, and paragraphs in a chapter. 
 A new paragraph is covmted wherever (in prose) there is an indented 
 Une. Quotations of vei«e are considered part of the prose paragraphs 
 to which they belong. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott's Monastery is a Story of the Reformation, located 
 in the Halidome of a Scotch Monastery : as a result, we get a group 
 of contrasts maintained or developed throughout the action, directly 
 or indirectly springing out of the main conception. 
 
 Directly : 
 
 ■{ 
 
 party, originally college friends : \ Protestant : Henry Warden. 
 2. Protestants secretly developed by f Of the old generation : Lady Avenel. 
 the silent agency of the Bible : \ Of the new generation : Mary Avenel. 
 f CathoUc Prelate of the old (easy-going^ type : The Abbott. 
 3' \ CathoUc Prelate of the new (polemical) type : The Sub-Prior. 
 
 f Church Domains and settled life : St. Mary's Halidorne. 
 ''' \ Lay Barons and wild life : Avenel Castle. 
 
 Indirectly : 
 
 f Statesmen of the Scotch Regency : Murray and his party. 
 5' \ Statesmen of the EngUsh Queen : Sir John Foster. 
 , f Dependents of a noble house : Tib and Martin. 
 
 \ Middle-class household : Dame Elspeth Glendinning. 
 
 r High-bom beautiful maiden : Mary Avenel. 
 ' ■ \ Low-bom beautiful maiden : Mysie of the Mill. 
 
 Above all, forming the main psychological interest : 
 
 ' Out of the same family ' 
 and by the same in- 
 fluence (love of the 
 heroine) are developed 
 the 
 
 But over and above the main conception, two very special and pecu- 
 liar elements are woven into the action : a supernatural being of the 
 Fairy order, and a courtier of the age of Euphuism. 
 
 Elder Brother, a Protestant Warrior : Halbert. 
 Younger Brother, a Catholic Priest : Edward. 
 
12 
 
 The White Lady of Avenel. 
 
 As a principle of criticism : imagination is an end in itself, and 
 the intrinsic interest of the White Lady as apiece of art-creation must 
 come before all others — at the same time it is a part of the functions of 
 criticism to analyse the ideas and interests that underlie and are 
 embodied in such a portraiture. [For the whole subject, compare the 
 Introduction to the Edition of 1830, especially paragraphs 15-20.] 
 
 Ideas and Interests crystallised into the conception 
 
 The central interest is creative curiosity : imagination as a mode 
 of speculation, abstract fancies conveyed in plastic form. 
 
 1. Man's origin described as being from the dust of the earth animated by the Divine 
 
 Spirit — suggests : other beings formed from earth or the otlier elements without 
 any such Divine admixture — so the Elemental Spirits: Earth and Gnomes, 
 Water and Naiads, Air and Sylphs, Fire and Salamanders : mth attributes in 
 accordance — the idea of such unsubstantial beings a foundation for such creations 
 as the White Lady, who seems to partake the attributes of several elements 
 [compare her words in ix. 54, xii. 3; and the Grotto Scene, xi. 31-xii]. 
 
 2. Man's relation to the rest of the animal creation. 
 
 (a) They smpass him infinitely in single physical qualities— suppose : this 
 extended to the intellectual sphere, and the result is an order of beings with- 
 physical and mental powers as unlimited as the instincts of animals — super- 
 natural knowledge (of past, present, and future), strength, perception of the 
 invisible, motion, &c. [Compare Davies's idea of man as the horizon 
 between brutes, or mindless bodies, and angels, or bodiless minds.] 
 
 (V) Yet with all his limitations man becomes lord over the brute creation — 
 suggests : so man may by coiuage mysteriously tame the supernatural spirits, 
 and make them do his will. 
 
 (<:) This conquest of the lower creation is achieved by man's power to find out 
 the laws of each order — suggests : these spiritual beings have their secret 
 laws, through the knowledge of which they can be ruled : the whole Rosi- 
 crucian philosophy was an attempt to discover such secrets — ^with this 
 connect the idea of a spell : an utterance mystically connected with the 
 (imknown) laws of some order of spirits. [Compare: xi. 33-36; xvii. 
 29.] 
 
 3. Moral curiosity, as well as intellectual. 
 
 (a) Human passions, u perpetual interest in art, appear in man always in 
 conflict with law — suggests : beings reflecting human passions apart from 
 law and moral responsibility — mischief and caprice a leading characteristic of 
 elemental spirits, and ministers to the art interest of fancy. [Compare xii. 3 
 (last eight lines), xvii. 39 ; and especially, the connection of the White 
 Lady with the Duel incidents.] 
 
 (^) Curiosity plays around even the topic of man's fall and redemption — 
 suppose : beings near enough for sympathy yet never fallen and never 
 redeemed ; no struggle, but no future— observe they are usually presented 
 as superior in faculties yet lower in fate and moral dignity. [Compare xii. 
 3 (last six lines), xii. 23, xvii. 30 (verse), xxx. 5. The Peri in Moore's 
 Lalla Rookh is another example.] 
 
13 
 
 («■) There is Biblical authority for the idea of spirits interested in man, as 
 involved in the grand contest between good and evil : spirits ministering 
 and tempting — ^tliis falls in with the impression of unseen agency in human 
 experience, where natural causes seem insufficient — ^imagination fills in the 
 details to such conception, especially note : 
 
 («a) Interposition of evil Spirits invited by man, and looseness of life a 
 mode of inviting [adventme of Father Philip] — on the other hand 
 they are powerless before firmness of will (xvii. 33) — iurther, their 
 gifts turn to evil or good according as they are used (xvii. 47). 
 
 (ii) The idea of tempting to good is suggested (heading to chapter xxx). 
 
 4. Even abstruse metaphysical speculation may sometimes take a plastic fomi' — thus : 
 investigation of boundaries and dividing lines suggests a region of middle points 
 and negatives as a speculative location for the supei-natural, or a inode of shading 
 off its nature and attributes to the proper degiee of indefiniteness. [Compare ix. 
 52, xii. 3.] 
 
 S- From speculation it is a short step to aspiration. 
 
 (a) Intellectual aspiration : rebellion against human limitations — e g. motion 
 [compare: ix. 54, xii. 2], insight into the future — the 'uniformity of 
 nature ' creates by repulsion an interest in phenomena divorced from causes 
 [compare: xxxvii. 120 (sixth line of verse)]. — Perhaps with this is partly 
 connected a sense of sin as attaching to commerce with the super- 
 natural. 
 
 (5) Moral aspiration: we feel our lower nature as a weight — ^imagination 
 catches the feeling in the form of beings free from the grosser influences of 
 earth. [Compare xvii. 33 (last four lines), heading to chapter xii.] 
 
 The central interest of speculation is supported by otliers. 
 
 1. Mystery* is a primary human interest — with which ignorance does not interfere, but 
 
 assists it, serving as a sort of dark back-ground. 
 
 (ar) Natural scenery often favours the mysterious : mists and fantastic resem- 
 blances (iii. 32) — ^ravines, groves, sense of loneliness : distance fr-om the real 
 becomes nearness to hidden possibilities (chapter ii, particularly paragraph 
 8) — thus the general idea of haunting : every such idea a centre of imagin- 
 ative activity. [Compare xx. 47.] 
 
 [i) Dream experience — ^phenomena connected with delirium and opiates — 
 optical delusions — apparitions and unceasing interest in the relations 
 between the worlds of matter and spirit — and generally : the residuum of 
 unexplained phenomena in the wake of scientific discovery [which properly 
 makes ' superstition ' ]. 
 
 (f) Science itself is the greatest of all wonder-workers. [Compare the Intro- 
 duction : Answer to Clutterbuck, paragraph 2.] 
 
 2. Tradition assists. 
 
 (a) Popular and universal : folk-lore — ^part awe, part gossip, and part trickery — 
 the Nameless Dean, the Good Neighbours, All-Hallow E'en (iv. 11 to end) 
 — spells and charms (viii. 25). — The humorous presentation of the lower 
 supernatural as,sists the conception of the higher. 
 
 (6) Mythological : the deities of defunct religions become hterary property as 
 imaginative creations — especially : Pantheism (in the sense of deification of 
 every conceivable individuality) assists the notion of ' middle sphits ' 
 (neither angels nor tempters) such as the White Lady. 
 
14 
 
 (i) Literary : successful creations such as Puck, Ariel, Oberon, give a basis of 
 quasi-reality to others. 
 
 3. Personification, or the humanisation of inanimate nature as a device of poetic style 
 
 — especially applied to the four elements (e.g. the 'sighing' of the wind, 
 ' earthly,' as meaning sensual, the ' rage ' of fire, the ' cniel ' sea) : it is only a 
 step from this to Elementaiy Spirits, [ix. 54 illustrates the connection.] 
 
 4. We get allegory in occasional flashes as a subsidiary effect. E.g. the Grotto scene 
 
 and the burning of mortal workmanship where truth alone is unconsumed (xii. 
 16-19). 
 
 These ideas and interests enter into supernatural creations in 
 general : there are two special to the present example. 
 
 1 . There is a special connection between the White Lady and the family of Avenel : 
 
 several raedifeval ideas support such a conception. 
 
 (a) In heathen theogonies gods appeared as patrons of individual races and 
 families — so mediseval saints connected with particular races or families, as 
 well as particular churches. [Compare iv. 57 to end.] 
 
 [6) Astrology (the longest lived of delusions) instituted distinct connections 
 between heavenly influence and individuals in accordance vrith the moment 
 of their birth : so All-Hallow E'en the link between Maty Avenel and the 
 White Lady (iv. 55-57). 
 
 (c) Heraldry regularly connected some natural object with the continuity of a 
 family history. [Compare xxiv. 21.] 
 
 ((/) Popular traditions of spirits connected with families for puqMSes of warning 
 (Irish Banshees)— or even familiar intercourse (Highland tradition : Intro- 
 duction 17). 
 
 2. But this novel is essentially a Protestant story ; the difficulty arises, how to get a 
 
 Protestant Fairy! The link is found in the conception of the Bible as a 
 book ; it is perfectly consistent with mediaeval imagination to invest a book with 
 mystic attractions and powers [compare Runic letters and their mystic powers — 
 charms attaching to exact sets of words or to written symbols — ^raagic books and 
 the awe they excite : all these the product of an age in which reading was a 
 professional mystery]. The White Lady throughout is associated with the Bible 
 that has found its way into the Hahdome : with the fortunes of the book itself 
 and of those who use it. [Especially : the Grotto scene, chapter xii.] 
 
 The White Lady as an element in the story 
 
 When familiar with the general course of the story, the Student will 
 do well to follow the White Lady as. a separate interest. 
 
 1. First glimpse on All-Hallow E'en (iii. 30-35). 
 
 2. Father Philip's Adventure (v from 40). 
 
 3. The Sub-Prior's Adventiu-e (ix. 42-59) : compare beginnings of Chapter viii and 
 
 X. 
 
 4. Grand Appearance to the hero, and Grotto Scene (xi. 31 to end of xii). 
 
 5. The Friday Appearance (xvii from 28). 
 
 6. The Nocturnal Appearance (xx. 30 to end). 
 
 7. The Mysteries of the Duel Incidents (xxi. 33 to end of xxii, xxvi. 28-xxvii. 18). 
 
 8. Appeeirance to the heroine (xxx. 1-6). 
 
 9. Appearance to Edward (xxxii. 55 to end). 
 10. Last vision of the White Lady (xxxviii. 120). 
 
IS 
 
 V, VI 
 
 The application of Story to thinking is most familiar to us in the 
 form of Allegory. A colossal monument of this is seen in Spenser's 
 Faerie Queene, where a whole system (Aristotelian) of Ethics is embodied 
 in a narrative of Romantic Chivalry. But the appreciation of this 
 depends largely upon a clear grasp of Spenser's original treatment of 
 allegory — in itself a matter of the utmost literary importance — 
 especially, the ever changing relation of the allegory to the other 
 interests of the poem. This will be here treated in application to the 
 second book, or Legend of Temperance. 
 
 SPENSER'S LEGEND OF TEMPERANCE 
 
 Spenserian Allegory 
 
 Spenser's works will be accessible to all Students : amongst other editions may be 
 mentioned the Globe (Macmillan, $1.25), the most correct. 
 
 For the present purpose it is essential that students should read the portion of 
 the poem touched upon (Book II of the Faerie Queene) with some amount of rapidity, 
 not allowing themselves to be stopped too long by difficulties of language, but seeking 
 to get a general impression of the book as a whole. If this is found impracticable the 
 book should be read a second time. 
 
 The point which it is sought to emphasize in the present treatment 
 of Spenser is the various sorts of interest that are woven together in 
 his poetry. — ^Besides beauties of a musical kind three main varieties of 
 interest may be noticed. 
 
 1. Interest of Incident. 
 
 (a) General interest of Incident : the picturesque, the pathetic, &c. 
 
 (i5) Romantic Incident : (l) imflagging interest in Chivalry and its three ideals, 
 Prowess, Courtesy and Love — (2) Travel and Scenery — (3) Enchantment, 
 Monsters and Marvels. 
 
 (c) Classic interest of Incident : Familiarity as a literary beauty, or interest attach- 
 ing to details trom their association with the literature of the past. 
 
 2. Interest of Allegory. 
 
 Students must avoid the opposite errors (a) of supposing the Allegory of the 
 Faerie' Queene to be something superfluous and outside poetic interest {b) on the 
 other hand of searching for it in every detail, as if the purpose of the poem were 
 simply to twist moral truth into the form of a puzzle-story. Observe : 
 
 («) The Allegory is only one motive amongst many : pictorial effects, pure imagina- 
 tion. Romantic and Classic interest as above, &c. 
 
16 
 
 (i) It is a peculiarity of Allegory as compared with other motives that it varies in 
 intensity : sometimes so clear that for every pictorial detail there is a moral 
 detail underlying it [this is ' Formal Allegory,' or it may be described as 
 Medifeval, or ' Bunyanesque '] — sometimes producing its effect by a generai 
 suggestiveness — sometimes difficult to trace at all without violence of interpre- 
 tation [though its reappearance a little later will suggest that it- has been 
 present all the time]. 
 
 (c), These variations put together give a sense of movement to the Allegory as a 
 whole, a sort of rise and fall [compare effect of partial mist in landscape, the 
 moon ' wading ' amongst clouds] — and to ftiUy appreciate it a sort of mental 
 touch must be cultivated. 
 
 (d) Remember : the Allegory of the Faerie Queene is (at least) double : Moral 
 and Political. 
 
 Interest of Movement. 
 
 (a) The Linking of each Scene or Incident to that which precedes and follows. 
 A subtle agency in idealizing is to avoid natural concatenation of incident — 
 e.g. scenes melt into one another as in dreams — or cross-linking [comp. game 
 of Cross-tig]. 
 
 (*) The Working together of the different Incidents to a common purpose. 
 
 B. 
 
 The Allegory Traced Through the Second Book 
 
 Incidents. Moral Allegory. Rise & Fall in Allegory. 
 
 Mteting of the Red Cross 
 Knight with Sir Guyon 
 [i.l— 34]. 
 
 Temperance in espousing 
 causes. 
 
 Also [by the Palmer I. 7] 
 Temperance connected 
 with Religious Experi- 
 
 Flashes out at the end 
 [i- 32]- 
 
 Incident of Mordaunt and Temperance doubly con- Lost in human interest till 
 
 Amavia [i.34-61]- 
 ing to 
 
 Marvel of the 
 Babe [ii.i.ii]. 
 
 -lead- trasted with unbridled 
 
 Pleasure and unbridled 
 Agony. 
 Bloody Intemperance and heredi- 
 tary stain. 
 Also [compare old Meta- 
 morphosis Stories] Pur- 
 ity as a Passion. 
 
 suddenly expounded [i. 
 57]. 
 
 Expounded [ii. 5] and by 
 implication extended to 
 the whole world of Meta- 
 morphosis. 
 
 Scene : the Castle of Me- 
 dina [ii.ii-46] — with 
 the Hero's Story [ii.39- 
 46]. 
 
 Main point of the whole 
 AU^ory : Temperance 
 as the Golden Mean. 
 
 Also : Temperance under 
 petty vexations [ii. 12]. 
 
 Rises to the pitch 
 Formal Allegory. 
 
 of 
 
i; 
 
 Incident of BiaggBdoCcbio 
 and Belphoebe [iii]. 
 
 Tetopet-ance set off by the 
 falsely great and flie 
 falsely litfle. 
 
 Old-world ideal of Tem- 
 perance, the Maiden- 
 Huntress. 
 
 In subordination. 
 
 Allegory of Furor and 
 Occasion [iv.i] — includ- 
 ing 
 
 Episode of Phaon and 
 aaribell [iv.16-36] 
 leading up to 
 
 Complex of Scenes 
 connected with the 
 First Encounter with 
 Pyrochles and Cymo- 
 cbles (separately). 
 
 Combat of Guyon and 
 Pyrochles [iv.37-5.18] — 
 I^^chles and Furor 
 [v. 18-24] — CymocWes 
 in the Bower of Bliss 
 [v.24-38] — the Idle 
 Lake and Encounter 
 with Cymochles [vi.l- 
 40] — Pyrrochles and the 
 Idle Lake [vi.41-51]. 
 
 Intemperance on the side Rises to Formal Allegory 
 of Anger. 
 
 Intemperance on the side 
 of Love : Jealousy. 
 
 The names set off Tem- 
 perance by suggesting 
 the two irrepressible 
 forces of External Na- 
 ture — ^two types of Val- 
 our divorced from Tem- 
 perance : Pyrochles on 
 the side of Rage [com- 
 pare iv.43] , Cymochles on 
 the side of Self-indul- 
 gence. 
 
 Temperance as against 
 Idleness and the stupour 
 of Self-indulgence. 
 
 The Allegory is being per- 
 petually obscured and 
 recovered. 
 
 Temptation in the Cave of 
 Mammon [vii], — Pre- 
 lude 1-27 — Triple Temp- 
 tation [wealth in store 
 28-34 — wealth-making 
 35-39 — worldliness 40- 
 50] — Final temptation 
 in the Garden : 51-66. 
 
 Wealth and Worldly Am- 
 bition as a further region 
 for Temperance. 
 
 A steady undercurrent of 
 Allegory felt through the 
 predominating sensation 
 of wonder. 
 
 Second Encounter with 
 Pyrochles and Cymo- 
 chles (together) [viii] 
 — ^introducing the Ideal 
 KnightiPrinceArtbur. 
 
 Temperance in combat 
 pitted against mere em- 
 bodiments of force. 
 
 In subordination — almost 
 lost. 
 
 The Castle of Temperance 
 [ix] — ^including 
 
 Health as a phase of Tem- 
 perance. 
 
 Rises to Formal Allegory 
 [of Mediaeval type]. 
 
 Digression : Chronicle of 
 British Kings [x] and 
 preparing for 
 
 Only the faintest threadof 
 Allegory in the spiritof 
 the Chronicle. 
 
i8 
 
 First Part of Double 
 Finale : Raising the 
 Siege of Temperance 
 Castle [xi]. Allotted 
 to Arthur the hero of the 
 whole poem. 
 
 Second Part of Dou- 
 ble Finale: Journey 
 through Mystic pe- 
 rils to the Bower of 
 Acrasia and Capture 
 of the Enchantress 
 [xii]. Allotted to Guy- 
 on the hero of the sec- 
 ond Book. 
 
 The Enemies of Temper- 
 ance as identified with 
 Health. 
 
 Observe : Intemperance is 
 made to include Intellec- 
 tual as well as Moral 
 monstrosity. [il.8 — 14, 
 &c.] 
 
 Accumulation of most 
 varied types of In- 
 
 . temperance and Mon- 
 strosity — especially 
 violations of the 
 order of Nature. 
 
 In subordination to interest 
 of combat. 
 
 The Outer Meaning 
 and the Allegorical 
 coalesce in a sort of 
 riot of the Imagina- 
 tion. 
 
19 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. What thought on the subject of Demons is embodied in the 
 
 Mephistophilis of Marlowe ? 
 
 2. Bring out the leading points in the final scene of Fausius. 
 
 3. Show how Marlowe's Story exhibits a soul being 'lost' in this 
 
 world. Is any external force used on Faust before the end of the 
 play? 
 
 II 
 
 1. Discuss the Witches and Apparitions 'va. Macbeth: (i) Were they 
 
 real ? (2) Did their interposition make any difference to men or 
 events ? 
 
 2. Compare Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo as types of person- 
 
 ages differently affected by the Supernatural. 
 
 3. "If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be 
 
 converted though one rise from the dead." Comment upon this 
 saying in the light of this week's study. 
 
 Ill 
 
 1. "Curses are like young chickens, etc." Show how this proverb 
 
 and other maxims of Destiny are set forth in the action of 
 Southey's poem. 
 
 2. Show how the Amreeta Cup, the Curse (ii. 14), Yamen, Lor- 
 
 rinite, are concrete embodiments of metaphysical ideas. 
 
 3. Illustrate Sou they as a word -painter. 
 
 4. Compare Greek conceptions of Hades, Tartarus, Cupid, with 
 their oriental counterparts in Southey's poem. 
 
 IV 
 
 1. Bring out (especially by quotations from her speeches) some of 
 the more striking ideas embodied in the conception of the ' White 
 Lady.' 
 
 2. Illustrate the love of mischief and caprice displayed by the White 
 Lady, and show that these are consistent with the general notion of 
 Elemental Spirits. 
 
20 
 
 3- Note the details of appearing and disappearing in the manifesta- 
 tions of Scott's Fairy, as illustrations of the art with which he suggests 
 its unsubstantial nature. 
 
 4. Give an account of the Grotto Scene, pointing out (i) its art 
 beauty — (2) its general suggestiveness. 
 
 1. Enumerate the principal personages who appear in the second 
 book of the Faerie Queene, showing how they cluster about the idea of 
 Temperance. 
 
 2. Point out the different conceptions of Temperance in Spenser 
 and in modern practical life. 
 
 3. Connect with the allegory of the book the Bloody Babe, the 
 Bower of Bliss, Ruddymane, Furor and Occasion. 
 
 4. Trace any resemblances between the temptations of Mammon and 
 the temptations of Christ. 
 
Other Syllabi by Prof. Moulton may be had from the 
 General Secretary, 1602 Chestnut Street, according to the follow- 
 ing list: 
 
 A. Four Studies in Shakespeare. 
 
 B. Shakespeare's Tempest, with Companion Studies. 
 
 C. The Story of Faust. 
 
 D. Stories as a Mode of Thinking. • 
 
 E. Studies in Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 F. Euripides for English Audiences. 
 
 Price — 10 cents each. The six bound in cloth, 90 cents.