Page:The Psychology of Shakespeare.pdf/246

Rh against his misery, by combating the testimony of his eyes and ears with that of his affections.

The arguments of Macbeth against the unreal mockeries of the phantom rest upon a like foundation; but somehow or other, and despite of all the philosophy of Bishop Berkeley, there is a vast difference between appearance and reality. Hamlet, and Brutus, and Macbeth may have seen ghosts, and believed in them more or less, but a hungry man never disbelieves in the pudding he is eating; unless, indeed, he is absolutely insane, and then no limit can be set to the absurdities of belief or disbelief.