Page:The Psychology of Shakespeare.pdf/273

256 Clo. Out, hyperbolical fiend how vexest thou this man 7 talkest thou nothing but of ladies?

Sir To. Well said, master parson. Mal. Sir Topas, never was man thus wronged : good sir Topas, do not think I am mad ; they have laid me here in hideous darkness.

Clo. Fye, thou dishonest Sathan. I call thee by the most modest terms ; for I am one of those gentle ones, that will use the devil himself with courtesy: Say'st thou, that house is dark 2

Mal. As hell, sir Topas. Clo. Why, it hath bay windows, transparent as barricadoes, and the clear-stories towards the south and north

are as

lustrous as ebony; and yet complainest thou of obstruction ?

Mal. I am not mad, sir Topas; I say to you, this house is dark.

Clo. Madman, thou errest : I say, there is no darkness, but ignorance; in which thou art more puzzled, than the Egyptians in their fog. Mal. I say, this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say there was never man thus abused : I am no more mad than you are ; make the trial of it in any constant question. Clo. What is the opinion of Pythagoras, concerning wild fowl 2

Mal. That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.

Clo. What thinkest thou of his opinion ? Mal. I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion. Clo. Fare thee well: Remain thou still in darkness: thou

shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras, ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well.” This interview represents, a caricature of the idea that madness is occasioned by demoniacal possession, and is curable by priestly exorcism. The idea was not merely a vulgar one in Shakespeare's time, but was maintained long afterward by the learned and the pious ; more than a trace of it, indeed, remains to the present day in Canon LXXII. of the Church, which provides, that no Minister without the license of the