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  The
  Supernatural in Modern
  English Fiction


  By

  Dorothy Scarborough, Ph.D.
  Instructor in English in Extension, Columbia University


  [Illustration: Logo]


  G. P. Putnam's Sons
  New York and London
  The Knickerbocker Press
  1917




  COPYRIGHT, 1917
  BY
  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS


  The Knickerbocker Press, New York




  To
  GEORGE AND ANNE SCARBOROUGH




PREFACE


The subject of the supernatural in modern English fiction has been
found difficult to deal with because of its wealth of material. While
there has been no previous book on the topic, and none related to it,
save Mr. C. E. Whitmore's work on _The Supernatural in Tragedy_, the
mass of fiction itself introducing ghostly or psychic motifs is simply
enormous. It is manifestly impossible to discuss, or even to mention,
all of it. Even in my bibliography which numbers over three thousand
titles, I have made no effort to list all the available examples of
the type. The bibliography, which I at first intended to publish in
connection with this volume, is far too voluminous to be included here,
so will probably be brought out later by itself.

It would have been impossible for me to prosecute the research work
or to write the book save for the assistance generously given by many
persons. I am indebted to the various officials of the libraries of
Columbia University and of New York City, particularly to Miss Isadore
Mudge, Reference Librarian of Columbia, and to the authorities of
the New York Society Library for permission to use their priceless
out-of-print novels in the Kennedy Collection. My interest in English
fiction was increased during my attendance on some courses in the
history of the English novel, given by Dr. A. J. Carlyle, in Oxford
University, England, several years ago. I have received helpful
bibliographical suggestions from Professor Blanche Colton Williams,
Dr. Dorothy Brewster, Professor Nelson Glenn McCrea, Professor John
Cunliffe, and Dean Talcott Williams, of Columbia, and Professor G. L.
Kittredge, of Harvard. Professors William P. Trent, George Philip
Krapp, and Ernest Hunter Wright very kindly read the book in manuscript
and gave valuable advice concerning it, Professor Wright going over
the material with me in detail. But my chief debt of gratitude is to
Professor Ashley H. Thorndike, Head of the Department of English and
Comparative Literature in Columbia, whose stimulating criticism and
kindly encouragement have made the book possible. To all of these--and
others--who have aided me, I am deeply grateful, and I only wish that
the published volume were more worthy of their assistance.

      D. S.

  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,
    April, 1917.




CONTENTS


                                            PAGE
         INTRODUCTION                          1
  CHAPTER
     I.--THE GOTHIC ROMANCE                    6
    II.--LATER INFLUENCES                     54
   III.--MODERN GHOSTS                        81
    IV.--THE DEVIL AND HIS ALLIES            130
     V.--SUPERNATURAL LIFE                   174
    VI.--THE SUPERNATURAL IN FOLK-TALES      242
   VII.--SUPERNATURAL SCIENCE                251
  VIII.--CONCLUSION                          281




The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction




INTRODUCTION


The supernatural is an ever-present force in literature. It colors our
poetry, shapes our epics and dramas, and fashions our prose till we are
so wonted to it that we lose sense of its wonder and magic. If all the
elements of the unearthly were removed from our books, how shrunken in
value would seem the residue, how forlorn our feelings! Lafcadio Hearn
in the recently published volume, _Interpretations of Literature_, says:

  There is scarcely any great author in European literature, old
  or new, who has not distinguished himself in his treatment of
  the supernatural. In English literature I believe there is no
  exception from the time of the Anglo-Saxon poets to Shakespeare,
  and from Shakespeare to our own day. And this introduces us to the
  consideration of a general and remarkable fact, a