Contents

Acknowledgements page xi
Note on the text xii

Introduction 1

1 Supernaturalism: religion, folklore, Shakespeare 5

1.1 Daniel Defoe, A True Relation of the Apparition of
One Mrs. Veal (1706) 5
1.2 Joseph Addison, The Spectator, Nos. 12 and
110 (1711) 13
1.3 Thomas Parnell, ‘A Night Piece on Death’ (1721) 19
1.4 William Mallet, ‘William and Margaret’ (1724) 21
1.5 Anon., ‘Political Vampyres’ (1732) 24
1.6 Horace Walpole, on the Cock Lane ghost (1762) 26
1.7 John Wesley, ‘Narrative drawn up by Mr John Wesley’
(1784) 27
1.8 THE EXAMPLE OF SHAKESPEARE 30
1.8a Arthur Murphy, The Entertainer (1754) 30
1.8b Elizabeth Montagu, ‘On the Praeternatural Beings’
(1769) 32
1.9 William Collins, ‘An Ode on the Popular Superstitions
of the Highlands of Scotland’ (1749–50) 41

2 Gothic origins 48
2.1 Cornelius Tacitus, Germania (trans. 1777) 48
2.2 James Thomson, Liberty (1734–6) 54
2.3 Anon., Common Sense (1739) 60
2.4 Charles-Louis de Secondat Montesquieu, ‘Spirit of
the Laws ’ (trans. 1750) 61
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2.5 Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality (1765) 65

2.6 Richard Hurd, Letters on Chivalry and Romance
(1762) 67
2.7 Thomas Warton, ‘The History of English Poetry ’
(1778) 78
2.8 Hugh Blair, A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of
Ossian, The Son of Fingal (1763) 79
2.9 James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of
Genius (1770–4) 84
2.10 James Beattie, On Fable and Romance (1783) 88
2.11 John Pinkerton, A Dissertation on the Origin and
Progress of the Scythians or Goths (1787) 93
2.12 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ‘The Gothic Mind’ and
‘Gothic Literature and Art’ (1818) 94

3 The Gothic aesthetic: imagination, originality, terror 99

3.1 John Dryden, ‘Of Heroique Playes’ (1670) 99
3.2 John Dennis, The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry
(1704) 100
3.3 Joseph Addison, The Spectator, No. 419 (1712) 104
3.4 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Garrick’s performance
of the ghost scenes in Hamlet (1776) 107
3.5 William Collins, ‘Ode to Fear’ (1746) 109
3.6 Edmund Burke A Philosophical Enquiry into the
Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
(1757) 112
3.7 ORIGINALITY 121
3.7a Edward Young, Conjectures on Original
Composition (1759) 121
3.7b Horace Walpole, Preface to The Castle of Otranto
(1765) 122
3.7c William Duff, An Essay on Original Genius (1767) 124
3.8 John Aikin and Anna Laetitia Aikin (later Barbauld),
‘On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror; with
Sir Bertrand, A Fragment’ (1773) 127
3.9 Clara Reeve, Preface to The Old English Baron
(1778) 132
3.10 Henry Mackenzie, ‘Account of the German theatre’
(1790) 135
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 Contents vii

3.11 ODES AND THE TASTE FOR TERROR 136

3.11a Robert Southey, ‘To Horror’ (1791) 137
3.11b Stephen Hole, ‘Ode to Terror’ (1792) 139
3.11c Nathaniel Howard, ‘To Horror’ (1804) 142
3.11d Henry Kirke White, ‘Ode to H. Fuseli, Esq., R.A.,
On Seeing Engravings from his Designs’ (1807) 143
3.12 Gottfried August Bürger, Lenore (1796) 146
3.13 Nathan Drake, ‘On Gothic Superstition’ and ‘
On Objects of Terror’ (1798) 154
3.14 Ann Radcliffe, ‘On the Supernatural in Poetry’
(1826) 163

4 Anti–Gothic 173
4.1 Horace, Ars Poetica (trans. 1709) 173
4.2 NOVEL VERSUS ROMANCE 175
4.2a Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 4 (1750) 175
4.2b Clara Reeve, The Progress of Romance, Through
Times, Countries, and Manners (1785) 179
4.3 TAMPERING WITH HISTORY: THE RESPONSE TO
SOPHIA LEE’S THE RECESS (1785) 180
4.3a Sophia Lee, ‘Advertisement’ to The Recess (1785) 180
4.3b Review of The Recess (1786) 181
4.3c Richard Graves, Plexippus (1790) 181
4.4 Anon., ‘Terrorist Novel Writing’ (1798) 182
4.5 THE MONK AFEAIR 185
4.5a Samuel Taylor Coleridge, review of The Monk
(1797) 185
4.5b Thomas Mathias, The Pursuits of Literature
(1798) 189
4.5c ‘A Friend to Genius’, ‘An Apology for The Monk’
(1797) 191
4.6 GOTHIC DRAMA 196
4.6a Reviews of Harriet Lee, The Mysterious Marriage
(1798) 197
4.6b Matthew Gregory Lewis, Postscript to The Castle
Spectre (1798) 198
4.6c ‘Academicus’, ‘On the Absurdities of the Modern
Stage’ (1800) 199
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4.7 PARODIES 201

4.7a William Beckford, Azemia (1797) 202
4.7b Eaton Stannard Barrett, The Heroine (1813) 204
4.8 E.A., ‘On the Good Effects of Bad Novels’ (1798) 207
4.9 W.W., ‘On Novels and Romances’ (1802) 210
4.10 ‘Rimelli’, ‘Novels and Romances’ (1802) 218
4.11 John Dunlop, The History of Fiction (1814) 219

5 Gothic and revolution 223

5.1 ‘Demophilius’, The Genuine Principles of the Ancient
Saxons, or English Constitution (1776) 223
5.2 Report of the Committee of the Revolution Society
(1789) 226
5.3 Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in
France (1790) 228
5.4 Ann Radcliffe, A Sicilian Romance (1790) 235
5.5 Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of
Men (1790) 236
5.6 Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1790–2) 241
5.7 Thomas Christie, Letters on the Revolution in
France (1791) 244
5.8 Joseph Priestley, ‘Of the Nature of Government, and
the Rights of Men and of Kings’ (1791) 246
5.9 David Hartley, Argument on the French Revolution
(1794) 247
5.10 Peter Will, Translator’s Preface to Karl Grosse,
Horrid Mysteries (1796) 249
5.11 The Rovers; or, the Double Arrangement (1798) 254
5.12 Review of W. H. Ireland, Rimualdo (1801) 257

6 Gothic renovations 259

6.1 WILLIAM GODWIN ON ROMANCE AND NOVEL 259
6.1a William Godwin, ‘On History and Romance’ (1797) 260
6.1b William Godwin, Preface to Fleetwood (1805) 265
6.2 Hugh Murray, Morality of Fiction (1805) 266
6.3 Review of Walter Scott’s The Lay of the Last
Minstrel (1805) 267

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 Contents ix

6.4 Anna Laetitia Barbauld, ‘On the Origin and Progress

of Novel Writing’ (1810) 269
6.5 Charles R. Maturin, Preface to The Milesian Chief
(1812) 271
6.6 Walter Scott, ‘Chapter 1: Introductory,’ Waverley
(1814) 273
6.7 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria
(1817) 276
6.8 THE SUPERNATURALISM OF EVERYDAY LIFE 277
6.8a Charles Lamb, ‘Witches and Other Night Fears’
(1821) 277
6.8b Mary Shelley, ‘On Ghosts’ (1824) 280
6.9 Sir Walter Scott, ‘On the Supernatural in Fictitious
Composition’ (1827) 285
6.10 Thomas Carlyle, ‘The Age of Romance’ (1837) 287
6.11 Anon., ‘The Historical Romance’ (1845) 292

Bibliography 298
Index 303

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