Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-04-11
EASTERN TIMES.
Ghosts.

The belief in the appearance Of ghosts ap-
pears to have been common to all ages and ma
tons, rude as well as enlightened. The an.
clients supposed that every person had his
ghosts which survived the dissolution of the
body and were respectively assigned to differ
ent spheres after death. The NAMES, according
to the popular superstition. went to the infer
nal resions,--the spir;tas, to the skies. The
"nsbra lowered abou. and kept watch over the
tomb.
II was supposed that the disembodied spirit
became ghost when separated from the cor
poreal body-larger than life-with shadowy
limbs, feeble voice, and knowledge superior TO
that it possessed in life. and capable, under
particular circumstances. of becoming visible,
and having SO near q resemblance to thu living
features, as to be readily recognizable in its
apparition; sometimes wandering about the
earth for a limited period, after death, but
commonly conveyed to a receptacle in the
earth's interior, denominated School, hades,
hell or the world of shades
The Cel,s located their hades, or world Of
invisible spirits. in the clouds. 1t is the most
picturesque of all antiquity. Ossian abounds
in this sort Of magnificent imagery, as well as
do all the Celtic bards.
by night came dream to Ossian form
less stood the shadow of Trenmor. He seemed
to strike the dim shield. on Selma's streamy
rock"
So. ALSO in "Caric Thura -
''Son of night retire call thy winds. and
fy! Why dost thou come to my presence
with thy shadowy arms, Do I fear thy
gloomy form, spirit of Loda. Weak is thy
shield of clouds feeble is that meteor, thy
sword! The blast rolls them together and
thou myself art lost. Fly from my presence,
son of night Call thy winds and fly p
"Dost thou force me from my place.:" re-
piled the hollow voice. 1.-The people bend be-
fore me. turn the battle in the field of the
brave. look on the nations, and they van
ish. My nostrils pour the blast Of death. !
come abroad on the winds the tempests arc
before my face. But my dwelling is calm
above the clouds the fields of my res, are
pleasant
Hence it appears. that, according to this be-
lief the shades of the departed are larger than
their visible appearances in life.
"a more than mortal make"
ESrAs. in his descent to the infc: nal re-
gions, discovered the shades of the Trojan he
roes engaged in marital exercises, and still
painting for fame.
According to the Epicurean hypothesis OF
sensation, all the organs of external sense are
stimulated to their appropriated functions by
the friction of an effluvium or eman alton
thrown off from the body preserved. Hence
the effluvia or pellicles of vision were imagined
to emanate even from the bodies of the dead,
and, being sinsularly attenuate, capable OF
pcrmeating the soil, and arousing the external
senses, well also as of TRANSPORTING the
body, and arousing even the soul itself when
asleep, or entranced. such was the basis OF
the theory reconditely framed by the disciples
of Epicurus. to
Untold the stuff that dreams are made Of /"
A modern poet has embodied the same doc
trinc in verse
"All over doth this outer earth
An inner earth enfold,
And sounds may reach US of its mirth,
Over its pales of gold.
There spirits live, unwedded all
From the shapes and shades they wore,
Though still their printless footsteps fall
BY the hearths they loved before.
We know them not, nor hear the sound
They make in threading all around
Their Office sweet, and nightly prayer,
Float without echo through the air.
Yet sometimes, in unworldly places
Soft sorrows twilight wales,
We meet them with uncovered faces,
Outside their golden pales,
Though dim as they must ever be
Like ships, far OF at sea,
With the sun upon their sails"