Chapter IX (4)

[337:A] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght; p. 160, 161.

[338:A] Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 505, 506.

[338:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 109. Henry IV. Part ii. act ii. sc. 4.

[338:C] Ibid. vol. xii. p. 36. Henry IV. Part ii. act i. sc. 2.

[338:D] Ibid. vol. xvii. p. 94, 95. Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. sc. 3.

[338:E] Ibid. vol. x. p. 149.

[339:A] Book iv. line 677.

[340:A] Sermons, vol. ii. p. 412. 415, 416.

[341:A] Vide Brady's Clavis Calendaria, vol. ii. p. 180.

[341:B] Brand's Appendix to Bourne's Antiquities, p. 382.

[341:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 205. act ii. sc. 1.

[342:A] Clavis Calendaria, vol. ii. p. 229.

[343:A] Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 221.

[343:B] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 238.

[344:A] Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 221, 222.

[346:A] The powers of description which Burns has evinced in one of the stanzas, while relating the effects of this spell, are truly great:—

"A wanton widow Leezie was
As canty as a kittlen;
But och! that night, among the shaws,
She got a fearfu' settlin!
She thro' the whins, an' by the cairn,
An' owre the hill gaed scrievin,
Where three lairds lands met at a burn,
To dip her left sark-sleeve in,
Was bent that night.

_Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays
As thro' the glen it wimpl't;
Whyles round a rocky scar it strays;
Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't;
Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
Whyles cookit underneath the braes,
Below the spreading hazle,
Unseen that night._

Among the brachens, on the brae,
Between her an' the moon,
The deil, or else an outler quey,
Gat up an' gae a croon:
Poor Leezie's heart maist lap the hool;
Near lav'rock-height she jumpit,
But mist a fit, an' in the pool,
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,
Wi' a plunge that night."

[347:A] Burns's Works, Currie's edit. vol. iii. p. 126. et seq.

[347:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xvii. p. 472-474.

[348:A] Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 87.

[348:B] See Beaumont and Fletcher apud Colman.

It would appear from the passage just quoted from Shakspeare, that he considered St. Withold as commanding this _female_ incubus to alight from those _she_ was riding and tormenting; but Fuseli and Darwin, in their delineations, appear to have mounted a _male_ fiend, or incubus, on _her_ back, who descending from his steed, sate on the breasts of those whom _he_ had selected for his victims. The personifications of the painter and the modern poet are forcibly drawn and highly terrific:—

"So on his NIGHTMARE through the evening fog
Flits the squab Fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog;
Seeks some love-wilder'd Maid with sleep oppress'd,
Alights, and grinning sits upon her breast.
—— Such as of late amid the murky sky
Was mark'd by FUSELI'S poetic eye;
Whose daring tints, with SHAKSPEARE'S happiest grace,
Gave to the airy phantom form and place—
Back o'er her pillow sinks her blushing head,
Her snow-white limbs hang helpless from the bed;
While with quick sighs, and suffocative breath,
Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death.
—— Then shrieks of captur'd towns, and widow's tears,
Pale lovers stretch'd upon their blood-stain'd biers,
The headlong precipice that thwarts her flight,
The trackless desert, the cold starless night,
And stern-eye'd Murderer with his knife behind,
In dread succession agonize her mind.
O'er her fair limbs convulsive tremors fleet,
Start in her hands, and struggle in her feet;
In vain to scream with quivering lips she tries,
And strains in palsy'd lids her tremulous eyes:
In vain she _wills_ to run, fly, swim, walk, creep;
The WILL presides not in the bower of SLEEP.
—— On her fair bosom sits the Demon-Ape
Erect, and balances his bloated shape;
Rolls in their marble orbs his Gorgon-eyes,
And drinks with leathern ears her tender cries."
Botanic Garden, 4to. edit. p. 101-103.

[350:A] Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 203-205.

[351:A] The Dutchesse of Malfy, act iii. sc. 3. Vide Ancient British Drama, vol. iii. p. 526.

[351:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 418, 419.

[352:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 16. Hamlet, act i. sc. 1.

[352:B] Ibid. vol. xvi. p. 315. Julius Cæsar, act ii. sc. 2.

[353:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 127. Macbeth, act ii. sc. 3.

[354:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 82, 83. Act ii. sc. 4.

[354:B] Ibid. vol. xi. p. 317. First Part of King Henry IV. act iii. sc. 1.

[354:C] Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 202, 203. Third Part of King Henry VI. act v. sc. 6.

[355:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xv. p. 448. Troilus and Cressida, act v. sc. 3.

[355:B] Ibid. vol. xx. p. 225. Act v. sc. 1.

[355:C] Ibid. vol. xv. p. 395. Act iv. sc. 4.

[355:D] Familiar Letters, edit. 1726. p. 247.

[355:E] Lady of the Lake, p. 348.

[356:A] Lady of the Lake, p. 106. 347.

[357:A] Lady of the Lake, p. 348.

[358:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 28. Act i. sc. 2.

[358:B] Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 506. Act v. sc. 3.

[359:A] Of Ghostes and Spirites, 1572. p. 79.

[359:B] Vide Grose's Provincial Glossary, article Popular Superstitions, p. 282, 283.

[360:A] Grant's Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland, vol. i. p. 259-261.

[361:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 459.

[362:A] Of Ghostes and Spirites, p. 77-79.

[362:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 169. Act iv. sc. 2.

[362:C] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 279.

[362:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xvii. p. 230. Act iv. sc. 10.

[363:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 336.

[363:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xiii. p. 152. First Part of King Henry VI. act v. sc. 3.

[363:C] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 279.

[364:A] Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 230. 270.

[364:B] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 231.

[365:A] Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 247.

[365:B] Ibid. p. 245.

[366:A] Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 265, 266.

[366:B] See Whalley's Works of Ben Jonson.

[366:C] Chalmers's Poets, vol. iv. p. 465.

[367:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. viii. p. 41. Act ii. sc. 1.

[367:B] De Quadrup. Ovip., p. 65.

[367:C] Batman uppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, 1582, fol. article Botrax.

[367:D] A Green Forest, or a Natural History, 1567.

[367:E] Secrete Wonders of Nature, 4to. 1569.

[367:F] First Book of Notable Things, 4to.

[367:G] Topsell's History of Serpents, 1608. fol., p. 188. and Fuller's Church History, p. 151.

[367:H] Printed by Copland, but without date, 12mo.

[367:I] Quoted by Batman on Bartholome, L. xviii. c. 30.

[368:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. p. 59. Act i. sc. 4.

[368:B] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 180, 181.

[370:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 293-295.

[370:B] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 465.

[370:C] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 305.

[371:A] This _golden stamp_ was the coin called an angel, from the figure which it bore, and was worth ten shillings.

[371:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 242, 243. Macbeth, act iv. sc. 3.

[371:C] Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i.: and Scot, speaking of the pretensions of the French monarchs to cure the evil, observes of Elizabeth's practice, that "if the French king use it no woorsse than our Princesse doth, God will not be offended thereat: for hir majestie onelie useth godlie and divine praier, with some almes, and referreth the cure to God and to the physician," p. 304., a report which reflects great credit on her majesty's judgment and good sense.

[372:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xiv. p. 285. Richard the Third, act i. sc. 2.

[373:A] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 405.

[373:B] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght, p. 80.

[373:C] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 303.

[373:D] The Workes of the Most High and Mighty Prince James, fol. edit. 1616. p. 136. The Dæmonologie was first printed at Edinburgh in 1597, and next in London, 1603, 4to.

[374:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. p. 344. Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1.

[374:B] Ibid. vol. xx. p. 208. Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 3.

[374:C] Ibid. vol. xiii. p. 297. Act iii. sc. 2.

[374:D] Bulwarke of Defence against Sickness, fol. 1579, p. 41.

[375:A] Grose's Provincial Glossary, p. 291.

[375:B] Vide Bacon's Natural History, Century x. No. 997, 998.

[376:A] Digby's Discourse upon the Sympathetic Powder, p. 6.

[377:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 280.

[377:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 146.

[377:C] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght, p. 96.

[377:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 146. note 3.

[378:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 147.

[379:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vi. p. 303-305.

[379:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 78.

[379:C] "Ad nimium calorem transeat ab aquis nivium." In the paraphrase on Genesis, by Cedmon the Saxon poet, the same imagery may be found.

Of this venerable poet and monk, who flourished in the seventh century, Mr. Turner has given us a very interesting account, together with a version of some parts of his paraphrase. One of these is a picture of the infernal regions, in which he says,—

"There comes at last
the eastern wind,
the _cold frost_
mingling with the fires."
Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, 2d edit.
4to. 1807, vol. ii. p. 309. et seq.

[379:D] Infer. c. iii. 86. Purgat. c. iii. 31.

[379:E] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vi. p. 305, note 9.

[379:F] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. i. p. 330.

[380:A] Dibdin's Typographical Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 534. 598.

[380:B] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. ii. p. 424.

[381:A] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. i. p. 149.—"The mesere of helle shalbe in defaute of mete and drink. For God sayth thus by Moyses: They shal be wasted with honger, &c."

[381:B] Pierce Penniless, his Supplication to the Devil, 1595.

[381:C] Folio, 1635. p. 345.

[381:D] Paradise Lost, book ii. l. 587, et seq.

[382:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. p. 374.

[382:B] Εκ πασῶν δε, &c. De Republ. lib. x. p. 520, Lugd. 1590. Vide Todd's Milton, vol. vii. p. 53.

[382:C] "Such, notwithstanding, is the force there of (musical harmony), and so pleasing effects it hath in that very part of man which is most divine, that some have been thereby induced to think, that the soul itself by nature is or hath in it harmony."—Fifth Book of Ecclesiastical Polity, published singly in 1597.

[382:D] Todd's Milton, vol. vii. p. 53.

[383:A] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. i. p. 296. col. 1.

[383:B] Dante's Inferno, cant. xx.

[383:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 89, 90.

[383:D] Ibid. vol. xvii. p. 222. Antony and Cleopatra, act iv. sc. 9.

[383:E] Ibid. vol. xix. p. 409. Othello, act v. sc. 2.

[384:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 361. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2.

[384:B] Ibid. vol. x. p. 194. Macbeth, act iii. sc. 5.

[384:C] Ibid. vol. xvii. p. 195. 342. Lear, act i. sc. 2.; vol. xix. p. 499. Othello, act v. sc. 2.

[384:D] Ibid. vol. xi. p. 83. Richard the Second, act ii. sc. 4.

[384:E] Ibid. vol. x. p. 480. K. John, act iv. sc. 2.

[385:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 271.

[385:B] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 114.

[385:C] Doome, p. 389.

[385:D] The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a relation of the Great and Golden Citie of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado. Performed in 1595, by Sir W. Ralegh. Imprinted at London by Rob. Robinson, 1596.

[386:A] The Historie of the World. Commonly called, The Natural Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor in Physicke. London, printed by Adam Islip. 1601. vol. i. p. 154. book vii. chap. 2.

[386:B] Holland's Pliny, vol. i. p. 96. book v. chap. 8.

[386:C] Ibid. p. 156.

[386:D] The title of this work is, _Brevis et admiranda Descriptio Regni Gvianæ, auri abundantissimi, in America_. It is accompanied by a map, engraved by _Hondius_, on which are drawn men hunting, with their heads beneath their shoulders.

[387:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 83. Act i. sc. 2.

[387:B] Frobisher's _First Voyage for the Discoverie of Cataya_. 4to. 1578.

[387:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 83, note 9.

[387:D] Chalmers's Apology, p. 586.

[388:A] Prayse and Reporte of Maister Martyne Forboisher's Voyage to Meta Incognita, &c. bl. l. 12mo. 1578. Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 83. note 7.

[388:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 83. note 7.—The existence of _mermaids_ has, within these few years, been asserted by numerous testimonies; some of which are so clear, minute, and respectable, as to stagger the most sceptical. It is not only possible, but from the evidence alluded to it appears indeed somewhat probable, that a creature partially resembling the human form exists in the ocean, and occasionally, though rarely, approaches so near the shore as to become an object of wonder and superstitious horror. The sea round the Isle of Man was formerly reputed to abound in these monsters, which were conceived to be of two kinds, the one malignant, the other benevolent and kind.

[388:C] Ancient British Drama, vol. ii. p. 377, 378.

[389:A] Ancient British Drama, vol. ii. p. 379.

[389:B] Batman upon Bartholome, p. 359.

[389:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 449. note 5.

[389:D] Ibid. vol. xiii. p. 268. Act iii. sc. 1.

[389:E] Ibid. vol. xix. p. 449.

[390:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xiii. p. 306. Act iii. sc. 3.

[390:B] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 20.

[390:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 135. Timon of Athens, act iv. sc. 3.

[391:A] Stowe's Survey of London, p. 18. edit. of 1618.

[392:A] Bourne's Antiquities apud Brand, p. 90.

[392:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 356.—A fountain of this hallowed and mysterious nature, has been described by Mr. Southey in language most graphically and beautifully descriptive:—

"There is a fountain in the forest call'd
The fountain of the Fairies; when a child,
With most delightful wonder I have heard
Tales of the Elfin tribe that on its banks
Hold midnight revelry. An ancient oak,
The goodliest of the forest, grows beside,
Alone it stands, upon a green grass plat,
By the woods bounded like some little isle.
It ever hath been deem'd their favourite tree,
They love to lie and rock upon its leaves,
And bask them in the moon-shine. Many a time
Hath the woodman shown his boy where the dark round
On the green-sward beneath its boughs, bewrays
Their nightly dance, and bade him spare the tree.
Fancy had cast a spell upon the place
And made it holy; and the villagers
Would say that never evil thing approached
Unpunished there. The strange and fearful pleasure
That fill'd me by that solitary spring,
Ceas'd not in riper years; and now it woke
Deeper delight, and more mysterious awe."
Joan of Arc, vol. i. b. i. p. 126.

[393:A] Bourne's Antiquities apud Brand, p. 94, 95.

[393:B] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght, p. 6.

[394:A] Fast. lib. vi.

[394:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. p. 383, 384. Comedy of Errors, act ii. sc. 2.

[394:C] Hamlet, act 4. sc. 5.

[394:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 280. note 3.

[395:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 577. note 5.

[395:B] Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 171. 4to. edit.

[395:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 576.

[395:D] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 408.

[396:A] Ancient British Drama, vol. iii. p. 41.

[396:B] Villanies discovered by lanthorn and candle light, chap. xv.—For some modern tributes to the supposed charity of this domestic little bird, I refer my readers to the first volume of Literary Hours, 3d. edit. p. 65. et seq.

[396:C] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. i. p. 179.

[396:D] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 177.

[396:E] Description of King Priam's Palace, lib. ii.

[396:F] Vide Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 229.

[397:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xv. p. 84. Act ii. sc. 3.

[397:B] Ibid. vol. xxi. p. 56.

[397:C] Ibid. vol. xvi. p. 39. Act i. sc. 4.

[397:D] Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 632. Act v. sc. 5.

[397:E] Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 151. Act ii. sc. 2.

[397:F] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 465.

[398:A] Thalaba the Destroyer, vol. i. p. 39-41. edit. 1801.

[399:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 306.

[400:A] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght, p. 51.

[400:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 142, 143. Act iv. sc. 1.