Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/417

 The Folklore of Shakespeare. 389

the copies of the several " Examinations and confessions of the parties pretended to be possessed and dispossessed by Weston the Jesuit and his adherents ; set down word for word as they were taken upon oath before her Maiesties Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiasticall." The Bishop's book contains a full account of the various cases mentioned in the above. Much ill-considered controversy has taken place over the supposed connection of Shakespeare's witches with those introduced by Middleton in his play of The Witch. Lamb's criticism is most illuminating, and cannot be improved upon. Hazlitt was content to quote it in his Characters of Shakespeare s Plays, 18 17, without any addition of his own :

"Though some resemblance may be traced between the charms in Macbeth and the incantations in this play, which is supposed to have preceded it, this coincidence will not detract much from the originality of Shakespeare. His witches are distinguished from the witches of Middleton by essential differences. These are creatures to whom man or woman plotting some dire mischief might resort for occasional consultation. Those originate deeds of blood, and begin bad impulses to men. From the moment that their eyes first meet with Macbeth's he is spell-bound. That meeting sways his destiny. He can never break the fascination. These witches can hurt the bod)', those have power over the soul."

Lamb was mistaken as to the date of the publication of The Witch. The play was printed for the first time in 1778. The original MS. is in the Bodleian Library among Malone's books. Much of the confusion as to the witches of Shakespeare and Middleton has arisen from Davenant having used some songs from The WitcJi in the altered Macbeth attributed to him, and published in 1674, six years after his death. It may be noted that Middleton, like Shakespeare, obtained the names of his devils from Scot's Discovery.