Webster's White Devil. John Webster, who wrote in the early part of the 17th century, was a dramatist noted for his tragedies, among which The White Devil (1612) is reckoned one of the best. Of his biography nothing worth mentioning is known.
Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy. See on [page 57] above.
Reginald Scot, who died in 1599, is chiefly known by his Discoverie of Witchcraft, the main facts concerning which are given here.
Page 91.—Wierus. The Latin form of the name of Weier, a German physician, who in 1563 published a book (De Præstigiis Demonum) in which the general belief in magic and witchcraft was attacked.
We infer that Shakespeare had read Scot's book. However this may be, we are sure that he had read a book by Dr. Samuel Harsnet (1561–1631) entitled Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures, etc., under the pretence of casting out devils (1603), from which he took the names of some of the devils in Lear (iii. 4).
Page 96.—Henry Peacham. "A travelling tutor, musician, painter, and author," who wrote on drawing and painting, etiquette, education, etc. His father, whose name was the same, was also an author, and it is doubtful whether certain books were written by him or by his son.
Roger Ascham (1515–1568) was a noted classical scholar and author. He was tutor to Elizabeth (1548–1550), and Latin Secretary to Mary and Elizabeth (1553–1568). His chief works were the Toxophilus (1545) and the Scholemaster (see [page 115] below).
Page 97.—Took on him as a conjurer. Pretended to be a conjurer. Compare 2 Henry IV. iv. 1. 60: "I take not on me here as a physician."
Page 98.—Who could speak Latin, etc. Latin, the language of the church, was used in exorcising spirits. Compare Hamlet (i. 1. 42), where, on the appearance of the Ghost, Marcellus says: "Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio." So in Much Ado About Nothing (ii. 1. 264), Benedick, after comparing Beatrice to "the infernal Ate," adds: "I would to God some scholar would conjure her!" See also Beaumont and Fletcher, The Night-Walker, ii. 1:—