Thou art a gem no stranger’s eye must see,
Howe’er thou ‘rt pleas’d now to look dull on me.
[Exit Bianca.
The Witch of Middleton is his most remarkable performance; both on its own account, and from the use that Shakespear has made of some of the characters and speeches in his Macbeth. Though the employment which Middleton has given to Hecate and the rest, in thwarting the purposes and perplexing the business of familiar and domestic life, is not so grand or appalling as the more stupendous agency which Shakespear has assigned them, yet it is not easy to deny the merit of the first invention to Middleton, who has embodied the existing superstitions of the time, respecting that anomalous class of beings, with a high spirit of poetry, of the most grotesque and fanciful kind. The songs and incantations made use of are very nearly the same. The other parts of this play are not so good; and the solution of the principal difficulty, by Antonio’s falling down a trap-door, most lame and impotent. As a specimen of the similarity of the preternatural machinery, I shall here give one entire scene.
‘The Witches’ Habitation.
Enter Heccat, Stadlin, Hoppo, and other Witches.
Hec. The moon’s a gallant: see how brisk she rides.
Stad. Here’s a rich evening, Heccat.
Hec. Aye, is ‘t not, wenches,
To take a journey of five thousand miles?