Yet on her death-bed when fhee laye,
Shee prayed for thy profperitye,
Befeeching god, that every day
Might breed thee great felicitye:

;

Thus by thy meanes I loft a friend
Heaven fend thee fuch untimely end.

When he these lines, full fraught with gall,
Perufed had, and weighed them right,

His lofty courage 'gan to fall;

And ftraight appeared in his fight

Queene Dido's ghoft, both grim and pale;
Which made this valliant fouldier quail.

Eneas, quoth this ghaftly ghost,

My whole delight while I did live, i

Thee of all men I loved moft

To thee my fancye I did gives And for the welcome I thee gave, Unthankfully thou didst me grave. Į

Therefore prepare thy fleeting foule

To wander with me in the ayre;
Where deadlye griefe fhall make it howle,

Because of me thou tookst no care:

Delay not time, thy glasse is run,

Thy date is paft, thy life is done.

O ftay a while, thou lovelye fpright,

Be not fo hafty to convay

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100

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115

My foule into eternal night,

Where it shall ne'er behold bright day.
O doe not frown, thy angry looke
Hath all my foule with horror fhooke.

But, woe is me! all is in vaine,
And bootleffe is my dismall crye ;
Time will not be recall'd againe,

Nor thou furceafe before I dye.
O let me live, and make amends
To fome of thy most dearest friends.

But feeing thou obdurate art,
And wilt no pitye on me showe,
Becaufe from thee I did depart,

And left unpaid what I did owe:
I must content myself, to take
What lott to me thou wilt partake.

And thus, as one being in a trance,
A multitude of uglye fiends
About this woefull prince did dance;

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He had no helpe of any friends:

His body then they tooke away,
And no man knew his dying day.

XXIII. THE

THE

XXIII.

WITCHES'

SONG

- From Ben Jonson's Mafque of Queens, prefented at Whitehall, Feb. 2, 1609.

The editor thought it incumbent on him to infert fome old pieces on the popular fuperftition concerning witches, bobgoblins, fairies, and ghofts. The last of thefe make their appearance in most of the tragical ballads; and in the following fangs will be found fome defcription of the former.

It is true, this fong of the Witches, falling from the learned pen of Ben Jonjon, is rather an extract from the various incantations of claffic antiquity, than a display of the opinions of our own vulgar. But let it be observed, that a parcel of learned wifeacres had just before bufied themfelves on this fubject, with our British Solomon James I. at their head: and thefe had fo ranfacked all writers ancient and modern, and so blended and kneaded together the feveral fuperftitions of different times and nations, that thofe of genuine English growth could no longer be traced out and diftinguished.

By good luck the whimsical belief of fairies and goblins could furnish no pretences for torturing our fellow-creatures, and therefore we have this handed down to us pure and unfophifticated.

I

I WITCH.

Have beene all day looking after

A raven feeding upon a quarter;

And, foone as she turn'd her beak to the south,

I fnatch'd this morfell out of her mouth.

2 WITCH.

I have beene gathering wolves haires,

The mad dogges foame, and adders eares ;

5

0 4

The

The fpurging of a deadmans eyes:

And all fince the evening starre did rise.

3 WITCH.

I last night lay all alone

O' the ground, to heare the mandrake grone;
And pluckt him up, though he grew full low :
And, as I had done, the cocke did crow.

4 WITCH.

10

And I ha' beene chufing out this fcull
From charnell houses that were full;
From private grots, and publike pits;

15

And frighted a fexton out of his wits.

5

WITCH.

Under a cradle I did

creepe

By day; and, when the childe was a-fleepe
At night, I fuck'd the breath; and rofe,
And pluck'd the nodding nurfe by the nose.

6 WITCH..

I had a dagger: what did I with that?
Killed an infant to have his fat.

A piper it got, at a church-ale,

I tade him again blow wind i' the taile.

A murderer, yonder, was hung in chaines;

The funne and the wind had trunke his veines:

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25

I bit

I bit off a finew; I clipp'd his haire;

I brought off his ragges, that danc'd i'the ayre.

8 WITCH.

The fcrich-owles egges, and the feathers blacke,
The bloud of the frogge, and the bone in his backe 36
I have been getting; and made of his skin

A purfet, to keepe fir Cranion in.

9 WITCH.

And I ha' beene plucking (plants among)
Hemlock, henbane, adders-tongue,

Night-fhade, moone-wort, libbards-bane ;
And twife by the dogges was like to be tane.

10 WITCH.

I from the jawes of a gardiner's bitch

Did fnatch these bones, and then leap'd the ditch :
Yet went I back to the house againe,

Kill'd the blacke cat, and here is the braine.

II WITCH.

I went to the toad, breedes under the wall,

I charmed him out, and he came at my call;

I fcratch'd out the eyes of the owle before;

tore the batts wing: what would you have more?

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40

DAME.

Yes: I have brought, to helpe your vows,

45

Horned poppie, cypreffe boughes,

The