Hecate. Titty and Tiffin, Suckin and Pidgen, Liard and Robin white spirits, black spirits, grey spirits, red spirits! devil- toad, devil-ram, devil-cat, and devil-dam why, Hoppo and Stadlin," Hellwain" and Puckle!
Stadlin. [within] Here, sweating at the vessel.
Hec. Boil it well.
Hoppo. [within] It gallops now.
Hec. Are the flames blue enough?
Or shall I use a little seething more?
Stad. [within]. The nips of fairies upon maids' white hips
Are not more perfect azure.
Hec. Tend it carefully.
Send Stadlin to me with a brazen dish,
That I may fall to work upon these serpents,
And squeeze 'em ready for the second hour:
Why, when?
[Enter Stadlin with a dish.]
Stad. Here's Stadlin and the dish.
Hec. There, take this unbaptised brat;"
[Giving the dead body of a child.]
Boil it well; preserve the fat:
You know 'tis precious to transfer
Our 'nointed flesh into the air,
In moonlight nights, on steeple-tops,
Mountains, and pine-trees, that like pricks or stops
Seem to our height; high towers and roofs of princes
Like wrinkles in the earth; whole provinces
Appear to our sight then even leek
A russet mole upon some lady's cheek.
When hundred leagues in air, we feast and sing,
Dance, kiss, and coll, use every thing:
What young man can we wish to pleasure us,
But we enjoy him in an incubus?
fr. The Witch,
by Thomas Middleton.
An interesting Halloween game might be to figure out how some of the words were then pronounced based upon the lines that end in perfect rhymes.
Another might be to figure out why this illustration from Macbeth is totally appropriate to Middleton’s play. Toward that end I supply a couple of links to a couple of my pieces:
“Account of a Performance of Macbeth: April 20, 1611.”
“The Nymphs of Doctor Foreman’s Macbeth.”
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