d by some of these charms shall be
given. Life would have been intolerable but for these antidotes to
witchcraft.

Shakespeare's knowledge of Welsh Folk-lore was extensive and peculiarly
faithful, and what he says of witches in general agrees with the popular
opinion respecting them in Wales. I cannot do better than quote from
this great Folk-lorist a few things that he tells us about witches.

Mention has been made of witches taking dead bodies out of their graves
to make use of them in their enchantments, and Shakespeare, in his
description of the witches' cauldron, shows that they threw into the
seething pot many portions of human beings. The first witch in _Macbeth_
says:--

Round about the cauldron go,
In the poisoned _entrails_ throw.

The third witch mentions other things that are thrown into the pot, as:--

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged i' the dark,
_Liver of blaspheming Jew_,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
_Nose of Turk_, _and Tartar's lips_,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab.

_Macbeth_, A. IV., S. 1.

It was thought that witches could change themselves, and other people,
into the form of animals. In Wales, the cat and the hare were the
favourite animals into which witches transformed themselves, but they did
not necessarily confine themselves to these animals. They were able to
travel in the air on a broom-stick; make children ill; give maids the
nightmare; curse with madness, animals; bring misfortune on families;
hinder the dairy maid from making butter; and many more imaginary things
were placed to their credit.

The personal appearance of witches, as given by Shakespeare, corresponds
exactly with the Welsh idea of these hags. On this subject the poet
writes:--

What are these
_So wither'd and so wild in their attire_
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't?--Live you? Or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy fingers laying
Upon her skinny lips:--you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.

_Macbeth_, Act I., S. 3.

A striking and pathetic portrait of a witch, taken from _Otway's Orphan_,
Act. II., is given in No. 117 of the _Specta