Did an Egyptian to my mother give;
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people."

And in the same play (i. 1), Brabantio asks:

"Is there not charms,
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abus'd?"

Again, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (iii. 2), Benedick, who is
represented as having the toothache, after listening to the banter of
his comrades, replies: "Yet is this no charm for the toothache."

Perfect silence seems to have been regarded as indispensable for the
success of any charm; and Pliny informs us that "favete linguis" was the
usual exclamation employed on such an occasion. From this circumstance
it has been suggested that the well-known phrase "to charm a tongue" may
have originated. Thus we have the following dialogue in "Othello" (v.
2):

"_Iago._ Go to, charm your tongue.

_Emilia._ I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak."

Thus, on the appearance, amid thunder, of the first apparition to
Macbeth, after the witches have performed certain charms (iv. 1),
Shakespeare introduces the following dialogue:

"_Macbeth._ Tell me, thou unknown power--

_First Witch._ He knows thy thought:
Hear his speech, but say thou nought."

Again, in "The Tempest" (iv. 1), Prospero says:

"hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd."

_Metrical Charms._ There was a superstition long prevalent that life
might be taken away by metrical charms.[941] Reginald Scot, in his
"Discovery of Witchcraft" (1584), says: "The Irishmen addict themselves,
etc.; yea, they will not sticke to affirme that they can _rime_ a man to
death." In "1 Henry VI." (i. 1), the Duke of Exeter, referring to the
lamented death of Henry V., says:

"Shall we think the subtle-witted French
Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him,
By magic verses have contrived his end?"

[941] See, under _Rat_, a similar superstition noticed.

These "magic verses," to which the death of Henry V. is here attributed,
were not required to be uttered in his presence; their deadly energy
existing solely in the words of the imprecation and the malevolence of
the reciter, which were supposed to render them effectual at any
distance.

Again, the alphabet was called the Christ-cross-row; either because a
cross was prefixed to the alphabet in the old primers, or, more
probably, from