That meeting sways his
destiny. He can never break the fascination. These Witches can hurt
the body; those have power over the soul.--Hecate in Middleton has a
son, a low buffoon: the hags of Shakespeare have neither child of
their own, nor seem to be descended from any parent. They are foul
anomalies, of whom we know not whence they are sprung, nor whether
they have beginning or ending. As they are without human passions,
so they seem to be without human relations. They come with thunder
and lightning, and vanish to airy music. This is all we know of
them.--Except Hecate, they have no names, which heightens their
mysteriousness. The names, and some of the properties which
Middleton has given to his hags, excite smiles. The Weird Sisters
are serious things. Their presence cannot co-exist with mirth. But,
in a lesser degree, the Witches of Middleton are fine creations.
Their power too is, in some measure, over the mind. They raise jars,
jealousies, strifes, 'LIKE A THICK SCURF O'ER LIFE.'
JULIUS CASESAR
JULIUS CAESAR was one of three principal plays by different authors,
pitched upon by the celebrated Earl of Halifax to be brought out in
a splendid manner by subscription, in the year 1707. The other two
were the King and No King of Fletcher, and Dryden's Maiden Queen.
There perhaps might be political reasons for this selection, as far
as regards our author.
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