Note 121 — HOGARTH ILLUSTRATED. (continued 2)

"Several of the female devotees have waxen images in their hands. Master Glanville observeth that the devil frequently bringeth unto witches a waxen picture, which they, having christened it by the name of the person they wish to torment, thrust pins into; using these words as they perform their ceremonies, Thout tout, a tout, tout, throughout and about.—Rentum, tormentum, etc. etc."—Glanville, p. 297.

How wonderful has Shakspeare appropriated these idle tales in his tragedy of Macbeth! He did not build upon the fables of Greece and Rome; but leaving the mob of heathen deities to range over the classic ground which gave them birth, leaving those writers who draw all their supplies from the fountain of antiquity to take their copious draughts unmolested, he adopted the creed of his own nation, and on the dim legends of superstition, and oral traditions of credulity, raised a superstructure which has stood the test of ages, become more admired as it has been more minutely examined, and is now gazed at with an almost idolatrous veneration.