d
the Witches--Magic Arts--Macbeth's Doom--Witches'
Caldron--Macbeth admonished by Spirits--Eight Kings
and Banquo's Spirit--Noblemen warned by a
Spirit--"Antony and Cleopatra"--Dreadful
Apparition--King's Death avenged.

Shakspeare, the immortal English poet, born in the year 1564, has
assisted in no small degree to spread the knowledge of superstition.
So opportunely do his works come to support our statements, that we
are induced to give, in prose and verse, an outline of certain
portions of his compositions touching the many mysterious subjects on
which he wrote.

In the _Tempest_ there is a ship at sea in a storm, with thunder and
lightning. On board are the master, boatswain, mariners, Alonso,
Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others. The ship is
thought to be in danger; but Gonzalo tells his companions to take
comfort, for he thought the boatswain had no drowning mark upon him,
his complexion being perfectly gallows-like. "If," said Gonzalo, "he
be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable." The mariners thought
all was lost, and went to prayers.

Miranda beseeched Prospero, whom she addressed as father, to allay the
wild waters in their roar, and not suffer a brave vessel that had
noble creatures in her to sink. Prospero laid aside his magic garment;
and while Miranda slept, Ariel declared his readiness, at the request
of Prospero, to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride on the curled
clouds. In answer to Prospero's inquiry whether the spirit had
directed the tempest according to instructions, Ariel answered that he
had boarded the ship, joined Jove's lightnings, and made Neptune's
bold waves tremble. Ariel, who thought his services were most valuable
to his master, craved his liberty; for Ariel was a bound servant of
Prospero for a specified time. Prospero reminded the spirit that he
had freed him from torment; and asked if he remembered the witch
Sycorax, famed for her sorceries, and who had, by the aid of her most
potent ministers, put him (Ariel) into a cloven pine, within whose
rift he remained imprisoned for twelve years, tormented so greatly
that his groans made the wolves howl, and penetrated the breast of
every bear. Sycorax could not, proceeded Prospero, undo what she had
done; it was his art alone that made the pine gape and set him free.
Then he threatened the spirit that if he again murmured, he would send
an oak, and peg him in its knotty trunk till