elight, and would often be playing with it. The nightingale was one
night conveyed out of the cage, and being next morning diligently sought
for, could not be heard of, till Maister Mainie's devil, in one of his
fits (as it was pretended), said that the wicked spirit which was in
this examinate's sister had taken the bird out of the cage and killed it
in despite of Maister Dibdale."[83]

[83] Harsnet's "Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures," p. 225.

Even the shape of a fly was a favorite one with evil spirits, so much
so, that the term "fly" was a popular synonym for a familiar. In "Titus
Andronicus" (iii. 2) there is an allusion to this belief, where Marcus,
being rebuked by Titus for having killed a fly, gives as his reason:

"It was a black ill-favour'd fly,
Like to the empress' Moor: therefore I kill'd him."

Mr. Spalding gives the following illustrations of the superstition: "At
the execution of Urban Grandier, the famous magician of Loudun, in 1634,
a large fly was seen buzzing about the stake; and a priest promptly
seizing the opportunity of improving the occasion for the benefit of the
onlookers, declared that Beelzebub had come in his own proper person to
carry off Grandier's soul to hell. In 1664 occurred the celebrated witch
trials which took place before Sir Matthew Hale. The accused were
charged with bewitching two children, and part of the evidence against
them was that flies and bees were seen to carry into their victims'
mouths the nails and pins which they afterwards vomited."

Once more, another form devils assumed was that of a dead friend. Thus
"Hamlet" (i. 4), when he confronts the apparition, exclaims:

"Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee"--

for, as Mr. Spalding remarks, "it cannot be imagined that Hamlet
imagined that a 'goblin damned' could actually be the spirit of his dead
father; and, therefore, the alternative in his mind must be that he saw
a devil assuming his father's likeness--a form which the Evil One knew
would most incite Hamlet to intercourse."

The same idea seems present in Horatio's mind:

"What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,
That beetles o'er