94 pfant "bore, "bege"r]t)/j cmcl "bijnc/*. 



deadly Aconitmn, that sprang up from the foam of the savage 

 many-headed Cerberus, the watch-dog of the infernal regions : — 



"Medea to dispatch a dang'rous heir 

 {She knew him) did a poisonous draught prepare, 

 Drawn from a drug long while reserved in store, 

 For desp'rate uses, from the Scythian shore. 

 That from the Echidnsean monster's jaws 

 Derived its origin." 



Medea's sister, the Enchantress Circe, having been neglected 

 by a youth for whom she had conceived a passion, turned him, by 

 means of a herb potion, into a brutal shape, for 



" Love refused, converted to disdain. 

 Then, mixing powerful herbs with magic art, 

 She changed his form who could not change his heart." 



So intimate was the acquaintance of this celebrated Witch 

 with the subtle properties of all plants, that by the aid of the 

 noxious juices she extracted from them, she was enabled to exercise 

 marvellous powers of enchantment. At her bidding, 



" Now strange to tell, the plants sweat drops of blood, 

 The trees are toss'd from forests where they stood ; 

 Blue serpents o er the tainted herbaije slide, 

 Pale glaring spectres on the aether ride." 



Circe was assiduous in " simpling on the flow'ry hills," and 

 her attendants were taught to despise the ordinary occupations of 

 women : they were unburdened by household cares, 



" But culled, in canisters, disastrous flowers 



And plants from haunted heaths and Fairy bowers, 

 With brazen sickles reap'd at planetary hours 

 Each dose the goddess weighed with watchful eye; 

 Su nice her art in impious pharmacy." 



Old Gerarde tells us that Circe made use in her incantations 

 and witchcrafts of the Mullein or Hag-taper (Verbascum Thapsus) ; 

 and Gower relates of Medea that she employed the Feldwode, 

 which is probably the same plant, its Anglo-Saxon name being 

 Feldwyrt. 



" Tho toke she Feldwode and Verveine, 

 Of herbes ben nought better tweine." 



The composition of philtres, and the working of spells and 

 incantations to induce love, are amongst the most highly prized 

 of witches' functions, investing them with a power which they 

 delight to wield, and leading to much pecuniary profit. 



In Moore's 'Light of the Haram,' the Enchantress Namouna, 

 who was acquainted with all spells and talismans, instructs 

 Nourmahall to gather at midnight — " the hour that scatters spells 

 on herb and flower" — certain blossoms that, when twined into a 

 wreath, should act as a spell to recall her Selim's love. The 



