“Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray,
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may.”

—  Thomas Middleton, The Witch

The Witch (1616), Act v. Sc. 2. Compare: Macbeth, act iv. sc. 1. According to Steevens, "the song was, in all probability, a traditional one"; Collier says, "Doubtless it does not belong to Middleton more than to Shakespeare"; Dyce says, "There seems to be little doubt that ‘Macbeth’ is of an earlier date than ‘The Witch’".

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Thomas Middleton35
English playwright and poet 1580–1627

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