The Witch is a Jacobean play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Middleton. The play was acted by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. It is thought to have been written between 1613 and 1616; it was not printed in its own era, and existed only in manuscript until it was published by Isaac Reed in 1778.
“Let the air strike our tune,
Whilst we show reverence to yond peeping moon.”
The Witch (1616), Act v. Sc. 2. "I ’ll charm the air to give a sound, While you perform your antic round", Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 1.
“There is no hate lost between us.”
The Witch (1616), Act iv. Sc. 3. Compare: "There is no love lost between us", Cervantes, Don Quixote, book iv. chap. xxiii.; Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act iv.; David Garrick, Correspondence, 1759; Henry Fielding, The Grub Street Opera, act i. sc. 4.
“Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray,
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may.”
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’".
