Third Charm from Masque of Queens

Summary

The Third Charm from Ben Jonson’s Masque of Queens is a vivid, rhythmic witch's incantation, brimming with nocturnal and supernatural imagery. In this chant, a coven of witches invokes darkness, natural omens, and violent ritual as they prepare to summon power and unleash destruction. The charm blends folk superstition with poetic invention, describing an eerie nocturnal scene where animals stir, the moon turns red, and the ritual nears its climax—needing only blood to complete the spell. Jonson fuses the theatrical with the occult, capturing early 17th-century fears of witchcraft and the grotesque.


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The owl is abroad, the bat, and the toad,
And so is the cat-a-mountain,
The ant and the mole sit both in a hole,
And the frog peeps out o’ the fountain;
The dogs they do bay, and the timbrels play,
The spindle is now a turning;
The moon it is red, and the stars are fled,
But all the sky is a-burning:

The ditch is made, and our nails the spade,
With pictures full, of wax and of wool;
Their livers I stick, with needles quick;
There lacks but the blood, to make up the flood.
Quickly, Dame, then bring your part in,
Spur, spur upon little Martin,
Merrily, merrily, make him fail,
A worm in his mouth, and a thorn in his tail,
Fire above, and fire below,
With a whip in your hand, to make him go.