to save her honor, and she goes to her death with a white fervor of courage, with no word of complaint, save one gentle rebuke to him that _he_ should not revile her. The aged pseudo-witch is in the main more appealing than the young one, because more realistic. Yet there is no modern instance that is so touching as the poor old crone in _The Witch of Edmonton_, who is persecuted for being a witch and who turns upon her tormentors with a speech that reminds us of Shylock's famous outcry, showing clearly how their suspicion and accusation have made her what she is. We see here a witch in the making, an innocent old woman who is harried by human beings till she makes a compact with the devil. Meg Merrilies[150] is a problematic witch, a majestic, sibylline figure, very individual and human, yet with more than a suggestion of superhuman wisdom and power. Scott limned her with a loving hand, and Keats was so impressed with her personality that he wrote a poem concerning her. Elizabeth Enderfield, in Hardy's _Under the Greenwood Tree_, is a reputed witch and witch-pricking is also tried in his _Return of the Native_. Various experiments with magic are used in Hardy's work, as the instance of the woman's touching her withered arm to the neck of a man that had been hanged, consulting the conjurer concerning butter that won't come, and so forth. Old Aunt Keziah in Hawthorne's _Septimius Felton_ might be called a problematic witch, as the woman in _The Witch_ by Eden Phillpotts. She has a great number of cats, and something dreadful happens to anyone who injures one of them; she calls the three black toads her servants and goes through incantations over a snake skeleton, the carcass of a toad, and the mummy of a cat. Mother Tab may or may not be a _bona fide_ witch, but she causes much trouble to those associated with her. [150] Of Scott's _Guy Mannering_. The unquestioned witch, possessing indubitable powers of enchantment, occurs frequently and conveys a genuine thrill. Her attributes have been less conventionalized than those of her youthful companions who are merely under the imputation of black art, and she possesses a diabolic individuality. Though she may not remain long in view, she is an impressive figure not soon forgotten. The old crone in Scott's _The Two Drovers_ gives warning to Robin Oig, "walking the deasil," as it is called, around him, tracing the propitiation which some think a reminiscence of Druidical mythology,--which is performed by walking three times round the one in danger, moving according to the course of the sun. In the midst of her incantation the hag exclaims, "Blood on your hand, and it is English blood!" True enough, before his journey's end young Robin does murder his English companion. In the same story other evidences of witchcraft are shown, as the directions for keeping away the evil influence from cattle by tying St. Mungo's knot on their tails.