No More Learning

Just what connection Gresham and Savory had with the Overbury
plot is a difficult matter to determine. Both are spoken of as
following Forman immediately, and of neither is any successor
mentioned except the actual poisoner, Franklin. It seems
probable that Gresham was the first to be employed after Forman,
and that his own speedy death led to the selection of Savory.
How the latter managed to escape a more serious implication in
the trial it is difficult to conceive.

=1. 2. 6-9 christalls, . . . characters. = As in other fields,
Jonson is well versed in magic lore. Lumps of crystal were one
of the regular means of raising a demon. Bk. 15, Ch. 16 of
Scot's _Discovery of Witchcraft_, 1584, is entitled: 'To make a
spirit appear in a christall', and Ch.
12 shows 'How to enclose
a spirit in a christall stone. '

Lilly (_History_, p. 78) speaks of the efficacy of 'a
constellated ring' in sickness, and they were doubtless
considered effective in more sinister dealings. Jonson has
already spoken of the devil being carried in a thumb-ring
(see note P. 6).

Charms were usually written on parchment. In Barrett's _Magus_,
Bk. 2, Pt. 3. 109, we read that the pentacle should be drawn
'upon parchment made of a kid-skin, or virgin, or pure clean
white paper. '

That parts of the human body belonged to the sorcerer's
paraphernalia is shown by the Statute 1 Jac. I. c. xii, which
contains a clause forbidding conjurors to 'take up any dead
man woman or child out of his her or their grave . . .