368 MAURY OX SLEEP AND DREAMS. 



and the Greek dramatists down to Virgil, Ovid, Statius, 

 &c., we have abundant passages finely describing or 

 invoking sleep, but it is the poetry only of the subject. 

 We must not, however, quit this topic without referring 

 to those many striking passages in Shakspeare where 

 the genius of the man revels in the wild, fantastic world 

 of our sleeping existence. He grasped human nature 

 too universally to leave untouched this wonderful part 

 of it. We need but refer to the passages in ' Henry 

 IV.,' ' Eichard III.,' 'Borneo and Juliet,' 'Macbeth,' 

 and ' Midsummer Night's Dream,' in proof of what we 

 are saying. The memory of our readers will furnish 

 them with numerous other passages on the subject 

 from English, German, and Italian poets, but none, 

 we think, so abounding in thought and poetry as those 

 of Shakspeare. 



We have already stated our reason for taking M. 

 Maury's volume as the text for our article. We learn 

 from his preface that he has zealously devoted himself 

 to the subject for a long series of years, embodying 

 his researches in successive publications, of which this 

 is the latest. These researches comprise certain curious 

 methods of experiment, ingeniously devised, and, as far 

 as we know, never systematically used before. We 

 cannot better illustrate these methods than by giving 

 his own words. After speaking of the need of long, 

 continuous, and cautious observation, to obtain any 

 assured results, he adds : 



Je m'observe tantot dans mon lit, tantot dans mon 

 fauteuil, au moment ou le sommeil me gagne. Je note 



