36 



KNOWLEDGE 



[February 1, 1893. 



ou men and mundane affairs was deeph' rooted in the 

 popular mind. Consequently we find frequent allusions 

 to this celestial influence, and tlie power of the planets to 

 " strike." Yet in two places the master is bold enough to 

 avow, through his characters, his disbelief in astrology. 

 Cassius in .Tiiliiii C<rmr observes— 



■■ The fault, dear Brutus, is not iu our stars, 

 But iu ourselves, that we are underlings." 



Again, in Kinii Liar, we have the following thoroughly 

 Shakspearean bit of dialogue — 



Ctlo. : " These late eclipses in the sun and maon porteu J m good to 

 us : though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet 

 nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects, ' etc. 



Edmfxd : '" This is the excellent foppery of the world ! that, when 

 we are sick in fortune (often the surfeit of our own behariour), we make 

 guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars : as if we were 

 villains on necessity ; fool? by heavenly compulsion ; knaves, thieves, 

 and treachers by sphericil pradominance : druukiris. liars, and 

 ad\ilterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence ; and all 

 that wc are evil in. by a divine thrusting on."' 



The rest of the passage is not quite suitable for quotation, 

 but is nevertheless soundly true. 



What strikes one in looking over the passages noted is 

 the frequent reference to the " spheres" in which the sun, 

 moon, planets and stars were supposed to move. The 

 doctrine of cri/xtdllin' sphere/: seems to have been " first 

 taught by Eudoxus, who lived about three hundred and 

 seventy years before Christ. According to this system, the 

 heavenly bodies are set like gems in hollow orbs, composed 

 of crystal so transparent that no iuuer orb obstructs in the 

 least the view of any of the orbs that lie behind it. The 

 sun and the planets have each its separate orb, but the 

 fixed stars are all set in the same grand orb : and beyond 

 this is another still, the primum mohih', which revolves 

 daily, from east to west, and carries along with it all the 

 other orbs. Above the whole spreads the iinmd nnpi/renn, 

 or third heavens, the abode of perpetual serenity." 

 (Mitchell. " Orbs of Heaven," p. 287, fourth edition.) This 

 idea seems to have been thoroughly ingrained into Shak- 

 speares mind. Of course it ia no way interfered with the 

 systems either of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe. or Copernicus. 

 A transparent sphere was provided for each planet, and the 

 difficulty was to prove that it did not exist. 



In The Tempest, Gonzalo says — 



'"You arc gentlemen of brave metal ; you would lift the moon out 

 lit her sphere, if she would continue iu it five weeks without chani'in"." 



In Miilswiuner Xh/ht's Drenni, Fairy says — 



■'I do wander everywhere 

 Swifter than the moon's sphere." 



In -Jv You Like It we find — 



"And thou, thrice crowned queen of night, sui'vey 

 With thy chaste eye from thy jwlc sphere above. . . ." 



And in A Winter's Tale — 



■■Though you would geek to unsplicrc tlie stars witli oaths." 



In Kiny John, Bastard observes — 



■■ Xow, now, you stars, that move in your right spheres, 

 Wliere be your powers ? " 



Again, the principle of each star being alone in its 

 sphere is enounced in the well-known line — 



■'Two star.- knp not their motion in one sphere." 



Then we have " the music of the spheres," and " discord 

 in the spheres " ; these and other passages showing that 

 the doctrine was a familiar one at the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century. 



The connection of the moon with the tides is clearly 

 indicated, as in Tht Tempest Prospero says — 



" His mother was a witch, and one so strong 

 Tliat could control the moon, make (lows and ebbs, 

 And deal in lier command, witliout her power." 



In Measure for Measure the moon is styled the " governess 

 of floods." 



In A Winter's Tale we read — 



" By all their influences, you may as well 

 Forbid the sea for to obey the moon." 



Also Prince Henry, in Henri/ IV., observes jocosely — 



" For the fortxmes of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and 

 flow like tlie sea : being governed as the sea is, by the moon." 



Nothing could be more correct in its way than these 

 references to the power of the moon, although the force of 

 gravity had not then been discovered by the great 

 Newton. 



Calendars or almanacs must have been in use at the 

 time. Thus, in JuUiis Ciesar, Brutus asks Lucius his 

 servant — 



■■ Is not to-morrow, boy. the ides of Afarch ? " 



and on receiving the reply that he knew not, tells him to 

 "look in the calendar," and then observes that "the 

 exhalations, whizzing in the air," gave so much light that 

 he could see to read by them. By " exhalations," meteors 

 would here seem to be meant. 



In Midsummer Xir/ht's Drenm occurs a curious passage, 

 where Hermia says — 



" rU believe as soon 

 This whole earth may be l)orcil : and that the moou 

 iVIay through the centre crceji, and so displease 

 Her brother's noontide with the Antipodes." 



The poetic image here seems to be that the earth might be 

 bored by a cylindrical passage which would just let the 

 moon through. Full moon, too, is evidently referred to, 

 with the moon on the meridian, so that it will be near 

 midnight, and the stm consequently on the meridian at the 

 Antipodes. 



Astronomical expressions occur occasionally in the 

 plays. For example, the Zodiac is employed to denominate 

 the year. Speaking of laws or punishments which have 

 long been in abeyance, Shakspeare says — 



'■ Whicli have, like unscoured armour, hung by the wall 

 So long, that nineteen Zodiacs have gone round." 



Again, we read in Titus Andronicus, " Gallops the Zodiac 

 in his glistering coach." 



The word "meridian " is brought into the following 

 beautiful passage with very happy effect. Wolsey, in 

 predicting his own downfall, says — 



■■ I have toucli'd the highest point of all my greatness : 

 And. from that full meridian of my glory, 

 I haste now to my setting. I shall fall 

 Like a bright exhalation in the evening. 

 Antl no man see me more.'' 



Most have probably witnessed, on some country walk at 

 night, the flash of a meteor across the sky and its almost 

 instantaneous disappearance. Exactly with such sudden- 

 ness and completion did Wolsey foresee his own fall. 

 Meteors are frequently referred to — not always under this 

 name, however. 



In Kin(j -lidiu, Lewis says he was more amazed 



" Than had I seen the vanity ttip of heaven 

 Figured quite o'er with burning meteors." 



Again, in Richard II. — 



*' And meteors fright the flxctl >tar> of heaven; 

 The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth," &c. 



In the same play, Salisbury, anticipatmg the downfall of 

 Richard, says — 



■'Ah, Richard ! with the eyes of lieavy mind 

 T >ee thy glory, like a shooting star. 

 Fall to the base earth from the firmament ! 

 Tliy sun sets weeping in tlic lowly west," &c. 



The sentiment here is very similar to that in Wolsey's 

 speech just quoted. 



