CHAPTER XX 

 SHAKESPEARE'S "SEVEN STARS" 



THE deathless works of Shakespeare contain many 

 astronomical allusions, as do those of Tennyson and 

 Dante. 



In the second scene of the First Part of King Henry 

 IV, we have Prince Hal inquiring of FalstafT what he 

 has to do with the time of the day, and telling him that 

 " unless hours were cups of sack and minutes capons, 

 I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous 

 to demand the time of the day." Whereupon Falstaff 

 makes answer: " Indeed, you come near me now, 

 Hal ; for we that take purses go by the moon and the 

 seven stars, and not by Phoebus he, that wandering 

 knight so fair." 



What did Shakespeare mean by the " seven stars " ? 

 One commentator thinks they are probably the " con- 

 stellation Pleiades," though, it may be mentioned, the 

 Pleiades are a star-cluster rather than a constellation, 

 in that they form part of the constellation Taurus, as 

 do the Hyades. 



I think that Mr. H. Metcalfe, of Fleetwood, is likely 

 to be more correct, when, in some manuscript notes he 

 has just shown me, he expresses the opinion that 

 Shakespeare meant " the Great Bear's seven stars." 

 Mr. Metcalfe points out that Shakespeare nowhere 

 mentions the Pleiades. He does, however, refer to 



167 



