Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners: / with Dissertations on the Clowns and Fools of Shakspeare; on a Collection of Popular Tales Entitled Gesta Romanorum; and on the English Morris dance.

by Francis Douce

So Banquo in Macbeth:

"Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose."

An ancient hymn by Saint Ambrose goes to the same point:

"Procul recedant somnia
Et noctium phantasmata:
Hostemque nostrum comprime
Ne polluantur corpora."

The demon who was supposed to have particular influence in these nocturnal illusions, was Asmodeus, the lame devil of whom Mons. Le Sage has made such admirable use. In expelling him, the sign of the cross was most efficacious; a very old practice on similar occasions, as we learn from the following lines in Prudentius:—

"Fac, cum vocante somno
Castum petis cubile
Frontem, locumque cordis
Crucis figura signes.
Crux pellit omne crimen,
Fugunt crucem tenebræ:
Tali dicata signo
Mens fluctuare nescit.
Procul, ô procul vagantum
Portenta somniorum,
Procul esto pervicaci
Præstigiator astu."

Relics of saints, images of the holy Virgin, sanctified girdles, and a variety of other amulets were resorted to on the same occasion, exhibiting a lamentable proof of the imbecility of human nature.

Scene 2. Page 172.

Puck. Give me your hands, if we be friends.