[165] Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Niger, vol. i. p. 366.
CHAPTER XIX.
ECLIPSES IN SHAKESPEARE AND THE POETS.
The sound of these words may be large but facts do not bear out the theory, for eclipses do not appear to have captivated our great poets to anything like the extent that Moon, Stars, and Comets have done.
Shakespeare has a few allusions to eclipses, but they are not of prime importance. In Macbeth we find:—
“And slips of yew
Shivered in the Moon’s eclipse”
—Act iv. sc. 1.
the precise meaning of which is not very obvious. “Shivered” of course means divided into pieces, but the idea intended is obscure.
The next quotation is more comprehensive and reflects more plainly the current of thought prevalent in Shakespeare’s day, albeit here again the word “eclipse” will be found to stand without much definite connection with what goes before. However the reader shall judge for himself:—
“As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the Sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune’s Empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.”
—Hamlet, act i. sc. 1.
In King Lear we seem to come upon something very definitely historical, but I am not able to say what it is. The Earl of Gloster says:—