“Now shine it like a Comet of revenge,
A prophet to the fall of all our foes.”
Again; in Hamlet (Act i., sc. 1) we find:—
“As stars with trains of fire, and dews of blood,
Disasters in the Sun.”
Once more; in the Taming of the Shrew (Act iii., sc. 2) we have the more general, but still emphatic enough, idea expressed by the simple words of reference to—
“Some Comet or unusual prodigy.”
Shakespeare may be said to have lived at the epoch when astrology was in high favour, and it may be that he only gave utterance to the current opinion prevalent among all classes in those still somewhat “Dark Ages” (so called). This, however, can hardly be said of the author of my next quotation—John Milton (Paradise Lost, bk. II.):—
“Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a Comet burned,