Sir Francis Drake, by due deserte, may weare the goulden palme.”
How similar, in part at least, is the sentiment in Hamlet (act v. sc. 2, l. 8, vol. viii. p. 164),—
“Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well
When our deep plots do pall; and that should learn us
There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”
In the Emblem we may note the girdle by which Drake’s ship is guided; may it not have been the origin of Puck’s fancy in the Midsummer Night’s Dream (act ii. sc. 1, l. 173, vol. ii. p. 216), when he answers Oberon’s strict command,—
“And be thou here again
Ere the Leviathan can swim a league.
Puck. I’ll put a girdle round about the earth