“And then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open, and show riches

Ready to drop upon me; that when I waked,

I cried to dream again.”

A very similar picture and sentiment to those in Coornhert are presented by Gloucester’s words in King Lear (act iv. sc. 1, l. 64, vol. viii. p. 366),—

“Here, take this purse, thou whom the heavens’ plagues

Have humbled to all strokes: that I am wretched

Makes thee the happier. Heavens, deal so still!

Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,

That slaves your ordinance, that will not see