“The early village cock” (Richard III. Act v. Sc. 3), “the trumpet to the morn” (Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1), is often
noticed by Shakespeare. In the prologue to the fourth act of King Henry V.—
“The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.”
COCK-CROW.
Steevens has shown that the popular notion of a phantom disappearing at cock-crow is of very ancient date. The conversation of Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus, on the subject of Hamlet’s ghost, affords a good illustration of this:—
“Bern. It was about to speak, when the cock crew!
Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,