Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 1 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets—

—Stars with trains of fire and dews of blood 'appear'd,'

Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,

Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,

Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse:"[352:A]

and again, as predictive of the same event, he adds, in another place—

—————— "There is one within,

Besides the things that we have heard and seen,

Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.