Aye sung before the sapphire-colour'd throne,
To Him that sits thereon."[382:D]
Of the various superstitions relative to the Moon, which prevailed in the days of Shakspeare, a few are still retained. The most common is that founded on the idea of a human creature being
imprisoned in this beautiful planet. The culprit was generally supposed to be the sinner recorded in Numbers, chap. xv. v. 32., who was found gathering sticks upon the sabbath day; a crime to which Chaucer has added the iniquity of theft; for he describes this singular inhabitant as
"Bearing a bush of thornes on his backe,
Which for his theft might clime no ner the heven."[383:A]
The Italians, however, appropriate this luminary for the residence of Cain, and one of their early poets even speaks of the planet under the term of Caino e le spine.[383:B] Shakspeare, with his usual attention to propriety of character, attributes a belief in this superstition to the monster Caliban:
"Calib. Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
Steph. Out o'the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man in the moon, when time was.
Cal. I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee;