When they hold no proportion, the sly charms
Of the Witch Policy makes him like a monster.
(III. i. 22.)
Compare Antony’s words:
Sometime we see a cloud that’s dragonish:
A vapour sometimes like a bear or lion ...
.... Here I am Antony:
Yet cannot hold this visible shape.
(IV. xiv. 2 and 13.)
It is hard to believe that there is no connection between these passages, and if there is Shakespeare must have been the debtor; but as Bussy d’Ambois was acted before 1600, this loan is without much value as a chronological indication.