“Whose approach
Comets forewarn.”[143]
Dew. Among the many virtues ascribed to dew was its supposed power over the complexion, a source of superstition which still finds many believers, especially on May morning. All dew, however, does not appear to have possessed this quality, some being of a deadly or malignant quality. Thus Ariel, in “The Tempest” (i. 2), speaks of the “deep brook” in the harbor:
“where once
Thou call’dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still vex’d Bermoothes.”
And Caliban (i. 2), when venting his rage on Prospero and Miranda, can find no stronger curse than the following:
“As wicked dew as e’er my mother brush’d,
With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both!”
It has been suggested that in “Antony and Cleopatra” (iii. 12) Shakespeare may refer to an old notion whereby the sea was considered the source of dews as well as rain. Euphronius is represented as saying:
“Such as I am, I come from Antony:
I was of late as petty to his ends
As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf
To his grand sea.”
According to an erroneous notion formerly current, it was supposed that the air, and not the earth, drizzled dew—a notion referred to in “Romeo and Juliet” (iii. 5):
“When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew.”
And in “King John” (ii. 1):