_Dreams_ are several times introduced in the course of the play, and in every instance the dream is shaped either by some passing influence, or by a coming event, which thus “casts its shadow before.” In Mercutio’s description of Queen Mab, the “fairies’ midwife,” she is represented as “delivering” the dreamers of their various fancies. In the closing scene Balthazer tells the Friar that as he slept under a yew-tree he dreamt that his master (Romeo) and another fought, and that his master killed him; which was the fact. And this bearing in sleep, and dreaming of what is actually passing, is a phenomenon which, I presume, has happened to every one. Again, Romeo says, (Act 5th, Scene 1st,) “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead,” etc.—which afterward happened. In our day, this, I suppose, would be called clairvoyance. But I must hasten to notice another point of view in which the subject is presented. 3. _Didactic expositions of the theme._ With a mere reference to Montague’s description of his son’s _humors_, in the first scene, I pass to the following speech of Benvolio in the second scene: Tut man! one fire burns out another’s burning, One pain is lessened by another’s anguish; Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning; One desperate grief cure with another’s languish; Take thou some new infection to thy eye, And the rank poison of the old will die. And thus throughout the play one passion, sentiment, or whim, is constantly _succeeding_ and _driving out_ another. Friar Laurence, as becomes his sacred character, preaches moderation wherever he appears, and constantly labors to restrain the headstrong passions of others. He first appears (Act 2d, Scene 3d) soliloquizing in his cell. After describing “flecked darkness” as reeling like a drunkard “from forth day’s path-way,” he falls into reflections on the constitution of nature. He finds a principle of good and a principle of evil in every thing that lives on the earth. And according to its fair use or abuse the one or the other of these principles prevails. Deliberation and reserve are inculcated; his mission is, to endeavor to stem the impetuous torrent that dashes around him. Thus when Romeo threatens to kill himself (Act 3d, Scene 3d) the friar paints his inconsiderate folly in most graphic and animated language. What, rouse thee man! Thy Juliet is alive For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead; There art thou happy; Tybalt would kill thee But thou slewest Tybalt; there art thou happy too; The law, that threatened death, becomes thy friend, And turns it to exile; there art thou happy; A pack of blessings lights upon thy back; Happiness courts thee in her best array; But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench, Thou poutest upon thy fortune and thy love; Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.