"_Old M._ Threescore and ten I can remember well: Within the volume of which time, I have seen Hours dreadful, and things strange; but this sore night Hath trifled former knowings. _Rosse._ Ah, good father, Thou see'st the heavens, as troubled with man's act, Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock, 'tis day, And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: Is it night's predominance, or the day's shame, That darkness does the face of earth intomb, When living light should kiss it? _Old M._ 'Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last, A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at, and kill'd. _Rosse._ And Duncan's horses, (a thing most strange and certain,) Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make War with mankind. _Old M._ 'Tis said, they eat each other. _Posse._ Thy did so; to the amazement of mine eyes, That look'd upon't."[353:A] In the play of _King Richard II._ also, the poet has with great taste and skill selected the following prodigies, as forerunners of the death or fall of kings:— "'Tis thought, the king is dead; we will not stay. The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd, And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth, And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change; Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,— The one, in fear to lose what they enjoy, The other, to enjoy by rage and war: These signs forerun the death or fall of kings."[354:A] Omens of the same portentous kind are said to have attended the births of Owen Glendower and Richard III., and Shakspeare has accordingly availed himself of the tradition in a manner equally poetical and striking; the former says of himself,— ———————— "At my nativity, The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, Of burning cressets; and, at my birth, The frame and huge foundation of the earth Shak'd like a coward:—— The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields:"[354:B] and Henry VI., in his interview with Richard in the Tower, reproaching the tyrant for his cruelties, tells him, as indicative of his future deeds, that "The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign; The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time; Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempests shook down trees; The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top, And chattering pies in dismal discords sung."[354:C] _Dreams_, considered as prognostics of good or evil, are frequently introduced by Shakspeare. "My dreams will sure prove ominous to day," exclaims Andromache[355:A]; while Romeo declares,