ene more imposing. If a
European, a stranger to Africa, had been placed on a sudden in the midst
of the terror-struck people, he would have imagined himself to be among
a legion of demons, holding a revel over a fallen spirit."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 159: _Bibliographie Astronomique._ Paris, 1803. Indexed at
p. 938.]

[Footnote 160: _Authentic Account of an Embassy to China_, by Sir G.
Staunton.]

[Footnote 161: Fourth Series, vol. v. p. 676. October 24, 1868.]

[Footnote 162: _Report U.S. Coast Survey_, 1869, p. 179.]

[Footnote 163: Letter published in the _Philadelphia Inquirer_.]

[Footnote 164: _A Practical Treatise on Eclipses_, p. 2.]

[Footnote 165: _Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Niger_, vol.
i. p. 366.]

CHAPTER XIX.

ECLIPSES IN SHAKESPEARE AND THE POETS.

The sound of these words may be large but facts do not bear out the
theory, for eclipses do not appear to have captivated our great poets to
anything like the extent that Moon, Stars, and Comets have done.

Shakespeare has a few allusions to eclipses, but they are not of prime
importance. In _Macbeth_ we find:--

"And slips of yew
Shivered in the Moon's eclipse"
--Act iv. sc. 1.

the precise meaning of which is not very obvious. "Shivered" of course
means divided into pieces, but the idea intended is obscure.

The next quotation is more comprehensive and reflects more plainly the
current of thought prevalent in Shakespeare's day, albeit here again the
word "eclipse" will be found to stand without much definite connection
with what goes before. However the reader shall judge for himself:--

"As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the Sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune's Empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse."
--_Hamlet_, act i. sc. 1.

In _King Lear_ we seem to come upon something very definitely
historical, but I am not able to say what it is. The Earl of Gloster
says:--

"These late eclipses in the Sun and Moon portend no good to us."

With this, Edmund, Gloster's son, apparently agrees, for he exclaims:--

"These eclipses do portend these divisions."
--Act i. sc. 2.

In _Othello_, the Moor of Venice himself, in a moment of excitement,
says:--

"O, insupportable! O, heavy hour!
Methinks it