, in
consequence, as was supposed, of the influence of the moon. The best
account of this fabulous substance may be found in Drayton's poem with
that title. Trinculo, in "The Tempest" (ii. 2), supposes Caliban to be a
moon-calf: "I hid me under the dead moon-calf's gaberdine." It has been
suggested that in calling Caliban a moon-calf Shakespeare alluded to a
superstitious belief formerly current, in the intercourse of demons and
other non-human beings with mankind. In the days of witchcraft, it was
supposed that a class of devils called Incubi and Succubi roamed the
earth with the express purpose of tempting people to abandon their
purity of life. Hence, all badly deformed children were suspected of
having had such an undesirable parentage.[121]

[121] See Williams's "Superstitions of Witchcraft," pp.
123-125; Scot's "Discovery of Witchcraft," bk. iv. p. 145.

A curious expression, "a sop o' the moonshine," occurs in "King Lear"
(ii. 2), which probably alludes to some dish so called. Kent says to the
steward, "Draw, you rogue; for, though it be night, yet the moon shines;
I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you."

There was a way of dressing eggs, called "eggs in moonshine," of which
Douce[122] gives the following description: "Eggs were broken and boiled
in salad oil till the yolks became hard. They were eaten with slices of
onion fried in oil, butter, verjuice, nutmeg, and salt." "A sop in the
moonshine" must have been a sippet in this dish.[123]

[122] "Illustrations of Shakespeare," 1839, p. 405.

[123] Nares's "Glossary," 1872, vol. ii. p. 580.

_Planets._ The irregular motion of the planets was supposed to portend
some disaster to mankind. Ulysses, in "Troilus and Cressida" (i. 3),
declares how:

"when the planets
In evil mixture, to disorder wander,
What plagues and what portents! what mutiny!
What raging of the sea! shaking of earth!
Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixture."

Indeed, the planets themselves were not thought, in days gone by, to be
confined in any fixed orbit of their own, but ceaselessly to wander
about, as the etymology of their name demonstrates. A popular name for
the planets was "wandering stars," of which Cotgrave says, "they bee
also called wandering starres, because they never keep one certain place
or st