ation in the firmament." Thus Hamlet (v. 1), approaching the grave
of Ophelia, addresses Laertes:

"What is he, whose grief
Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers?"

In Tomkis's "Albumazar" (i. 1) they are called "wanderers:"

"Your patron Mercury, in his mysterious character
Holds all the marks of the other wanderers."

According to vulgar astrology, the planets, like the stars, were
supposed to affect, more or less, the affairs of this world, a notion
frequently referred to by old writers. In "Winter's Tale" (ii. 1),
Hermione consoles herself in the thought--

"There's some ill planet reigns:
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more favourable."

In "1 Henry VI." (i. 1), the Duke of Exeter asks:

"What! shall we curse the planets of mishap
That plotted thus our glory's overthrow?"

Again, King Richard ("Richard III.," iv. 4):

"Be opposite all planets of good luck
To my proceeding."

And once more, in "Hamlet" (i. 1), Marcellus, speaking of the season of
our Saviour's birth, says, "then no planets strike."

That diseases, too, are dependent upon planetary influence is referred
to in "Timon of Athens" (iv. 3):

"Be as a planetary plague, when Jove
Will o'er some high-viced city hang his poison
In the sick air: let not thy sword skip one."

"Fiery Trigon" was a term in the old judicial astrology, when the three
upper planets met in a fiery sign--a phenomenon which was supposed to
indicate rage and contention. It is mentioned in "2 Henry IV." (ii. 4):

"_P. Hen._ Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction! what
says the almanac to that?

_Poins._ And, look, whether the fiery Trigon, his man, be not
lisping to his master's old tables."

Dr. Nash, in his notes to Butler's "Hudibras," says: "The twelve signs
in astrology are divided into four _trigons_ or triplicities, each
denominated from the connatural element; so they are three fiery
[signs], three airy, three watery, and three earthy:"

Fiery--Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.
Airy--Gemini, Libra, Aquarius.
Watery--Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.
Earthly--Taurus, Virgo, Capricornus.

Thus, when the three superior planets met in Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius,
they formed a _fiery trigon_; when in Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, a
watery one.

_Cha