rles's Wain_ was the old name for the seven bright stars of the
constellation Ursa Major. The constellation was so named in honor of
Charlemagne; or, according to some, it is a corruption of chorles or
churl's, _i. e._, rustic's, wain. Chorl is frequently used for a
countryman, in old books, from the Saxon ceorl. In "1 Henry IV." (ii.
1), the Carrier says, "Charles' wain is over the new chimney."

_Music of the spheres._ Pythagoras was the first who suggested this
notion, so beautifully expressed by Shakespeare in the "Merchant of
Venice" (v. 1):

"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins."

Plato says that a siren sits on each planet, who carols a most sweet
song, agreeing to the motion of her own particular planet, but
harmonizing with the other seven. Hence Milton, in his "Arcades," speaks
of the "celestial Sirens' harmony, that sit upon the nine enfolded
spheres."

_Stars._ An astrological doctrine, which has kept its place in modern
popular philosophy, asserts that mundane events are more or less
influenced by the stars. That astronomers should have divided the sun's
course into imaginary signs of the Zodiac, was enough, says Mr.
Tylor,[124] to originate astrological rules "that these celestial signs
have an actual effect on real earthly rams, bulls, crabs, lions,
virgins." Hence we are told that a child born under the sign of the Lion
will be courageous; but one born under the Crab will not go forth well
in life; one born under the Waterman is likely to be drowned, and so
forth. Shakespeare frequently alludes to this piece of superstition,
which, it must be remembered, was carried to a ridiculous height in his
day. In "Julius Caesar" (i. 2), Cassius says:

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

[124] "Primitive Culture," vol. i. p. 131.

In the following passage in "Twelfth Night" (i. 3):

"_Sir Tob._ Were we not born under Taurus?

_Sir And._ Taurus! that's sides and heart.

_Sir Tob._ No, sir; it is legs and thighs."

"Both the knights," says Mr. Douce ("Illustrations of Shakespeare," p.
54), "are wrong in their astrology, according to the almanacs of the
time, which make Taurus govern the neck and throat."

Beatrice, in "Much Ado about Nothing" (ii. 1), says: "there was a star
danced, and under that was I b