xpression common in Shakespeare's day for any one born out of
wedlock is mentioned by the Bastard in "King John" (i. 1):

"In at the window, or else o'er the hatch."

The old saying also that "Hanging and wiving go by destiny" is quoted by
Nerissa in the "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 9). In "Much Ado About Nothing"
(ii. 1), Don Pedro makes use of an old popular phrase in asking Claudio:
"When mean you to go to church?" referring to his marriage.

A solemn and even melancholy air was often affected by the beaux of
Queen Elizabeth's time, as a refined mark of gentility, a most sad and
pathetic allusion to which custom is made by Arthur in "King John" (iv.
1):

"Methinks, nobody should be sad but I:
Yet, I remember, when I was in France,
Young gentlemen would be as sad as night,
Only for wantonness."[727]

[727] See Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 563.

There are frequent references to this fashion in our old writers. Thus,
in Ben Jonson's "Every Man in His Humor" (i. 3), we read: "Why, I do
think of it; and I will be more proud, and melancholy, and gentlemanlike
than I have been, I'll insure you."

CHAPTER XIV.

DEATH AND BURIAL.

From a very early period there has been a belief in the existence of a
power of prophecy at that period which precedes death. It took its
origin in the assumed fact that the soul becomes divine in the same
ratio as its connection with the body is loosened. It has been urged in
support of this theory that at the hour of death the soul is, as it
were, on the confines of two worlds, and may possibly at the same moment
possess a power which is both prospective and retrospective.
Shakespeare, in "Richard II." (ii. 1), makes the dying Gaunt exclaim,
alluding to his nephew, the young and self-willed king:

"Methinks I am a prophet new inspir'd,
And thus, expiring, do foretell of him."

Again, the brave Percy, in "1 Henry IV." (v. 4), when in the agonies of
death, expresses the same idea:

"O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue."

We may also compare what Nerissa says of Portia's father in "Merchant of
Venice" (i. 2), "Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men, at their
death, have good inspirations."

Curious to say, this notion may be traced up to the time of Homer. Thus
Patroclus prophesies the death of Hector ("Iliad," [Greek: p]. 852):
"You yourself are not destined to