And when the camp of Octavius is near Alexandria (Antony and Cleopatra, act iv. sc. 6, l. 5, vol. ix. p. 109), and orders are issued to take Antony alive, Cæsar declares,

"The time of universal peace is near :

Prove this a prosperous day, the three-nook'd world

Shall bear the olive freely."

The Signs of the Zodiac, or, rather, the figures of the animals of which the zodiac is composed, were well known in Shakespeare's time from various sources; and though they are Emblems, and have given name to at least one book of Emblems that was published in 1618,*-almost within the limits to which our inquiries are confined,—some may doubt whether they strictly belong to Emblem writers. Frequently, however, are they referred to in the dramas of which we are speaking; and, therefore, it is not out of place to exhibit a representation of them. This we do from the frontispiece or title page of an old Italian astronomical work by Antonio Brucioli (see Plate XIII.), who was banished from Florence for his opposition to the Mcdici, and whose brothers, in 1532, were printers in Venice. It is not pretended that Shakespeare was acquainted with this title page, but it supplies an appropriate illustration of several astronomical phenomena to which he alludes.

The zodiac enters into the description of the advancing day in Titus Andronicus (act ii. sc. 1, 1. 5, vol. vi. p. 450),—

"As when the golden sun salutes the morn,
And, having gilt the ocean with his beams,

Gallops the zodiac in his glistering coach,
And overlooks the highest-peering hills;
So Tamora.

Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait,

And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown."

"Zodiacvs Christianvs, seu signa 12, diuinæ Prædestinationis, &c., à Kaphacle Sadelero, 12mo, p. 126, Monaci CD. DCXVIII."

It also occupies a place in a homely comparison in Measure for Measure (act i. sc. 2, 1. 158, vol. i. p. 303), to point out the duration of nineteen years, or the moon's cycle,

"This new governor

Awakes me all the enrolled penalties

Which have, like unscour❜d armour, hung by the wall

So long, that nineteen zodiacs have gone round,

And none of them been worn; and for a name

Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me: 'tis surely for a name."

The archery scene in Titus Andronicus (act iv. sc. 3, 1. 52, vol. vi. p. 501) mentions several of the constellations and the figures by which they were known. The dialogue is between Titus and Marcus,

"Tit.

You are a good archer, Marcus ;

[He gives them the arrows.

'Ad Jovem,' that's for you: here, ' Ad Apollinem : '
'Ad Martem,' that's for myself:

Here, boy, to Pallas: here, to Mercury :

To Saturn, Caius, not to Saturnine;

You were as good to shoot against the wind.

To it, boy! Marcus, loose when I bid.

Of my word, I have written to effect ;

There's not a god left unsolicited.

Marc. Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:

We will afflict the emperor in his pride.

Tit. Now, masters, draw. [They shoot.] O, well said, Lucius !

Good boy, in Virgo's lap; give it Pallas.

Marc. My Lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon ;

Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

Tit. Ha, ha!

Publius, Publius, what hast thou done?

See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horns.

Marc. This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot,

The Bull, being gall'd, gave Aries such a knock

That down fell both the Ram's horns in the court."

In allusion to the old medico-astrological idea that the

different members of the human body were under the influence of their proper or peculiar constellations, the following dialogue occurs in the Twelfth Night (act i. sc. 3, 1. 127, vol. iii. p. 231),

"Sir And.

Shall we not set about some revels?

Sir Toby. What shall we do else? were we not born under Taurus?
Sir And. Taurus! That's sides and heart.

Sir Toby. No sir; it is legs and thighs. Let me see thee caper: ha! higher: ha, ha ! excellent!"

Falstaff, in the Merry Wives of Windsor (act ii. sc. 2, l. 5, vol. i. p. 190),, vaunts of the good services which he had rendered to his companions: "I have grated upon my good friends for three reprieves for you and your coach-fellow Nym: or else you had looked through the grate, like a geminy of baboons."

In telling of the folly of waiting on Achilles (Troilus and Cressida, act ii. sc. 3, 1. 189, vol. vi. p. 175), Ulysses declares,

"That were to enlard his fat-already pride,

And add more coals to Cancer when he burns
With entertaining great Hyperion."

The figure of the ninth of the zodiacal constellations, Sagittarius, is named in Troilus and Cressida (act v. sc. 5, 1. 11, vol. vi. p. 253),

"Polixenes is slain,

Amphimachus and Thaos deadly hurt;

Patroclus ta'en or slain ; and Palamedes
;

Sore hurt and bruised: the dreadful sagittary

Appals our number.”

If it be demanded why we do not give a fuller account of these constellations, we may almost remark as the fool does