"AS STARS WITH TRAINS OF FIRE," ETC.
(Vol. v., p. 75.)
Your correspondent A. E. B. has shown on more than one occasion so high
an appreciation of the wonderful powers of Shakspeare, and his
speculations in connexion therewith are so ingenious, that I feel
considerable regret when I am compelled to dissent from his conclusions.
I believe with him, that Shakspeare's learning has been very much
underrated; but at the same time it must be confessed, that so soon as
we abandon the intuition, which some would substitute for learning, by
which his knowledge was acquired, the latter ceases to be "mysterious."
I regret, however, to say that, if it could be shown that he wrote
"asters," and with the intention which A. E. B. claims for him, my
conclusion would be against that misuse of learning which left the
meaning of a passage dependent on the antithesis between two words used
each in a sense different from the usual one, and not understood by the
audience to whom they were addressed.
Let us now take another view of the question. The purpose of the passage
is to record the occurrence of a series of omens, the harbingers of
"fierce events." "The graves _stood tenantless_;" "the sheeted dead _did
squeak and gibber_;" "the moist star _was sick almost to doomsday with
eclipse_:" each circumstance is distinct. But what did "asters with
trains of fire," and "disasters in the sun" do? Mr. Knight says that
Malone's proposal to substitute "astres" for "as stars," appears to get
rid of the difficulty; but not until the English language admits of the
formation of a perfect sentence without a verb will it do so. In short,
there is nothing gained by the substitution, as Malone saw when he
proposed to turn "disasters" into "_disasterous_," and to supply the
verb.
I have no alteration of my own to propose; but I think possibly a
suggestion as to the directions to be taken in search of the right text
may be of service. In the case of a line or lines being lost, nothing
can be done; but I discern a gleam of hope in two other directions. In
the first place it is to be observed, that the thoughts of the speaker
would in all probability be turned to _night_-portents. There is a
reference to the same circumstances in _Julius Cæsar_, Act II. Sc. 2.,
as having occurred in the night, and been seen by the watch. Now, though
there is certainly no reason why Horatio might not have enumerated spots
in the sun as one of the omens preceding terrible events, it seems
scarcely probable that it was in the order of his allusions to the
events of the "fearful night" preceding the death of Cæsar. Let the
corruption then be sought for here. Or look for a verb in the place of
"disasters" that shall intelligibly connect "the sun" with what
precedes. "As stars" must not be changed into "asters" until it can be
shown that such change is necessary to a better constructed sentence
than any which has yet been suggested.