Dreams are but interludes, which fancy makes;
When monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes.
_Fables: The Cock and the Fox_. J. DRYDEN.
'Twas but a dream,--let it pass,--let it vanish like so many others!
What I thought was a flower is only a weed, and is worthless.
_Courtship of Miles Standish, Pt. VIII_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
One of those passing rainbow dreams,
Half light, half shade, which fancy's beams
Paint on the fleeting mists that roll,
In trance or slumber, round the soul!
_Lalla Rookh: Fire Worshippers_. T. MOORE.
If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand:
My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;
And all this day an unaccustomed spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams
Call to the soul when man doth sleep,
So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted dreams,
And into glory peep.
_Ascension Hymn_. H. VAUGHAN.
When to soft Sleep we give ourselves away,
And in a dream as in a fairy bark
Drift on and on through the enchanted dark
To purple daybreak--little thought we pay
To that sweet bitter world we know by day.
_Sonnet: Sleep_. T.B. ALDRICH.
Dreams are the children of an idle brain.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act_ i. _Sc_. 4. SHAKESPEARE.