py low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

Caesar, whom Shakespeare characterizes as "the foremost man of all this
world," says:--

"Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights."

And again, it is not an "old man broken with the storms of state" whom
he describes when he says:--

"Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies
Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound."

The poet also in various passages expresses his emphatic belief as to
what is the brightest blessing or the deadliest calamity which can be
laid upon our frail humanity. Rarely is a blessing invoked which does
not include the wish for tranquil sleep; and this, too, as the best and
greatest boon of all. His gracious benediction may compass honors and
wealth and happiness and fame,--that one's "name may dwell forever in
the mouths of men;" but

"The earth hath bubbles as the water hath,
And these are of them,"

as compared with the royal benison, "Sleep give thee all his rest."

The spectres of the princes and Queen Anne, in "Richard III.," invoking
every good upon Richmond, say:--

"Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace and wake in joy."

And again:--

"Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep."

Romeo's dearest wish to Juliet is,--

"Sleep dwell upon thine eyes; peace in thy breast."

The crowning promise of Lady Mortimer, in "Henry IV.," is that

"She will sing the song that pleaseth thee,
And on thy eyelids crown the god of sleep."

Titania promises her fantastic lover,--

"I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep."

Titus, welcoming again to Rome the victorious legions, says of the
heroes who have fallen:

"There greet in silence, as the dead are wont,
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars,"

promising them that in the land of the blest

"are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep."

Constantly also in anathemas throughout the plays are invoked, as the
deadliest of curses, broken rest and its usual accompaniment of
troublous dreams. Thus note the climax in Queen Margaret's curse upon
the traitorous Gloster:--

"If Heaven have any grievous plague in store
Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee,
Oh, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe,
And then