ning
to place these under their pillows, that they might dream of
themselves.[674] It was also supposed that any person fasting on
Midsummer-eve, and sitting in the church-porch, would at midnight see
the spirits of those persons of that parish who would die that year come
and knock at the church-door, in the order and succession in which they
would die. Midsummer was formerly thought to be a season productive of
madness. Thus, Malvolio's strange conduct is described by Olivia in
"Twelfth Night" (iii. 4) as "A very midsummer madness." And, hence, "A
Midsummer-Night's Dream" is no inappropriate title for "the series of
wild incongruities of which the play consists."[675] The Low-Dutch have
a proverb that, when men have passed a troublesome night, and could not
sleep, "they have passed St. John Baptist's night"--that is, they have
not taken any sleep, but watched all night. Heywood seems to allude to a
similar notion when he says:

"As mad as a March hare: where madness compares,
Are not midsummer hares as mad as March hares?"

[674] "Book of Days," vol. i. p. 816; see Brand's "Pop.
Antiq.," vol. i. p. 314; Soane's "Book of the Months."

[675] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. i. pp. 336, 337.

A proverbial phrase, too, to signify that a person was mad, was, "'Tis
midsummer moon with you"--hot weather being supposed to affect the brain.

_Dog-days._ A popular superstition--in all probability derived from the
Egyptians--referred to the rising and setting of Sirius, or the Dog-star,
as infusing madness into the canine race. Consequently, the name of
"Dog-days" was given by the Romans to the period between the 3d of July
and 11th of August, to which Shakespeare alludes in "Henry VIII." (v.
3), "the dog-days now reign." It is obvious that the notion is utterly
groundless, for not only does the star vary in its rising, but is later
and later every year. According to the Roman belief, "at the rising of
the Dog-star the seas boil, the wines ferment in the cellars, and
standing waters are set in motion; the dogs, also, go mad, and the
sturgeon is blasted." The term Dog-days is still a common phrase, and it
is difficult to say whether it is from superstitious adherence to old
custom or from a belief of the injurious effect of heat upon the canine
race that the magistrates, often unwisely, at this season of the year
order them to be muzzled or tied up.

_Lammas-day_ (August 1). According to some antiqu