live long, for even now death is
drawing nigh unto you, and a violent fate awaits you--about to be slain
in fight by the hands of Achilles." Aristotle tells us that the soul,
when on the point of death, foretells things about to happen. Others
have sought for the foundation of this belief in the 49th chapter of
Genesis: "And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves
together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last
days.... And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he
gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was
gathered unto his people." Whether, however, we accept this origin or
not, at any rate it is very certain that the notion in question has
existed from the earliest times, being alluded to also by Socrates,
Xenophon, and Diodorus Siculus. It still lingers on in Lancashire and
other parts of England.

Among other omens of death may be mentioned high spirits, which have
been supposed to presage impending death. Thus, in "Romeo and Juliet"
(v. 3), Romeo exclaims:

"How oft, when men are at the point of death,
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death."

This idea is noticed by Ray, who inserts it as a proverb, "It's a
lightening before death;" and adds this note: "This is generally
observed of sick persons, that a little before they die their pains
leave them, and their understanding and memory return to them--as a
candle just before it goes out gives a great blaze." It was also a
superstitious notion that unusual mirth was a forerunner of adversity.
Thus, in the last act of "Romeo and Juliet" (sc. 1) Romeo comes on,
saying:

"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 unaccustom'd spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts."

Immediately, however, a messenger enters to announce Juliet's death.

In "Richard III." (iii. 2), Hastings is represented as rising in the
morning in unusually high spirits. Stanley says:

"The lords at Pomfret, when they rode from London,
Were jocund, and suppos'd their state was sure,
And they, indeed, had no cause to mistrust;
But yet, you see, how soon the day o'ercast."

This idea, it may be noted, runs throughout the whole scene. Before
dinner-time, Hastings was beheaded.

Once more, in "2 Henry IV." (iv.