icture said to be portrayed in the porch of the
temple of Minerva, at Sais, in which is the figure of a river-horse,
denoting "murder, impudence, violence, and injustice; for they say that
he killeth his sire and ravisheth his own dam." His account is, no
doubt, taken from Plutarch's "Isis and Osiris;" and Shakespeare may have
read it in Holland's translation (p. 1300), but why he should call the
river-horse a "sea-monster" is not very clear. It is more likely,
however, that the whale is meant.[937]

[935] Wright's "Notes to King Lear," 1877, p. 133.

[936] "Travels," 1673, p. 105.

[937] Cf. "King Lear," iv. 2; "Troilus and Cressida," v. 5;
"All's Well that End's Well," iv. 3.

CHAPTER XXII.

SUNDRY SUPERSTITIONS.

_Almanacs._ In Shakespeare's day these were published under this title:
"An Almanack and Prognostication made for the year of our Lord God,
1595." So, in the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 3), Autolycus says: "the hottest
day prognostication proclaims;" that is, the hottest day foretold in the
almanac. In Sonnet xiv. the prognostications in almanacs are also
noticed:

"Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or season's quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind:
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find."

In "Antony and Cleopatra" (i. 2) Enobarbus says: "They are greater
storms and tempests than almanacs can report;" and in "2 Henry IV." (ii.
4), Prince Henry says: "Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction! what
says the almanac to that?"

_Amulets._ A belief in the efficacy of an amulet or charm to ward off
diseases and to avert contagion has prevailed from a very early period.
The use of amulets was common among the Greeks and Romans, whose amulets
were principally formed of gems, crowns of pearls, necklaces of coral,
shells, etc. The amulet of modern times has been of the most varied
kinds; objects being selected either from the animal, vegetable, or
mineral kingdom, pieces of old rags or garments, scraps of writing in
legible or illegible characters, in fact, of anything to which any
superstitious property has been considered to belong.[938] This form of
superstition is noticed in "1 Henry VI." (v. 3), in the scene laid at
Angiers, where La Pucelle exclaims: