One naturally turns to Shakespeare for an apt illustration of any conceivable point that may arise. The lover finds in him his tender sonnets, the lawyer his quillets of the law, the soldier the glorification of arms, and the philosopher rich mines of wisdom. The antiquary finds in him no less a golden wealth of allusion to all the customs and beliefs of his day. In "Midsummer Night's Dream " we find the lines
" Night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder comes Aurora's harbinger."
We get much the same idea again in the line in " Cymbeline "-" Swift, swift you dragons of the night," and in "Troilus and Cressida"-"The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth." "Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf," and many other horrible ingredients are found in the witches' caldron in "Macbeth," while in "King Lear" we are advised not to come "between the
dragon and his wrath." King Richard III. rushes to his fate with the words, "Our ancient word of courage, fair St. George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons." In "Coriolanus" we find another admirable allusion
" Though I go alone, like to a lonely dragon that his fen Makes feared and talked of more than seen."
In the play of " Pericles" we have the lines
" Golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched,
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard."
And there are other references in " Romeo and Juliet" and other plays-references that it is needless here to give, as enough has been quoted to show our great poet's realisation of this scaly monster of the marsh and forest. In the last extract we have given, that from "Pericles," the golden fruit are the apples of the Hesperides, guarded by the dragon Ladon, foul offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Allusions to this golden fruit are very common amongst the poets, so we content ourselves with quoting as an illustration one that is less well known than many, from a poem by Robert Greene in the year 1598 :
"Shew thee the tree, leafed with refined gold, Whereon the fearful dragon held his seat, That watched the garden called Hesperides."
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