Page:Elizabethan People.djvu/394

 Concerning death the Elizabethans entertained many superstitious notions and performed numerous superstitious rites. It was, doubtless, the earnest seriousness of the moment that prompted them to believe that people about to die were often for a moment on the borderland betwenbetween [sic] life and death, thereby seeing beyond, a fact which found expression in the form of prophecy, "Methinks I am a prophet new inspired. And thus, expiring, do foretell of him," cries Gaunt in Richard II. ii. 1). And again, Percy, in Henry IV. (v. 4), alludes to the belief in the words:

A sudden brightening of the spirits often preceded death and was frequently regarded as a sign.

And again, in the last act, immediately before Romeo receives the news that prompts him to take his life, he exclaims: