Note 356 — ACT III.
Reading edition
Dryden and Lee, in their tragedy of "Oedipus," act iv. sc. 1, have the following beautiful passage, which may be compared with the present—
"When the sun sets, shadows, that show'd at noon But small, appear most long and terrible; So when we think fate hovers o'er our heads. Our apprehensions shoot beyond all bounds, Owls, ravens, crickets seem the watch of death, Nature's worst vermin scare her god-like sons. Echoes, the very leavings of a voice, Grow babling ghosts, and call us to our graves: Each molehill thought swells to a huge Olympus, While we fantastick dreamers heave and puff, And sweat with an imagination's weight; As if, like Atlas, with these mortal shoulders We could sustain the burden of the world."