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Candles of the Night

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The stars are so called by Shakespeare, in the Merchant of Venice, v. 1. Milton has improved upon the idea:—

“Else, O thievish Night,

Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,

In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars

That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps

With everlasting oil to give due light

To the misled and lonely traveller?”

Comus, 200–206.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.