Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible. _Coriolanus, Act IV., Sc. V._
_Dick._ Why dost thou quiver, man? _Say._ The palsy and not fear provokes me. _Cade._ Nay, he nods at us, as who should say, I’ll be even with you. _Henry VI_—2_d, Act IV., Sc. VII._
With a palsy-fumbling on his gorget, Shake in and out the rivet. _Troilus and Cressida, Act I., Sc. III._
How quickly should this arm of mine, Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee. _Richard II, Act II., Sc. III._
Flat on the ground and still as any stone, A very corpse, save yielding forth a breath. _Sackville._
How concisely he describes epilepsy, giving the most prominent symptoms.
_Casca._ He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless. _Bru._ ’Tis very like,—he has the falling sickness. _Casca._ * * * * * When he came to himself again, he said, If he had done or said anything amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity. _Julius Cæsar, Act I., Sc. II._
Julius Cæsar was the only epileptic among his characters: Othello is spoken of as being one, but this is merely Iago’s lie to Cassio, which is clearly shown in Othello’s conversation after the trance, it being a continuation of the former subject, which is never the case in epilepsy.
_Iago._ My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy: This is his second fit; he had one yesterday. _Cas._ Rub him about the temples. _Iago._ No, forbear; The lethargy must have his quiet course; If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by Breaks out to savage madness. _Act IV., Sc. I._
A plague upon your epileptic visage! _King Lear, Act. II., Sc. II._
He takes some notice of the other affections classed under nervous diseases.
Which of your hips has the most profound sciatica? _Measure for Measure, Act I., Sc. II._
Thou cold sciatica, Cripple our Senators, that their limbs may halt As lamely as their manners! _Timon of Athens, Act IV., Sc. I._
Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. _Romeo and Juliet, Act II., Sc. V._
When your head did but ache I knit my handkerchief about your brows. _King John, Act IV., Sc. I._
_Oth._ I have a pain upon my forehead here. _Des._ Why, that’s with watching; ’t will away again. _Othello, Act III., Sc. II._