In Act V, Scene 2, Friar Lawrence discusses his plan to inform Romeo that Juliet is actually in a deep sleep that mimics death. Friar Lawrence sends his letter with Friar John to deliver it to Romeo, who is living in Mantua. When Friar John returns, Friar Lawrence asks him how Romeo responded to the letter. Friar John then informs Friar Lawrence that he was unable to visit Romeo and give him the letter because he was quarantined in a home during an outbreak of the plague. Friar John then tells Friar Lawrence that he wasn't even allowed to give the letter to someone else to deliver it to Romeo because they feared the infection would spread if anything left the home. When Friar John gives the letter back to Friar Lawrence, Friar Lawrence curses fate and asks for a crowbar so he can open the Capulet tomb and save Juliet.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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