If we judge by the steady number of both non-specialist and psychoanalytic publications on dreams that have appeared in the literature, it is clear that the topic continues to fascinate both the lay public and the practising psychoanalyst. In the latter case, even though the dream is now regarded as only one of a number of ‘royal roads’ to the unconscious, the analyst will almost certainly ‘sit up and take notice’ when a patient says, ‘I had this dream …!’ As readers of this journal will be aware, the inclusion of a dream in the descriptive material of case reports also remains a favourite method of clinical illustration. Should we nevertheless pay heed to both Shakespeare's