"Now, everybody, I suppose, is aware that in recent years the silly business of divination by dreams has ceased to be a joke and has become a very serious science"

Arthur Machen, a Welsh author known for his works in the supernatural and horror categories, penned this declaration in a context that calls with a blend of irony, apprehension, and possibly a grudging acknowledgment of the developing perceptions towards dreams and their interpretations.

To translate this quote, we ought to initially consider the historic background. Throughout Machen's time, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the study of dreams was transitioning from folkloric and superstitious interpretations to a more structured and analytical domain. This shift was affected mostly by the growing field of psychology, with figures like Sigmund Freud leading the expedition of dreams as entrances to the unconscious mind. Freud's critical work, "The Interpretation of Dreams", released in 1899, argued that dreams were deeply connected to our unexpressed desires and emotions, an extreme departure from the standard view that dreams were simply ridiculous or prophetic.

In Machen's quote, there's a discernible stress in between skepticism and recommendation. He describes the "silly service of prophecy by dreams", which suggests a disdain or shock in the standard practices of predicting the future or uncovering concealed truths through dreams. This expression harks back to ancient times when dreams were typically viewed as prophecies or messages from the divine, practices that Enlightenment rationalism had actually dismissed as frivolous.

Nevertheless, the latter part of the quote--"and has actually ended up being an extremely major science"-- signals a recognition of the credibility and respectability that dream analysis was gaining. By describing it as a "major science", Machen might be alluding to how the field incorporated empirical research and theoretical underpinnings, moving far from simple superstitious notion. This improvement maybe forced even skeptics like Machen to acknowledge its location in the pantheon of genuine scientific inquiry.

Overall, the quote encapsulates a turning point in intellectual history where dreams were no longer simply the domain of mystics and charlatans but had found a grip in the serious pursuit of comprehending human consciousness.