simple rustics, and can be driven away neither by holy water nor exorcisms; and because they are not seen, they afflict those who are entering with stones, billets, and domestic furniture; whose words, for certain, are heard in the human manner, and their forms do not appear." He is speaking of England. This Follet seems to resemble our Puck or Robin Good-fellow, whose pranks are recorded in an old song, and who was sometimes useful and sometimes mischievous. Whether or not he were the fairy-spirit of whom Milton "Tells how the drudging goblin swet, is a matter of some difficulty. Perhaps the giant-son of the witch that had the devil's mark about her (of whom "there is a pretty tale "), that was called Loblye-by-the-fire, was a very different personage from Robin Good-fellow, whom, however, he in some respects appears to resemble. A near female relation of the compiler, who was born and brought up in a small village in the bishopric of Durham, related to him many years ago several circumstances which confirmed the exactitude of Milton's description; she particularly told of his thrashing the corn, churning 1 Otia Imperialia, d. i. c. xviii. 2 L'Allegro. 3 Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle, a. iii. s. I. A female fairy, in Midsummer Night's Dream, says to Robin Good-fellow, "Farewell, thou lob of spirits." B the butter, drinking the milk, &c., and, when all was done, "lying before the fire like a great rough hurgin bear." 1 In another chapter Gervase says: As among men Nature produces certain wonderful things, so spirits. in airy bodies, who assume, by divine permission, the mocks they make. For, behold, England has certain dæmons (dæmons, I call them, though I know not but I should say secret forms of unknown generation), whom the French call Neptunes, the English Portunes. With these it is natural that they take advantage of the simplicity of fortunate peasants; 2 and when, by reason of their domestic labours, they perform their nocturnal vigils, of a sudden, the doors being shut, they warm themselves at the fire, and eat little frogs, cast out of their bosoms, and put upon the burning coals; with an antiquated countenance, a wrinkled face, diminutive in stature, not having [in length] half a thumb. They are clothed with rags patched together; and, if anything should be to be carried on in the house, or any kind of laborious work to be done, they join themselves to the work, and expedite it with more than human facility. It is natural to these that they may be obsequious, and may not be hurtful. But one little mode, as it were, they have of hurting. For when, among the ambiguous shades of night, the English occasionally ride alone, the Portune sometimes, unseen, couples himself to the rider; and when he has accompanied him, going on a very long time, at length, the bridle being seized, he leads him up to the hand in the mud, in which, while infixed he wallows, the Portune 3 1 See the tale of the Maath Doog. departing, sets up a laugh, and so in this kind of way derides human simplicity."1 This spirit seems to have some resemblance to the Picktree-brag, a mischievous barguest that used to haunt that part of the country in the shape of different animals, particularly of a little galloway; in which shape a farmer, still or lately living thereabout, reported that it had come to him one night as he was going home-that he got upon it and rode very quietly till it came to a great pond, to which it ran and threw him in, AND WENT LAUGHING AWAY. He further says there is in England a certain species of demons, which in their language they call Grant, like a one-year-old foal, with straight legs and sparkling eyes. This kind of demons very often. appears in the streets, in the very heat of the day, or about sunset, and as often as it makes its appearance, portends that there is about to be a fire in that city or town. When, therefore, in the following day or night, the danger is urgent, in the streets, running to and fro, it provokes the dogs to bark, and while it pretends flight, invites them, following, to pursue in the vain hope of overtaking it. This kind of illusion creates caution to the watchmen who have the custody of fire, and so the officious race of demons, while they terrify the beholders, are wont to secure the ignorant by their arrival.3 Gower, in his tale of "Narcissus," professedly from Ovid, says Picktree, in the bishopric of Durham, is a small collection of huts, erected for the colliers, about two miles to the northeast of Chester. 3 Gervase, d. iii. c. lxii. He sawe the like of his visage, In his "Legend of Constance" is this passage "Thy wife which is of fairie Of suche a childe delivered is, Fro kinde, whiche stante all amis." 2 on In another part of his book is a story "Howe the kynge of Armenis daughter mette on a tyme a companie of the fairy." These "ladies" ride aside " fayre [white] ambulende horses," clad very magnificently, but all alike, in white and blue, and wore corownes on their heades;" but they are not called fays in the poem, nor does the word fay or fairie once occur therein. The fairies or elves of the British Isles are peculiar to this part of the world, and are not, so far as literary information or oral tradition enables us to judge, to be found in any other country. For this fact the authority of father Chaucer will be decisive, till we acquire evidence of equal antiquity in favour of other nations "In olde dayes of the king Artour, Of which the Bretons speken gret honour, 1 Confessio Amantis, fo. 20, b. 2 Ibid. fo. 32, b. These are the first instances faye or fairie is mentioned in English; but the whole of Gower's work is suspected to be made up of licentious translations from the Latin or French. 3 Wif of Bathes Tale. That serchen every land, and every streme, The fairy may be defined as a species of being partly material, partly spiritual, with a power to change its appearance, and be, to mankind, visible or invisible, according to its pleasure. In the old song printed by Peck, Robin Good-fellow, a well-known fairy, professes that he had played his pranks from the time of Merlin, who was the contemporary of Arthur. Chaucer uses the word faërie as well for the individual as for the country or system, or what we should now call fairyland, or fairyism. He knew nothing, it would seem, of Oberon, Titania, or Mab, but speaks of "PLUTO, that is THE KING OF FAERIE, And many a ladie in his compagnie, -"The Marchantes Tale," 1. IOIOI. From this passage of Chaucer, Mr Tyrwhitt "cannot help thinking that his Pluto and Proserpina were the true progenitors of Oberon and Titania." In the progress of "The Wif of Bathes Tale," it happed the knight In all his care, under a forest side, These ladies appear to have been fairies, though |