Chapter IX (4)

Upon the whole we may be allowed, from the preceding dissertation, to consider the following series of circumstances as entitled to the appellation of facts: namely, that the _patria_ of our popular system of fairy mythology, was the _Scandinavian Peninsula_; that, on its admission into this country, it gradually underwent various modifications through the _influence of Christianity_, the _introduction of classical associations_, and the _prevalence of feudal manners_; but that, ultimately, two systems became established; one in Scotland, founded on the wild and more terrific parts of the Gothic mythology, and the other in England, built, indeed, on the same system, but from a selection of its milder features, and converted by the genius of Shakspeare into one of the most lovely creations of a sportive imagination. Such, in fact, has been the success of our bard in expanding and colouring the germs of Gothic fairyism; in assigning to its tiny agents, new attributes and powers; and in clothing their ministration with the most light and exquisite imagery, that his portraits, in all their essential parts, have descended to us as indissolubly connected with, and indeed nearly, if not altogether, forming, our ideas of the fairy tribe.

The canvas, it is true, which he stretched, has been since expanded, and new groupes have been introduced; but the outline and the mode of colouring which he employed, have been invariably followed. It is, in short, to his picture of the fairy world, that we are indebted for the _Nymphidia_ of _Drayton_[354:A]; the _Robin Goodfellow_ of Jonson[354:B]; the miniatures of Fletcher and Browne[354:C]; the full-length portraits of Herrick[354:D]; the sly allusions of Corbet[354:E], and the spirited and picturesque sketches of Milton.[354:F]

To Shakspeare, therefore, as the remodeller, and almost the inventor of our fairy system, may, with the utmost propriety, be addressed the elegant compliment which Browne has paid to Occleve, certainly inappropriate as applied to that rugged imitator of Chaucer, but admirably adapted to the peculiar powers of our bard, and delightfully expressive of what we may conceive would be the gratitude, were such testimony possible, of these children of his playful fancy:—

"Many times he hath been seene
With the faeries on the greene,
And to them his pipe did sound
As they danced in a round;
Mickle solace would they make him,
And at midnight often wake him;
And convey him from his roome
To a fielde of yellow broome,
Or into the meadowes where
Mints perfume the gentle aire,
And where Flora spreads her treasure,
There they would beginn their measure.
If it chanc'd night's sable shrowds
Muffled Cynthia up in clowds,
Safely home they then would see him,
And from brakes and quagmires free him.
There are few such swaines as he
Now a days for harmonie."[355:A]

FOOTNOTES:

[256:A] Part II. chapter 1.

[256:B] Part II. chapter 2.

[256:C] In his Discourse on English Poetry.

[256:D] In his Art of English Poesy.

[257:A] In his Apology for Poetry.

[257:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 213.

[257:C] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 286; and Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 272. note.

[257:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 237.

[257:E] Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 217.

[258:A] Part II. chap. 1.

[259:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xiv. p. 43. Act i. sc. 4.

[262:A] "20th May, 1608.

"Edw. Blunt] Entered under t'hands of Sir Geo. Bucke, Kt. and Mr. Warden Seton, a book called: The booke of _Pericles Prynce of Tyre_."

"A book by the like authoritie, called _Anthony and Cleopatra_." Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, pp. 488, 489. By a somewhat singular mistake, the _second_ of May is mentioned by Mr. Malone, as the date of the entry of Pericles; vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 147.

[263:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 148. The four quarto editions of Pericles are dated, 1609, 1619, 1630, and 1635.

[263:B] British Bibliographer, vol. i. p. 533.

[263:C] Verses by J. Tatham, prefixed to Richard Brome's _Jovial Crew or the Merry Beggars_, 4to. 1652.

[264:A] Prologue to the tragedie of _Circe_, by Charles D'Avenant, 1677.

[265:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 389.

[265:B] Ibid. p. 403. 404. 411.

[266:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 390.

[266:B] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 144.

[267:A] Monthly Review, New Series, vol. lxxvii. p. 158.

[267:B] Thus, in the prologue to a comedy entitled The Hog has lost his Pearl, 1614, the author, alluding to his own production, says,

———— "if it prove so happy as to please,
Well say, 'tis fortunate, like _Pericles_."

[268:A] As this is the only scene in the play which disgusts from its _total dereliction of nature_, a result at once decisive as to Shakspeare having no property in it; and as the mere _omission_ of a few lines, not a word being either added or altered, will be sufficient to render the whole probable and inoffensive, I cannot avoid wishing that such curtailment might be adopted in every future edition.

SCENE V.

PENTAPOLIS. _A Room in the Palace._

_Enter SIMONIDES and the KNIGHTS: SIMONIDES reading a letter._

_Knights._ May we not get access to her, my lord?

_Sim._ 'Faith, by no means; it is impossible.

_Knights._ Though loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves.
(_Exeunt._

_Sim._ So—
They're well dispatch'd; now to my daughter's letter:
She tells me here, she'll wed the stranger knight;
Well, I commend her choice;
And will no longer have it be delay'd.
Soft, here he comes:—I must dissemble it.

_Enter PERICLES._

_Per._ All fortune to the good Simonides!

_Sim._ To you as much, sir! I am beholden to you,
For your sweet musick this last night: my ears,
I do protest, were never better fed
With such delightful pleasing harmony.

_Per._ It is your grace's pleasure to commend;
Not my desert.

_Sim._. Sir, you are musick's master.

_Per._ The worst of all her scholars, my good lord.

_Sim._ Let me ask one thing. What do you think, sir, of
My daughter?

_Per._ As of a most virtuous princess.

_Sim._ And she is fair too, is she not?

_Per._ As a fair day in summer; wondrous fair.

_Sim._ My daughter, sir, thinks very well of you;
Ay, so well, that——peruse this writing, sir.

_Per._ What's here!
A letter, that she loves the knight of Tyre?
'Tis the king's subtilty, to have my life. (_Aside._
O, seek not to intrap, my gracious lord,
A stranger and distressed gentleman,
That never aim'd so high, to love your daughter,
But bent all offices to honour her.

_Sim._ Thou hast bewitch'd my daughter, and thou art
A traitor.

_Per._ By the gods, I have not, sir.
Never did thought of mine levy offence;
Nor never did my actions yet commence
A deed might gain her love, or your displeasure.
My actions are as noble as my thoughts,
That never relish'd of a base descent.
I came unto your court, for honour's cause,
And not to be a rebel to her state;
And he that otherwise accounts of me,
This sword shall prove he's honour's enemy.

_Sim._ Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage.
(_Aside._
Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.

_Enter THAISA._

Yea, mistress, are you so perémptory?
(_Addressing his daughter._
Will you, not having my consent, bestow
Your love and your affections on a stranger?—
Hear, therefore, mistress; frame your will to mine,—
And you, sir, hear you.—Either be rul'd by me,
Or I will make you—man and wife.—
And for a further grief,—God give you joy!
What, are you both agreed?

_Thais._ Yes, if you love me, sir.
(_Addressing Pericles._

_Per._ Even as my life, my blood that fosters it.
(_Exeunt._

Thus contracted, the scene would no longer excite the "supreme contempt" which Mr. Steevens expresses for it, adding in reference to its original state, "such another gross, nonsensical dialogue, would be sought for in vain among the earliest and rudest efforts of the British theatre. It is impossible not to wish that the _Knights_ had horse-whipped _Simonides_, and that _Pericles_ had kicked him off the stage."

[271:A] For the sake of perspicuity, I have substituted the word "knowledge," as synonymous with "cunning," the term in the original.

[272:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 181. Act i. sc. 2.

[273:A] Ibid. p. 213, 214. Act ii. sc. 1.

[273:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 221. Act ii. sc. 1.

[273:C] Ibid. p. 353. Act v. sc. 1.

[274:A] Reed's Shakspeare, p. 371. Act v. sc. 1.

[274:B] Ibid. vol. xxi. p. 374. Act v. sc. 1.

[275:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 384. Act v. sc. 3.

[276:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. pp. 284, 285. Act iii. sc. 4.

[276:B] Ibid. vol. xxi. pp. 297-299. Act iv. sc. 1.

[276:C]

—————————— "With fairest flowers,
While summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
I'll sweeten thy sad grave. Thou shalt not lack
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
The azur'd hare-bell, like thy veins, no nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander
Out-sweeten'd not thy breath."

[277:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 305. Act iv. sc. 1.

[278:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 341. Act iv. sc. 6.—Much of the dialogue which passes among the worthless inhabitants of this bagnio, is seasoned with the strong and characteristic humour of Shakspeare. Boult, a servant of the place, being ordered to cry Marina through the market of Mitylene, describing her personal charms, is asked, on his return, how he found the inclination of the people, to which he replies,

"'Faith, they listened to me, as they would have hearkened
to their father's testament. There was a Spaniard's mouth so
watered, that he went to bed to her very description.

"_Bawd._ We shall have him here to-morrow with his best ruff on.

"_Boult._ To-night, to-night. But, mistress, do you know the
French knight that cowers i' the hams?

"_Bawd._ Who? Monsieur Veroles?

"_Boult._ Ay; _he offered to cut a caper at the proclamation;
but he made a groan at it, and swore he would see her
to-morrow_." Act iv. sc. 3.

"If," says Mr. Malone, alluding to the lines in Italics, "there were no other proof of Shakspeare's hand in this piece, this admirable stroke of humour would furnish decisive evidence of it."

[279:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. pp. 365, 366. Act v. sc. 1. The similar passage in Twelfth Night will occur to every one.

[279:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p 371. Act v. sc. 1.

[279:C] Ibid. p. 388.—Milton appears to have read Pericles with attention, and to have caught some of its phraseology, a circumstance strongly confirmatory of the genuineness of the play: thus Gower, in the opening lines, speaking of Antiochus, says,—

"This king unto him took a pheere,
Who died and left a female heir,
_So buxom, blithe, and_ full of face,
As heaven had lent her all her grace;"

a passage which evidently hung on Milton's ear, when, in his L'Allegro, he is describing the uncertain origin of Euphrosyne:—

"Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
_So buxom, blithe, and_ debonair."

Again, in the _first_ edition of Lycidas, v. 157., a very significant epithet seems to have been copied from the same source:—

"Where thou perhaps under the HUMMING tide:"
Milton.

"The belching whale,
And HUMMING water must _o'erwhelm_ thy corpse."
Pericles.

It is remarkable, that when Milton, in his second edition, altered the word to _whelming_, he still clung to his former prototype.

The notice may appear whimsical or trifling, but I cannot help observing here, that a few lines of the initiatory address of Gower irresistibly remind me of some of the cadences of The Lay of the Last Minstrel; for instance, this contemporary of Chaucer, alluding to the antiquity of his song, says,—

"It hath been sung at festivals,
On ember-eves, and holy ales;
And lords and ladies of their lives,
Have read it for restoratives:—
If you, born in these latter times,
When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes,
And that to hear an old man sing,
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I life would wish, and that I might
Waste it for you, like taper-light."

[281:A] Prologue to the Tragedy of Circe, by Charles D'Avenant. 1675.

[282:A]

"Amazde I stood to see a crowd
Of civil throats stretch'd out so lowd:
(As at a new play) all the roomes
Did swarm with gentiles mix'd with groomes;
So that I truly thought all these
Came to see _Shore_ or _Pericles_."

[282:B] "I was ne'er at one of these before; but I should have seen _Jane Shore_, and my husband hath promised me any time this twelvemonth to carry me to _The Bold Beauchamps_."—The Knight of the Burning Pestle.

[282:C]

—————— "There is an old tradition,
That in the times of mighty _Tamburlaine_,
Of conjuring _Faustus_, and _The Beauchamps Bold_,
Your poets used to have the second day."
A Playhouse to be Let.

[283:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 249.

[283:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. pp. 152, 153.

[284:A] Many instances of this kind have been pointed out by Mr. Steevens, in his notes on the play; namely, at pages 208. 213. 221. 227, 228. 258. 302.; and the list might be much enlarged by a careful collation of the two productions.

[284:B] Where the chapter is entitled "The pitifull state and story of the Paphlagonian unkinde king and his kinde sonne, first related by the sonne, then by the blind father."

[285:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 400.

[285:B] Vide Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 46.

[285:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 407. note.

[285:D] Ibid. p. 391. note.

[286:A] Vide Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. pp. 127, 128.

[286:B] Supplemental Apology, pp. 274. et seq.

[286:C] Vol. i. pp. 398-400.

[287:A] For this paragraph, the reader is referred to p. 282. of the original edition, or to p. 46. of the ninth volume of the Censura Literaria.

[287:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. p. 461. note.

[288:A] For specimens of the doggrel verse which preceded and accompanied the era of the Comedy of Errors, see Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. pp. 462, 463.

[288:B] The addition of the twin servants to their twin masters, doubles the improbability, while it adds to the fund of entertainment.

[289:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 262.

[290:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 264.

[291:A] Vide Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, pp. 281, 282.; and Douce's Illustrations, vol. i. p. 238.

[291:B] Vol. i. p. 498-9, edit. 1598.

[291:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. p. 151. note; and Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 283.

[292:A] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 355. note.

[293:A] An Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff. 8vo. 1777, p. 49.

[293:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 241.—It is conjectured by Mr. Malone, that Shakspeare, for the advantage of his own theatre, having written a few lines in The _First_ Part of King Henry VI., after his own _Second_ and _Third_ Part had been played, the editors of the first Folio conceived this a sufficient warrant for attributing it, along with the others, to him, in the general collection of his works. Vol. xiv. p. 259. His prior supposition, however, "that they gave it a place as a necessary introduction to the two other parts," especially if we consider the great popularity which it had enjoyed, and the general ignorance of the audience in historical lore, will sufficiently account, in those lax times of literary appropriation, for its insertion and attribution.

[293:C] The discovery was made by Mr. Chalmers, vide Supplemental Apology, p. 292.

[294:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 126.

[294:B] Mr. Malone, in his "Dissertation on King Henry VI." was of opinion, that the _First Part_ of the _Contention_, &c. came from the pen of Robert Greene; (vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xiv. p. 257.) but in his "Chronological Order," he inclines to the supposition of Marlowe being the author of both Parts; (vol. ii. p. 246.) It is more probable, I think, from the language of the _Groatsworth of Wit_, that _Marlowe_, _Greene_, and _Peele_, were jointly concerned in their composition.

[295:A] Essay on the Dramatic Character of Falstaff, p. 49. note.

[297:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xiii. p. 307. note.

[298:A] See his Table, in Supplemental Apology, pp. 466, 467, where he tells us that in making it, he has been governed "rather by the influence of moral certainty, than directed by any supposed necessity of fixing some of the dramas to each year;" but where is the evidence that shall reconcile us to the necessity of passing over the years 1610, 1611, and 1612, without the production of a single play, and then ascribing to the year 1613, three such compositions, as _The Tempest_, _The Twelfth-Night_, and _Henry VIII._?

[300:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 251.

[303:A] Vide Ouseley's Persian Miscellanies.

[303:B] The Lays of Lanval and Gruelan have been translated by Way in his Fabliaux, vol. i. p. 157. 177.; a description also of Mourgue La Faye may be found in the preceding tale, called The Vale of False Lovers, taken from the prose romance of Lancelot du Lac, 3 vols. folio. bl. l. Paris. 1520.

[304:A] Thus the Gothic terms _Fegur_, _Alfur_, _Uitrur_, _Dwergur_, _Meyar_, _Pucke_, _Drot_, are without doubt the prototypes of _Fairy_, _Elf_, _Wight_, _Dwarf_, _Mare_, _Puck_, and _Trot_.

[305:A] "Votum ille (Svegderus) nuncupavit, de Godheimo, vetustoque illo Othino quærendo. Duodecim viris comitatus, late per orbem vagabatur, delatusque in Tyrklandiam et in Svioniam Magnam, plurimos ibi reperit, sanguinis nexu sibi junctos. Huic peregrinatione quinque annos impendit, reduxque in Sveciam domi aliquam diu mansit.—Iterum Gudhemum quæsitum peregre profectus est Svegderus. In orientali plaga Svioniæ villa est ingens, dicta Stein, ibique positus lapis tantæ molis; ut domum ingentem magnitudine æquet. Quadam vespera post solis occasum, a poculis ad lectum progressurus Svegderus, vidit sub ingenti isto lapide sedentem pygmæum. Ille igitur ejusque comites, vino obruti, cum cursu lapidem petebant, in janua lapidis stans pygmæus, Svegderum jubet ingredi, si cum Othino colloqui vellet. Currit Svegderus in lapidam qui statim clauditur, nec rediit inde Svegderus."—Snor. Sturl. Hist. Reg. Norv. op. Schöning. vol. i. p. 18.

[306:A]

"Thar _Motsogner_
Mæstur vm ordenn
Dverga allra
En _Durenn_ annar." Volupsa, Stroph. 10.

There are two who possess sovereign power, _Motsogner_, who ranks first, and _Durin_, who otherwise acknowledges no peer.

[306:B]

"Enn dagsciar,
_Durins_ nithia,
Salvaur dudur,
Svegde velti;
Tha er ei Stein,
Hin storgethi:
Dulsa konur,
Ept _Dvergi_ hliop:"

a passage which has been thus translated by Peringskiöld:—"At _lucifuga_, Nanorum domicilii custos, Svegderum decepit, quando magnanimus ille rex, spe vana delusus, _Nanum_ sequendo, &c."—Yrling. Sag. cap. xv. p. 15.

[306:C] The original is thus interpreted by Snorro:—"Ad nos ethnicos ac iram Odini veritos servule ne ingrediaris, inquit vidua; mulier fœda me mordacibus verbis impetens, se intus _Alfis_ sacrificare dixit, foris vero lupis libare sanguinem mactatorum animalium."—Oläf. Helg. Haroldsons Saga. cap. 92. See also, Snorro apud Schöning, tom. ii. p. 124. Hafn. 1778.

[307:A] "Sæmundus tantum," says a learned commentator on the Voluspa, "qui literas Latinos induxit in Islandiam, e literis Runicis, hæc poëmata in literaturam vulgarem transtulit, _non composuit_, ut ipsa monumenta testantur."—Gudm. Andr. Not. in Volusp. Stroph. vi.

[307:B] Two chapters of the Edda of Snorro, Myth. 13. 15. are occupied by an illustrative enumeration of these Dvergi or Fairies, and the "Scalda" has catalogued nearly one hundred of the same race.

[308:A] "Sunt adhuc plures tales _Norner_ ad hominum quemlibet in mundum natum venientes, ut dies illi determinent; harum quædam sunt divinæ, quædam ex faunorum (_Alfa ættar_) quædam ex nanorum genere (_Duerga ættar_).—_Nornæ bonæ_ (_Godar Norner_) felicem tribuunt vitam, sed si quis sinistris premitur fatis, hoc malæ (_Illar Norner_) efficiunt.—Alia illic urbs _Alfheimur_ vocatur (sc. faunorum mundus), quam incolunt illi qui _Liös-alfar_ (sc. lucidi fauni) appellantur, sed _Döck-alfar_ (sc. nigri fauni) viscera terræ inferiora tenent, et sunt prioribus illis valde dissimiles re et aspectu. _Liösalfi_ sunt _sole clariores_; _Döckalfi pice nigriores_."—Resen. Edda Island. Myth. xv.

[309:A] "Sunt—_Nymphæ albæ_—_Dominæ bonæ_, Itali _Fatas_, Galli _Fees_ vocant; quarum adventu multum prosperitatis et rerum omnium copiam putarunt superstitiosæ anus domibus contingere quas frequentarint, et ideo domi suæ illis epulas instruxere."—Vide Kornmann Templ. Natur. part iii. cons. 12. p. 113.

[309:B] "In multis locis _Septentrionalis regionis_, præsertim nocturno tempore, suum saltatorium orbem cum _omnium musarum consentu_ versare solent. Sed post ortum solem quandoque roscidis deprehenduntur vestigiis.—Hunc nocturnum ludum vocant incolæ _Choream Elvarum_."—Ol. Magn. Gent. Septent. lib. iii. c. 11. p. 107. _Chorea Elvarum_ is here given as a translation of the _Elf-dans_ of the Swedish language.

[309:C] "Fæminæ etiam parturientes olim hasce (sc. Godar Norner) precibus adibant ut facilius dolore ac onere levarentur; quemadmodum neque aniles fabulæ; desunt vulgo de spectris sub mulierum specie sexui parturienti opem ferentibus."—Keysler. de Mulierib. Fatid. sect. 23. p. 394.

"In the _Northern Regions_," says Loier, speaking of the _Fairies_, "the report is, that they have a care, and doe diligently attend about little infantes lying in the cradle; that they doe dresse and undresse them in their swathling clothes, and doe performe all that which carefull nurses can doe unto their nurse-children."—Peter le Loier, Treatise of Strange Sights and Apparitions, chap. ii. p. 19. 4to.

[309:D] "_Svart-Alfar tenebrarum_ spiritus; verum hæc species _Alforum_ putata est non esse mere spiritus, nec nudi homines, sed _medium inter divos et mortales_."—Comment in Volusp. (Str. xv.) ex Biblioth. Resenii.

[310:A] Vide note in p. 308.

[310:B] "Quandoque vero saltum adeo profunde in terram impresserant, ut locus, cui assueverant, _insigni ardore_ orbiculariter peresus, non parit arenti redivivum cespite gramen."—Ol. Magn. Gent. Sept. l. iii. c. 2.

[310:C] "A Matribus sive _Mair_ descendunt aniles nugæ; _von der Nachtmar_, fæminei sexus spectrum credunt somniantes pondere suo gravans, ut arctius inclusus spiritus ægre possit meare. Angli adpellant _Nightmare_.—_Alp_ et _Alf_ enim veteribus notat dæmonem montanum. _Suecis_ et _Anglis Elf_ est Franconiæ incolis _Ephialtes_ etiam est _die Drud_."—Keysler de Mulierib. Fated. sect. 68. p. 497.

[310:D] "Meridianum adpellabatur, quod meridie magis infestum credebatur, unde hodie observant, ut puerperas hora meridiana non sinant esse solas, aut camera exire.—Sæpe tamen etiam pro ephialte vel Incubo usurpatur."—Keysler, sect. 68. p. 497.

[310:E] "Eratque hoc larvarum genus apprime infestum—infantibus lactentibus cunis ad huc inhærentibus."—Wier. De Præstig. Dæm. l. i. c. 16. p. 104.

[311:A] "Sese velut umbras—ostendunt, risusque atque inanes cachinnos, ludicraque præstigia et alia infinita ludibria, quibus infelices decipiunt, vocali sono confingunt."—Ol. Mag. De Gent. Septent. lib. vi. cap. 10.

"Dæmon in forma Viri Ignei, jam maximi, jam _parvi sive Virunculi_, noctu in campis oberrantis, et brevi hinc inde decurrentis, apparuit."—Becker. Spectrol. p. 120.

[311:B] "Inter cætera mira quædam referuntur de _virunculis montanis_, quos _Bergmanlein_ vocant, _nanorum forma et statura præditis_." Vide Kircher. Mund. Subter. lib. viii. sect. 4. c. 4. p. 123.

"Alii nominant _virunculos montanos_—videntur autem esse seneciores, et vestiti more metallicorum, id est, vittato indusio, et corio circum lumbos dependente induti."—Vide Agricola de Animant. Sub. c. 37. p. 78.

[311:C] "Sunt gladii, aliaque arma, omnium præstantissima, ab _Duergis_ fabricata, quæ omnia penetrare, nec arte magica hebetari credebantur."—Verel. in Hervar. Sag. cap. 7.

[311:D] Vide Verel. in Hervar. Sag. voce _Duerga Smithi_.

[311:E] See, in the Minor Voluspa, the _Hildi-svini_ of Hyndla, a species of enchanted steed. Stroph. v. et vii.

[312:A] "Columnas frangendo—vel casu petrarum, fractione scalarum, provocatione fætorum, suffocatione ventorum, ruptora funiculorum, opprimunt aut conturbant."—Ol. Magn. de Gent. Septentr. lib. vi. cap. 10.

[312:B] They are sometimes represented as coining the money which they conceal or guard, "in pecunia abundant, _quam cudunt ipsimet_."—Theophr. Philos. Sag. lib. i. p. 591. ed. Gen. 1658.

[312:C] "Corio circumlumbos dependente."—Vide note B in p. 311.

[312:D] "Trulli, et Guteli; qui et in famulitio viris et fœminis inserviunt conclavia scopis purgant, _patinas mundant_, _ligna portant_, _equos curant_."—Vide Tholossani, lib. vii. cap. 14.

[312:E] "In _effigie humana_," says Olaus Magnus, "accommodare solent ministeriis hominum, nocturnis horis laborando, equosque et jumenta curando."—De Gent. Sept. lib. iii. c. 11. p. 107.

[313:A] Chaucer apud Chalmers, English Poets, vol. i. p. 51. col. 1.

[313:B] Stoddart's Remarks on Local Scenery and Manners in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 66.

[313:C] Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1st edit. vol. ii. p. 213.

[314:A] "Perhaps this epithet," says Mr. Scott, "is only one example, among many, of the extreme civility which the vulgar in Scotland use towards spirits of a dubious, or even a determinedly mischievous nature. The arch-fiend himself is often distinguished by the softened title of the "good-man." This epithet, so applied, must sound strange to a southern ear; but, as the phrase bears various interpretations, according to the places where it is used, so, in the Scotish dialect, the _good man of such a place_, signifies the tenant, or life-renter, in opposition to the laird, or proprietor. Hence, the devil is termed the good-man, or tenant, of the infernal regions. There was anciently a practice in Scotish villages, of propitiating this infernal being, by leaving uncultivated a croft, or small inclosure, of the neighbouring grounds, which was called the _good-man's croft_. By doing so, it was their unavowed, but obvious intention, to avert the rage of Satan from destroying their possessions."—Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 216.

[314:B] Of this curious work, a hundred copies of which have lately been reprinted, the first title is termed, "An Essay on the Nature," &c.; and the second "SECRET COMMONWEALTH; or, A Treatise displayeing the Chiefe Curiosities as they are in Use among diverse of the People of Scotland to this Day;—SINGULARITIES for the most Part peculiar to that Nation." 4to. 1691.

[315:A] Kirk's Essay, pp. 1. 7, 8, 9, reprint.

[315:B] Ibid. p. 6.

[315:C] Ibid. p. 10.

[317:A] Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, 8vo. 1810. pp. 295, 296, 297.

[317:B] The resemblance between the search of Svegder for Godheim or Fairy-land, and the object of Sir Thopas's expedition, cannot but strike the reader:—

"In his sadel he clombe anon,
And pricked over stile and ston
An elf quene for to espie;
Til he so long had riden and gone
That he fond, in a _privie wone_,
The _countree of Faërie_.

Wherein he saughte north and south,
And often spired with his mouth,
In many a _foreste wilde_;
For in that countree nas ther non,
That to him dorst ride or gon,
Neither wif ne childe."
Cant. Tales, apud Tyrwhitt, v. 13726.

[318:A] Essay, pp. 5. 12. 18.

[318:B] "Scenes of Infancy: descriptive of Teviotdale," 1st edit. 12mo. p. 161.

[318:C] Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xiii. p. 245.

[319:A] Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 206. 1st edit.

[319:B] Lindsay's Works, 1592, p. 222.

[319:C] Watson's Collection of Scots Poems, 1709, part iii. p. 12.

[319:D] Vide Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 250. note.

[320:A] Thomas The Rhymer, part i., Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. pp. 253, 254.

[320:B] Tale of the Young Tamlane, Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 235.

[320:C]

"If you speak word in Elflyn land,
Ye'll ne'er get back to your ain countrie."
Thomas the Rhymer; Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 253.

[321:A] Scenes of Infancy, book ii. pp. 71-73. This poem abounds in passages of exquisite pathos and splendid imagination. The book, whence the lines just quoted are taken, closes with the following apostrophe to Mr. Scott:—

"O Scott! with whom, in youth's serenest prime,
I wove, with careless hand, the fairy rhyme,
Bade chivalry's barbaric pomp return,
And heroes wake from every mouldering urn!
Thy powerful verse, to grace the courtly hall,
Shall many a tale of elder time recall,
The deeds of knights, the loves of dames, proclaim,
And give forgotten bards their former fame.
Enough for me, if Fancy wake the shell,
To eastern minstrels strains like thine to tell;
Till saddening memory all our haunts restore,
The wild-wood walks by Esk's romantic shore,
The circled hearth, which ne'er was wont to fail
In cheerful joke, or legendary tale,
Thy mind, whose fearless frankness nought could move,
Thy friendship, like an elder brother's love,
While from each scene of early life I part,
True to the beatings of this ardent heart,
When, half-deceased, with half the world between,
My name shall be unmentioned on the green,
When years combine with distance, let me be,
By all forgot, _remembered yet by thee_!"

If Mr. Scott, yielding to this appeal, would present us with a complete edition of the poetical works, together with a life, of his lamented friend, who was not less remarkable for his learning than his genius, he would confer no trifling obligation on the literary world.

[322:A] Kirk's Essay on Fairies, pp. 2, 3.

[322:B] A remarkable instance of the continuance of this superstition, even in the present day, is recorded by Mr. Cromek, to whom an old woman of Nithsdale gave the following detail, "with the artless simplicity of sure belief." "I' the night afore Roodsmass," said she, "I had trysted wi' a neeber lass, a Scots mile frae hame, to talk anent buying braws i' the fair:—we had nae sutten lang aneath the haw-buss, till we heard the loud laugh o' fowk riding, wi' the jingling o' bridles, an' the clanking o' hoofs. We banged up, thinking they wad ryde owre us;—we kent nae but it was drunken fowk riding to the fair, i' the fore night. We glowred roun' and roun', an' sune saw it was the _Fairie fowk's Rade_. We cowered down till they passed by. A learn o' light was dancing owre them, mair bonnie than moon-shine: they were a wee, wee fowk, wi' green scarfs on, but ane that rade foremost, an' that ane was a gude deal larger than the lave, wi' bonnie lang hair bun' about wi' a strap, whilk glented lyke stars. They rade on braw wee whyte naigs, wi' unco lang swooping tails, an' manes hung wi' whustles that the win' played on. This, an' their tongue whan they sang, was like the soun of a far awa Psalm. Marion an' me was in a brade lea fiel' whare they cam by us, a high hedge o' bawtrees keep it them frae gaun through Johnnie Corrie's corn;—but they lap a' owre't like sparrows, an' gallop't into a greene knowe beyont it. We gade i' the morning to look at the tredded corn, but the fient a hoof mark was there, nor a blade broken."—Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, pp. 298, 299.

[323:A] Vide Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 214.; and Tyrwhitt's Note on Canterbury Tales, v. 6437.

[324:A] Leyden's Scenes of Infancy, p. 24.

[324:B] Kirk's Essay on Fairies, pp. 5, 6.

[324:C] Thus Gervase of Tilbury tells us, that one _Peter De Cabinam_ residing in a city of Catalonia, being teazed by his daughter, wished in his passion, that the devil might take her, when she was instantly borne away. "About seven years afterwards, an inhabitant of the same city, passing by the mountain (adjacent to it), met a man who complained bitterly of the burthen he was constantly forced to bear. Upon enquiring the cause of his complaining, as he did not seem to carry any load, the man related, that he had been unwarily devoted to the spirits by an execration, and that they now employed him constantly as a vehicle of burden." As a proof of his assertion, he added, that "the daughter of his fellow citizen was detained by the spirits, but that they were willing to restore her, if her father would come and demand her on the mountain. _Peter de Cabinam_, on being informed of this, ascended the mountain to a lake (on its summit), and, in the name of God, demanded his daughter; when a tall, thin, withered figure, with wandering eyes, and almost bereft of understanding, was wafted to him in a blast of wind."—Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. pp. 181, 182.

[324:D] See Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 8vo. 1769.

[325:A] Cromek on Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 307.

[325:B] Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 208.

[325:C] Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 238.

[326:A] Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, pp. 308, 309.

[327:A] _Bale._—A Faggot.

[327:B] Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. pp. 240, 241.

[328:A] See Collins's Poems, Sharpe's edition, pp. 106, 107, 108.

[328:B] Encyclopedia Britannica, in verbo.

[328:C] Essay on Fairies, p. 12.

[329:A] Essay on Fairies, pp. 1. 5. 7.

[329:B] Essay, pp. 11, 12.

[329:C] See Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 356.

[329:D]

"Brown dwarf, that o'er the muir-land strays,
Thy name to Keeldar tell."—

"_The Brown Man of the Muirs_, who stays
Beneath the heather bell."
Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 360.

Walsingham, says Dr. Leyden, mentions a story of an unfortunate youth, whose brains were extracted from his skull, during his sleep, by this malicious being. P. 356.

[330:A] Essay on Fairies, p. 37.

[330:B] Kirk, after mentioning as his fifth curiosity, "A being Proof of Lead, Iron, and Silver," adds the following curious notice of the strong attachment of the Scotch to music. "Our Northern-Scotish, and our Athole Men are so much addicted to and delighted with Harps and Musick, as if, like King Saul, they were possessed with a forrein Spirit, only with this Difference, that Musick did put Saul's Play-fellow a sleep, but roused and awaked our Men, vanquishing their own Spirits at Pleasure, as if they were impotent of its Powers, and unable to command it; for wee have seen some poor Beggars of them, chattering their Teeth for Cold, that how soon they saw the Fire, and heard the Harp, leapt throw the House like Goats and Satyrs." Pp. 37, 38.

[330:C] The Workes of King James, folio, 1616, p. 127.

[331:A] Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, p. 334.

[336:A] Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, pp. 330, 331. et seq.

[336:B] Collins's Poems, Sharpe's edition, p. 105.

[337a:A] That Warner's _Fairy-land_ was in the infernal regions, is sufficiently proved from the following lines:—

"The _Elves_, and _Fairies_, taking fists,
Did hop a merrie round:
And _Cerberus_ had lap enough:
And _Charon_ leasure found."
Chalmers's English Poets, vol. iv. p. 458. col. 2.

[338a:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 433, 434. Act iii. sc. 2.

[338a:B]

"Full often time he Pluto and his quene,
Proserpina, and alle hir Faerie,
Disporten hem and maken melodie."—

"Pluto, that is the king of Faerie,
And many a ladie in his compagnie
Folwing his wif, the quene Proserpina."

The Marchantes Tale, vide Chalmers's English Poets,
vol. i. p. 77. col. 1.; p. 78. col. 2.

[337b:A] _Oberon_, or, more properly _Auberon_, has been derived, by some antiquaries, from "_l'aube_ du jour;" and _Mab_ his Queen, from _amabilis_, so that _lucidity_ and _amiability_, their characteristics, as delineated by Shakspeare, may be traced in their names.

[337b:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 363-366. Act ii. sc. 2.

[338b:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 367, 368. Act ii. sc. 2.

[338b:B] The Quip Modest, 8vo. 1788, p. 12.

[338b:C] Essay on Fairies, p. 8. and p. 44.

[339:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 448. Act iv. sc. 1.

[339:B] Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 495, 496. Act v. sc. 2.

[339:C] Essay on Fairies, pp. 7, 8.

[340:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. pp. 204, 205. 208, 209. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v. sc. 5.

[341:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 346. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.

[341:B] Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 154, 155. Tempest, act v. sc. 1.

[341:C] Ibid. vol. v. p. 202. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v. sc. 5.

[341:D] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 381. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 3.

[341:E] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 379. Act ii. sc. 2.

[341:F] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 344. Act ii. sc. 1.

[341:G] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 402. Act iii. sc. 1.

[341:H] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 403. Act iii. sc. 1.

[342:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. pp. 51-56. Romeo and Juliet, act i. sc. 4.

[342:B] Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 356, 357. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2.

[342:C] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 151. Tempest, act v. sc. 1.—Thus Milton, in conformity with these passages, describes his fairy night-scene:—

————————————— "Faery elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side,
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while over-head the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund musick charm his ear."
Todd's Milton, 2d edit. vol. ii. pp. 368, 369.

The music here alluded to is beautifully described, as an accompaniment of the Scottish Fairies, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland:—"Notwithstanding the progressive increase of knowledge, and proportional decay of superstition in the Highlands, these genii are still supposed by many of the people to exist in the woods and sequestered valleys of the mountains, where they frequently appear to the lonely traveller, clothed in green, with dishevelled hair floating over their shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the vermil blush of a summer morning. At night in particular, when fancy assimilates to its own preconceived ideas, every appearance, and every sound, the wandering enthusiast is frequently entertained by their musick, more melodious than he ever before heard." Vol. xii. p. 462. note.

[343:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. pp. 206, 207. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v. sc. 5.

[343:B] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 343. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.

[344:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 150, 151. Tempest, act v. sc. 1.

[344:B] Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 344, 345. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.

[344:C] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 379. Act ii. sc. 2.

[345:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 380-383. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 3.

[346:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 402, 403. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 1.

[346:B] Ibid. p. 493. Act v. sc. 2.

[347:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. pp. 205, 206. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v. sc. 5.

[347:B] Ibid. vol. xx. p. 59. Romeo and Juliet, act i. sc. 4.

[347:C] Ibid. vol. v. p. 203. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v. sc. 5.

[348:A] Burton's account of the Fairies, first published in 1617, is given with his usual erudition, and the part alluded to in the text, proceeds thus:—"A bigger kind there is of them (fairies), called with us _Hobgoblins_, and _Robin Good fellows_, that would in those superstitious times, grind corn for a mess of milk, cut wood, or do any manner of drudgery work. They would mend old Irons in those Æolian Isles of Lypara, in former ages, and have been often seen and heard. _Tholosanus_ calls them _Trullos_ and _Getulos_, and saith, that in his dayes they were common in many places of France. _Dithmarus Bleskenius_, in his description of Island, reports for a certainty, that almost in every family they have yet some such familiar spirits; and _Fælix Malleolus_ in his book de crudel. dæmon., affirms as much, that these _Trolli_ or _Telchines_, are very common in Norway, _and seen to do drudgery_ work, to draw water, saith _Wierus_, lib. i. cap. 32, dress meat or any such thing."

Anatomy of Melancholy, fol. 7th edit., 1676, p. 29, col. 1.

[348:B] The Discoverie of Witchcraft, 4to., 1584, pp. 152, 153.

[349:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 347, 348. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.

[349:B] Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 350-352.

[350:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 398.

[350:B] Vide De Otiis Imperialibus, dec. iii. cap. 61, 62.

[350:C] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght, 4to. 1572, p. 49.

[351:A] Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght, 4to. 1572, p. 75.

[351:B] Discoverie of Witchcraft, 4to. 1581, p. 521.

[351:C] Discoverie, p. 85.

[351:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 409.

[351:E] "Cut off the head of a horsse or an asse (before they be dead), otherwise the vertue or strength thereof will be the lesse effectuall, and make an earthen vessell of fit capacitie to conteine the same, and let it be filled with the oile and fat thereof; cover it close, and dawbe it over with lome: let it boile over a soft fier three daies continuallie, that the flesh boiled may run into oile, so as the bare bones may be seene: beate the haire into powder, and mingle the same with the oile; and annoint the heads of the standers by, and they shall seeme to have horsses or asses heads."—Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584, p. 315.

[352:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 434. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 2.

[352:B] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 416.

[352:C] Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584.—Epistle to the Readers, in which he afterwards speaks of "the want of Robin Goodfellowe and the fairies, which were woont to mainteine chat, and the common peoples talke in this behalfe."

[352:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 406. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 2.

"_Ob._ Here comes my _messenger_."

[352:E] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 380. Act ii. sc. 3.

"_Puck._ Fear not, my lord, your _servant_ shall do so."

[352:F] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 369. Act ii. sc. 2.

"_Ob._ My _gentle_ Puck, come hither:"

[352:G] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 445. Act iv. sc. 1.

"_Ob._ Welcome, _good_ Robin."

[353:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 374. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2.

[353:B] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 415. Act iii. sc. 2.

[354:A] This beautiful and highly fanciful poem could not certainly have been written before 1605; for the Don Quixote of Cervantes, which was first published in Spain during the above year, is expressly mentioned in one of the stanzas; and Mr. Malone thinks that the earliest edition of the Nymphidia was printed in 1619.—Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 350.

[354:B] Peck attributes this song to Ben Jonson; and Percy observes, that it seems to have been originally intended for some masque.—Reliques, vol. iii. p. 203. ed. 1594.

[354:C] See Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, and Browne's Britannia's Pastorals.

[354:D] Herrick, as I have observed in a former work, seems more particularly to have delighted in drawing the manners and costume of the fairy world.—He has devoted several of his most elaborate poems to these sportive creations of fancy. Under the titles of The Fairy Temple, Oberon's Palace, The Fairy Queen, and Oberon's Feast, a variety of curious and minute imagery is appositely introduced. Literary Hours, 3d edit. vol. iii. p. 85.—To these may be added another elegantly descriptive piece, entitled, King Oberon's Apparel, written by Sir John Mennis, and published in The Musarum Deliciæ, or The Muses Recreation, 1656.

[354:E] In his political ballad entitled The Fairies Farewell.

[354:F] Vide L'Allegro, and the occasional sketches in Paradise Lost and Comus.

[355:A] See Shepherd's Pipe, Eglogue I. Chalmers's English Poets, vol. vi. p. 315. col. 2.