and not illuminated with the full light of the sun. All the days were cloudy, and the nights extremely dark. The boy was brought before the king, and introduced to him in the presence of his court, where having examined him for a long time, he delivered him to his son, who was then a boy. These men were of the smallest stature, but very well proportioned, fair complexioned, and wore long hair. They had horses and greyhounds adapted to their size. They neither ate flesh nor fish, but lived on milk diet, made up into messes with saffron. As often as they returned from our hemisphere, they reprobated our ambitions, infidelities, and inconstances; and though they had no form of public worship, they were, it seems, strict lovers and reverers of truth." From this extract, it appears, that the Welch were somewhat different to the English fairies, to whom we

have devoted this article; and we merely make the

quotation because it is one of the very few recorded instances in which fays have appeared to mortals!

Long before Chaucer's time, these little beings, by their many acts of kindness, had obtained so much credit, and thereby excited the angry feelings of the clergy, who wished to take their blessings into their own hands, that the poet says—

"I speke of many hundred yeres ago; But now can no man see non elves mo; For now the grete charitee and prayeres

Of limetourest and other holy freres

That searchen every land and every streme

As thikke as motes in the sonne beme,

[dairies,

Blessing halles, chambers, kichenes and bowres,
Cities, and burghes, castles high and toures,
Thropes (villages) and bernes (barns), shepines (stables) &
This maketh that there ben no fairies;

For thir as wont to walken was an elf,
Their walketh now the limetour himself."

Yet although (even by their own confession) our English minstrels had never seen a fay, nor visited the sweet and blessed bowers of faeryland, they have dared to sing of the King and Queen of that happy

* See "Malone's Shakespeare," edit. 1821, vol. v. p. 345,

note.

+ Begging and Itinerant Friars. They were M.A.'s; preachers of charity sermons; confessors granting easy terms of absolution; facetious story-tellers; could sing a good song, and play

skilfully on an instrument; could dissemble, gloss, pray, and profess extraordinary sanctity; be violent or courteous; merry and wanton, or solemn and devout, as the occasion required: in a word, very popular ecclesiastics, and great favourites with the ladies of their day.

"Canterbury Tales," edited by T. Tyrwhitt, Esq. vol. ii.

p. 136.

Oberon, the Emperor; Mab, the Empress; Perriwiggin, Periwinkle, Puck, Hobgoblin, Tomalin, Tom Thumb; Courtiers.

Hop, Mop, Drop, Pip, Trip, Skip, Tub, Tick, Pink, Pin, Quick, Gill, Tin, Tit, Wap, Win, Nit; the Maids of Honour.

Nymphedia, the Mother of the Maids. Their palaces were formed of pearl; their rooms of sapphire, agate and crystal; and their tennis-courts of polished ivory; their robes of snowy cobweb, and silver gossamer bespangled o'er with the diamond drops of the morning, and wreathes of pearl; their lamps, the mystic lights of many glow-worms; their minstrelsy, the music of the nightingale, cricket, and grasshopper; their food, the brains of butterflies, the beards of mice, emmets' eggs, and

Pearly drops of infant dew

Brought and besweetened in a blue
And pregnant violet;"

their amusements, hunting and dancing.

Thus far the English fairies greatly resemble the Peri of the east country, whose delights and dwellings are so well described by Moore.

"How happy," exclaimed this child of air,
"Are the holy spirits who wander there,

'Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall;
Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea,
And the stars themselves have flowers for me,
One blossom of heaven out-blooms them all!
Go, wing thy flight from star to star,
From world to luminous world, as far

As the universe spreads its flaming wall;
Take all the pleasure of all the spheres
And multiply each through endless years-

One minute of heaven is worth them all!"*
In their tastes and inclinations, however, our elves

and fays were a vulgar race when compared with their eastern fellows. Even their Queen herself, not content with "galloping through lovers' brains," o'er courtiers' knees and lawyers' fingers," in her hazel car, demeaned herself by performing many other tricks, which (to say the least of them) were very unbecoming her regal dignity:

"There is Mab, the mistress fairy,
That doth nightly rob the dairy:
And can help or hurt the churning
As she please without discerning.

"Lalla Rookh :" Paradise and the Peri, p. 133.

empress.

She that pinches country wenches
If they rub not clean their benches:
And with sharper nails remembers,
When they rake not up their embers.
And if so they chance to feast her,
In their shoe she drops a tester.
This is she that empties cradles ;
Takes out children, puts in ladles."

So sings Master Poole,* and we learn from other sources that the courtiers were as mischievous as their Of these, we shall only signal out one, called in the catalogue above quoted Hobgoblin, but more generally known by the more pleasant appellation of Robin Good-fellow.

"This," says Dr. Percy, "in the creed of ancient superstition, was a kind of merry sprite, whose character and achievements are recorded in the following ballad." This ballad is too long to transcribe, but our readers will excuse the following amusing extract:

"Whene'er such wanderers I meete,

As from their night-sports they trudge home;
With counterfeiting voice I grete

And call them on, with me to roam

Thro' woods, thro' lakes,

Thro' bogs, thro' brakes;

Or else, unseene, with them I go
All in the nicke

To play some tricke,
And frolicke it, with ho, ho, ho!
When house or herth doth sluttish lye,
I pinch the maidens black and blue.
The bed-clothes from the bedd pull I,
And lay them naked all to view.
"Twixt sleepe and wake

I do them take,

And loudly laugh out, ho, ho, ho!"

Milton thus celebrates this spirit in his "L'Allegro."

"Tells how the drudging Goblin swet,
To earn his cream-bowl duly set,
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flale hath thresh'd the corn,
Then ten day-lab'rers could not end;
Then lies him down the lubbar fiend,
And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And crop-full, out of doors he flings

Ere the first cock his matin rings."

But, notwithstanding the fancied services of this frolic loving elf, it appears from the following remark of Tyndale, in his Tract "On the obedience of a Xtian

Vide" English Parnassus,” p. 333,

man," that the housewives, or servants, were little the better or worse from his kind of mischievous exertions. "The Pope," says the Reformer, "is kin to Robin Goodfellow, which sweepeth the house, washeth the dishes, and purgeth all by night. But when day cometh there is nothing found clean."

If any, the least obscurity involves the inquiry whence the ancient English received their" Fairy Mythology," none can exist respecting the source from which their belief in magic monsters, and prodigies was derived. The rosy land of the Saracens, basking beneath the blaze of eastern suns, rich in steeds, gold, and gems, spontaneously producing the most luscious fruits and fragrant flowers, and inhabited by a fiery imaginative people whose holy writings abound with tales of enchantment, was the peculiar shrine and nursery of the romantic and marvellous. The pilgrims and warriors who visited this far-off clime, on their return home, astonished their countrymen with the narration of the wonders they had there beheld. They told them of the magnificence, refinement, and luxury of the Saracens, their dreadful wildfire, the learning of their magi, and the beauty of their women, not forgetting, doubtless, to colour and exaggerate their descriptions. The comparatively barbarous Europeans could only ascribe such wonders to the agency of fallen spirits. The Troubadour enriched his songs with the stories of "necromancy" of demon coursers, which carried their rider safely through the air, provided he abstained from making the sign of the cross, or pronouncing the name of his Redeemer, and of love-inspiring maidens, who vainly endeavoured to entice the crusading knight from Christianity. The Romancer seized the glowing tale of sorcery and inserted it in his fabulous history, and the compiler of legends gladly enhanced the valour and merits of his saintly heroes, by relating that they fought with dragons, giants, and other monsters, with which the English had been previously unacquainted. Thus then, the superstitions of our ancestors received a large addition as well as a gorgeous and romantic colouring.

The lofty pretensions and mysterious knowledge of the ancient magician, are evidently of eastern origin; unlike the witch who derived all her power from Satan, he commanded the infernals by his skill in charms and invocations. Before a communication

the Infidels. Hence, the magical flames and fiery walls of the * Invented by the Greeks, but frequently lent by them to Gothic Romancers. For an account of some other wonders in

Romance, such as enchanted arms, flying horses, invulnerable bodies, &c, See “L'Esprit des Loix,” lib. xxviii, c. 22,

arts of mere legerdemain, but afterwards, "when," observes the talented author of " London in the Olden time," the popular mind was first dazzled and bewildered with the brilliant, but delusive marvels which Arabian science presented, and when the excited imagination of the student led him firmly to believe that no knowledge could be obtained, nor any great work ever be performed, unless by the permission of some saint, or the aid of some fiend, or through the mighty agency of one of the angels of the seven spheres," the masters of the "conyninge crafte" became invested with much loftier attributes. They studied at Padua and Salamanca, and arraying themselves in the garb of the infidel, with embrowned faces, silver tabor, and flowing siken garments, travelled from castle to castle, and from city to city, every where inspiring feelings of wonder and respect. Of this fraternity was the far-famed Taillefer, who led on a troop of horse at the battle of Hastings.

"Good steed had he, and lance and sword,
As hardy vassal of his lord;
And right before his peeres rode he,
Doing strange marvels fetuously.
He poised his lance, as light, I ween,
As it a riding rod had been;

And thrice he cast it toward the sky,
And thrice he caught it from on high
By the sharp point, and threw it then,
Fiercely, among the Saxon men.
Then, next, he tossed his glittering brand,
With cunning sleight from either hand,
Playing in such strange guise, that they
Look'd on, I trow, with sore dismay;

For well they ween'd such feats could be
Perform'd by nought save gramarye.”

But if the Saxons were astonished at feats like these, how would they have dared to have followed Taillefer to the scene of his conjurations, or witnessed his infernal ceremonies? The ancient magician sometimes compelled the fallen spirits to appear before him in all their majesty, and sometimes consulted them by the berryl, by means of a seer or speculator. When the wizard desired to see and converse with the infernals, he clad himself in a sacerdotal robe of snowy whiteness falling to his feet, and a black garment reaching to his knees, saying, the while," By the figurative mystery of this holy vestment, I will clothe me with the armour of Salvation in the strength of the highest. Ancoz, Amacoz Amides, Theobonias, Anitoz. That my desired end may be effected through thy strength Adonai, to whom the praise and glory will for ever belong." He put on his con

wand, he drew the necessary circles with his own blood, sprinkled them with consecrated water, perfumed them with costly frankincense, and leaning on two drawn swords, consecrated them to his use and service. Then standing up, he solemnly repeated the following words; "Seeing God hath given us the power to bruise the Serpent's head, and command the Prince of darkness, much more to bear rule over every airy spirit; therefore, by His strong and mighty name, Jehovah, do I conjure you (naming the spirits,) and by his secret commands delivered to Moses on the Mount, and by His holy name Letragrammaton, and by all his wonderful names and attributes Dadai, Sillon, Emillah, Athanatos, Paracletos, &c., that ye do here immediately appear before this circle, in human form, and not of terrible or of monstrous shape, on pain of eternal misery that abides you, unless you speedily fulfill my commands, Bathar, Baltar, Archem, Amachim, Nakun. Amen."

”串

The other mode of consulting spirits was by the berryl, or crystal. These crystals were as large as oranges, set in silver, with crosses at the top, and engraved round about with the names of the Seraphs, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel. The Necromancer "in the new of the moon" being clothed "with all new, and fresh, and clean array, and shaven," and having that day fasted and confessed, and said the seven Psalms and Litany on the two preceding ones, repeated the necessary charms,† (which are given at

*Nearly every spirit required a different circle and form of conjuration. These may all be found in Reginald Scot's " Discovery of Witchraft."—Book xv.

The form of conjuration began thus.-" I do adjure thee, by the Father, and the Son, and Holy Ghost, the which is the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, and by the latter day of judgment, that thou do appear in this crystal stone, or any other instrument at my pleasure, to me and my fellow, gently and beautifully, in fair form of a boy of twelve years of age, without hurt or damage of any of our bodies and souls; and certainly to inform and show me, without any guile or craft, all that we do desire or demand of thee to know, by the virtue of him that shall come to judge the quick and the dead and the world by fire.-Amen."

be seen by the Sorcerer himself. From the above, it appears that the spirit might sometimes "The only story," writes Master John Webster, that seems to carry any credit with it, touching the truth of apparitions in crystals, is that which is related by that great and learned physician, Joachimus Camerarius from the mouth of Lassarus Spenglerus, a person excellent both for piety and prudence."---" Spengler said, that there was one person of a chief family in Norimberge, an honest and grave man whom he thought not fit to name. That one time

The

"Oft at festes, have I wel herd say,

That tregitours within a halle fulle large,
Have made come in a water and a barge,
And in the halle y rowen up and doun;
Sometimes hathe seemed to come a grim leoun;
And, sometimes flowres springe as in a mede;
Sometimes, a vine, and grapes, both whyte and rede;

Sometimes a castel al of lime and stone,
And, whan hem liketh, vanisheth anone."

"their

It is more than probable that these wonders were the effect of Phantasmagoria. The Tregitours were many of them rich and reverenced; many came from Arabia, and studied at the Spanish Universities. "Now," observes an author above quoted, wealth would well enable them to procure all the apparatus necessary (for that magnifying glasses were well known in the middle ages, is an uncontrovertible fact), while their scientific knowledge taught them how to adapt the simple instruments of optical illusion to their ingenious purpose, and straightway "fair damosels" floated in witching beauty across the long and dimly-lighted hall, or the hunter and his gallant staghounds rushed by, or shadowy knights and phan

he came unto him, and brought, wrapt in a piece of silk, a crystalline gem, of a round figure, and said that it was given him of a certain stranger, whom many years before, having desired of him entertainment, meeting him in the market, he took home and kept him three days with him. And that this gift when he departed, was left him as a sign of a grateful mind, having taught such a use of the crystal as this-if he desired to be made more certain of any thing, that he should draw forth the glass, and with a male chaste boy to look in it, and should ask him what he did see? For it should come to pass, that all things that he required should be shown to the boy, and seen in the apparition. And this man did affirm that he was never deceived in any one thing, and that he had understood many wonderful things by the boy's indication, when none of all the rest did by looking into it, see it to be any thing else but a neat and pure gem?" Vide "The Displaying of supposed Witchcraft" &c., chap. xvi. p. 310.

The earlier astrologers, although denying the use of all necromancy or black magic, consulted spirits, &c. by means of crystals. Of this class were Dee, Lilly, and others,

friends long since past from earth, may not the same explanation be given to them all?—and thus may not a load of unmerited obloquy be removed from the memories of the simple chroniclers, who, in truth, described but what they had really witnessed?" Many sorcerers likewise studied astrology and al"He will show you," says Lodge, speaking of one of these persons, “the devill in a crystal, calculate the nativitie of his gelding, talk of nothing but gold and silver, elixir, calcination, augmentation, citrination, commentation, and tho' swearing to enrich the world in a month, he is not able to buy himself a new cloake in a whole year.' ."* The above was written in 1596, and the latter part of the paragraph scarcely agrees with the assertion, that in Queen Mary's reign the predictions of judicial astrology" were received with reverential awe."

During several centuries the ruling authorities in England allowed the magicians to practise their juggling arts with impunity. Roger Bolinbrook and Margery Jordaine were executed not so much for necromancy as for high treason against Henry VI.; and it was not until the latter period of the sixteenth century that a general denunciation was issued against sorcery itself, as a desertion of the Deity, and a crime this moderation, perhaps "the supposed faction besui generis. Many reasons have been alleged for

tween a witch and a demon was deemed in itself to have terrors enough to prevent its becoming an ordinary crime, and was not therefore visited with any statutory penalty." In 1541, however, a statute was passed against conjuration, witchcraft, and sorcery; and again in 1562, a formal statute against sorcery as penal in itself was enacted, but it does not appear that more than two or three persons at farthest were tried and punished during the reign of Elizabeth. When James I. ascended the throne, the popular indignation fell rather upon witches than sorcerers, if we may judge from the number of females executed for this crime, probably; because the latter were generally old women, who possessed neither friends nor influence. From the time that the episcopal and kingly government succeeded the dreary interregnum of anarchy, fanaticism, and military despotism, conjurers began to decline in public estimation; and instead of being regarded with awe or detestation, were despised as imposters. In "the character of a * "Incarnate Devils," 4to. Lond. 1596.

+ Scott's "Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft," p. 218