That serchen every lond and every streme,
As thick as motes in the sunne beme."

*

"This maketh that there ben no fairies,
For there as wont to walken was an elfe,
There walketh now the Limitour himself,
And as he goeth in his Limitacioune,
Wymen may now goe safely up and downe,
In every bush and under every tree,

There nis none other Incubus but he."*

To a belief in magic, witchcraft, and the agency of spirits, was always superadded that of the power of charms both to create love, and cause infidelity and hatred. The singular tergiversations of the lovers Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena, are all effects of such a power: the love of Titania for Bottom, with his asse's head, is a similar instance, and it was, doubtless, by the same means that the queen had led Theseus

"through the glimmering night,

From Perigenia, whom he ravished;

And made him with fair Æglé break his faith,
With Ariadne and Antiopa." +

The whole circle of poetry does not contain a passage richer in poetical beauties and of sweeter versification, than that wherein Shakspeare describes the power of the heart's-ease

*Wife of Bath's Tale. † Act IV. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 2.

to create love. Elizabeth never received a more

graceful compliment.

"Thou remember'st

Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea maid's music.

That every time I saw (but thou could'st not)
Flying between the cold moon and the earth
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west,

And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow
As it should pierce an hundred thousand hearts.
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quencht in the chaste beams of the watery moon;
And the imperial vot'ress passed on

In maiden meditation, fancy free.

Yet, mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell;

It fell upon a little western flow'r

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it "Love in Idleness."

Among other mischievous propensities which were attributed to fairies, was that of stealing the unbaptized infants of mortals, and leaving their own progeny in their stead. Before they put a new-born child into the cradle, the Danish women were accustomed to place either there, or over the door, garlick, salt, bread, and also steel, or some cutting instrument made of that metal, as preventives against so great an evil. The child

of a pagan was lawful game for every waggish sprite, and, in a pilfering excursion to the East, Titania found no obstructions to her success from precautions similar to those of the northern matron. She had for her attendant

"A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling:
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild:
But she, perforce, withholds the lovely boy,

Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy."

The poet has not left it to this exploit of Titania, nor to the return of Oberon "from farthest steep of Indiat," to proclaim that celerity of motion by which the fairies were distinguished. The king boasts that they

66

the globe can compass soon, Swifter than the wand'ring moon.”‡

Puck undertakes to

"Put a girdle round about the earth

In forty minutes || ;"

and the following lines seem almost to invest the fairy tribe with the power of ubiquity:

“Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,

*Act II. sc. 1.

+ Act II. sc. 2.

Act IV. sc. 1.

|| Act II. sc. 2.

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander every where,

Swifter than the moones sphere."

The tribe of fairies generally was deemed mischievous, and Puck, Robin-Goodfellow, or Hobgoblin, as he was variously called, enjoyed the reputation of being the master-spirit of wickedness among them. Delighted by every combination of the preposterous, his neverwearying pursuit of mischief rendered his name universally terrific. If he met a person returning home at night, his delight was to lead him by a feigned voice out of his way: such is the exploit of Puck when he entangles Lysander and Demetrius in the mazes of a wood, and separates them from each other:

66

Up and down, up and down;
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear'd in field and town;

Goblin, lead them up and down."+

At other times he assumed the shape of an animal, making his metamorphosis the vehicle of a prank :

"Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,

A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;

*Act I. sc. 2.

+ Act III. sc. 2.

And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.”*

It would be tedious to recapitulate the whole of Robin's gambols, and useless also, as Shakspeare has given an elegant summary of his frolics.

Fairy. "Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite, Call'd Robin Goodfellow are you not he, That fright the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk; and sometimes labour in the quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, You do their work and they shall have good luck : Are not you he?

Puck.

Thou speak'st aright;

I am that merry wanderer of the night.

I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dew lap pour the ale,
The wisest aunt, telling the sadest tale,
Sometime for three foot stool mistaketh me ;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And tailor cries, and falls into a cough;

And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe ;

* Act III. sc. 1.