Chapter 25

"Now, until the break of day,Through this house each fairy stray.To the best bride-bed will we,Which by us shall blessed be;And the issue, there create,Ever shall be fortunate.And the blots of nature's handShall not in their issue stand;Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,Nor mark prodigious, such as areDespised in nativity,Shall upon their children be.—With this field-dew consecrate,Every fairy take his gait;And each several chamber bless,Through this palace with sweet peace."[339:B]

"Now, until the break of day,

Through this house each fairy stray.

To the best bride-bed will we,

Which by us shall blessed be;

And the issue, there create,

Ever shall be fortunate.

And the blots of nature's hand

Shall not in their issue stand;

Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,

Nor mark prodigious, such as are

Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.—

With this field-dew consecrate,

Every fairy take his gait;

And each several chamber bless,

Through this palace with sweet peace."[339:B]

How different this from the conduct and disposition of their brother elves of Scotland, of whom Kirk tells us, that "they are ever readiest to go on hurtfull Errands, but seldom will be the Messengers of great Good to Men."[339:C]

But not only were the Fairies of our bard the friends and protectors of virtue, they were also the punishers of guilt and sensuality; and, contrary to the then commonly entertained ideas of their infernal origin,and anti-christian habits, were the avowed patrons of piety and prayer: "Go you," exclaims the personifier of one of these tiny moralists, addressing his companions, "black, grey, green and white,"

———————————— "Go—and where you find a maid,That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,Raise up the organs of her fantasy,Sleep she as sound as careless infancy;But those as sleep, and think not on their sins,Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides, and shins—But, stay; I smell a man of middle earth:—With trial-fire touch me his finger-end:If he be chaste, the flame will back descend,And turn him to no pain; but if he start,It is the flesh of a corrupted heart:"

———————————— "Go—and where you find a maid,

That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,

Raise up the organs of her fantasy,

Sleep she as sound as careless infancy;

But those as sleep, and think not on their sins,

Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides, and shins—

But, stay; I smell a man of middle earth:—

With trial-fire touch me his finger-end:

If he be chaste, the flame will back descend,

And turn him to no pain; but if he start,

It is the flesh of a corrupted heart:"

on the proof of his iniquity, they proceed to punishment, pinching him, and singing in scorn,

"Fye on sinful fantasy!Fye on lust and luxury!" &c.[340:A]

"Fye on sinful fantasy!

Fye on lust and luxury!" &c.[340:A]

This love of virtue, and abhorrence of sin, were, as attributes of the Fairies, in a great measure, if not altogether, the gifts of Shakspeare, at least if we regard their mythology at that time prevalent in Britain, whether we refer to the Scottish system, or to that which existed among our own poets from Chaucer to Warner, though our familiarity with the picture is now such, owing to the popularity of the original artist and the consequent number of his copyists on the same subject, that we assign it a date much anterior to its real source.

If the moral and benevolent character of these children of fancy be, in a great degree, the creation of Shakspeare, the imagery which he has employed in describing their persons, manners, and occupations, will be deemed not less his peculiar offspring, nor inferior in beauty, novelty, and wildness of painting, to that which the magic of his pencil has diffused over every other part of his visionary world.Thus, in imparting to us an idea of the diminutive size of his Fairies, with what picturesque minutiæ has he marked his sketch! Speaking of the altercation between Oberon and Titania, he mentions, as one of its results, that

————————— "all their elves, for fear,Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there:"[341:A]

————————— "all their elves, for fear,

Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there:"[341:A]

and he delineates Ariel as sleeping ina cowslip's bell, as living merrily "under the blossom that hangs on the bough," and flying after summer mounted on theback of the bat.[341:B]

In accordance with this smallness of stature, are all their accompaniments and employments contrived, with the most admirable proportion and the most vivid imagination. Their dress tinted "green and white[341:C]," is constructed of the "wings of rear-mice[341:D]," and their wrappers of the "snake's enamelled skin[341:E];" thepensionersof theirqueenare "the cowslips tall[341:F];" her lacquies,Peas-blossom,Cobweb,Moth, andMustard-seed[341:G]; her lamps the green lustre of the glow-worm[341:H]; and her equipage, one of the most exquisite pictures of frolic imagination, is thus minutely drawn:

"O, then, I see, queen Mab hath been with you.—————————————— She comesIn shape no bigger than an agate stoneOn the fore-finger of an alderman,Drawn with a team of little atomies:—Her waggon-spokes made of long spinner's legs;The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;The traces, of the smallest spider's web;The collars, of the moonshine's watry beams:Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film:Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat,Not half so big as a round little wormPrick'd from the lazy finger of a maid:Her chariot is an empty hazel nut,Maid by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,Time out of mind the fairies' coach-makers."[342:A]

"O, then, I see, queen Mab hath been with you.

—————————————— She comes

In shape no bigger than an agate stone

On the fore-finger of an alderman,

Drawn with a team of little atomies:—

Her waggon-spokes made of long spinner's legs;

The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;

The traces, of the smallest spider's web;

The collars, of the moonshine's watry beams:

Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film:

Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat,

Not half so big as a round little worm

Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid:

Her chariot is an empty hazel nut,

Maid by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,

Time out of mind the fairies' coach-makers."[342:A]

Of the various occupations and amusements assigned to the Fairies, the most constant which tradition has preserved, has been that of dancing at midnight, hand in hand in a circle, a diversion common to every system of this mythology, but which Shakspeare perhaps first described with graphic precision. The scenery selected for this sport, in which—

"To dance their ringlets to the whistling wind,"

was, we are told by Titania,

—— "on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,Or on the beached margent of the sea,"[342:B]

—— "on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,

By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,

Or on the beached margent of the sea,"[342:B]

and thelight of the moonwas a necessary adjunct to their festivity,—

"Ye elves —— —— you demy puppets, thatBy moon-shinedo the green-sour ringlets makeWhereof the ewe not bites."[342:C]

"Ye elves —— —— you demy puppets, that

By moon-shinedo the green-sour ringlets make

Whereof the ewe not bites."[342:C]

Theseringlets, the consequence of the fairy footing, our author has particularly noticed in the following lines, adding some striking imagery on the use to which flowers were applied by this sprightly race:—

—— "Nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:The expressure that it bears, green let it be,More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;And, Hony soit qui mal y pense, writeIn emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white;Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,Buckled below fair knight-hoods bending knee:Fairies use flowers for their charactery."[343:A]

—— "Nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,

Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:

The expressure that it bears, green let it be,

More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;

And, Hony soit qui mal y pense, write

In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white;

Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,

Buckled below fair knight-hoods bending knee:

Fairies use flowers for their charactery."[343:A]

To preserve the freshness and verdure of these ringlets by supplying them with moisture, was one of the occupations of Titania's train: thus a fairy in her service is represented as telling Puck—

"I do wander every where,Swifter than the moones sphere;And I serve the fairy queenTo dew her orbs upon the green."[343:B]

"I do wander every where,

Swifter than the moones sphere;

And I serve the fairy queen

To dew her orbs upon the green."[343:B]

The general amusements of the tribe, independent of their moon-light dance, are very impressively and characteristically enumerated in the subsequent lines:—

"Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;And ye, that on the sands with printless footDo chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,When he comes back;—and you, whose pastimeIs to make midnight mushrooms; that rejoiceTo hear the solemn curfew."[344:A]

"Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;

And ye, that on the sands with printless foot

Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,

When he comes back;—and you, whose pastime

Is to make midnight mushrooms; that rejoice

To hear the solemn curfew."[344:A]

But the most astonishing display of the sportive and illimitable fancy of our poet on this subject, will be found in the ministration and offices ascribed to those Fairies who are employed about the person, or executing the mandates, of their Queen. It appears to have been the business of one of her retinue to attend to the decoration of her majesty'spensioners, the cowslips tall;

"In their gold coats spots you see;Those be rubies, fairy favours,In those freckles live their savours:I must go seek some dew-drops here,And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."[344:B]

"In their gold coats spots you see;

Those be rubies, fairy favours,

In those freckles live their savours:

I must go seek some dew-drops here,

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."[344:B]

Another duty, not less important, was to lull their mistress asleep on the bosom of a violet or a musk-rose:—

"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight."[344:C]

"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,

Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;

Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight."[344:C]

And again, with still greater wildness of imagination, but with the utmost propriety and adaptation of imagery, are they drawn in the performance of similar functions:—

"Titania.Come, nowa roundel and a fairy song;Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,To make my small elves coats; and some keep backThe clamourous owl, that nightly hoots, and wondersAt our quaint spirits:Sing me now asleep:Then to your offices, and let me rest."

"Titania.Come, nowa roundel and a fairy song;

Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;

Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;

Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,

To make my small elves coats; and some keep back

The clamourous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders

At our quaint spirits:Sing me now asleep:

Then to your offices, and let me rest."

The song is equally in character, as it forbids, in admirable adherence to poetical truth and consistency, the approach of every insect or reptile, that might be deemed likely to annoy the repose of such a delicate and diminutive being, while Philomel is invoked to add her delicious chaunt to the soothing melody of fairy voices:—

"1 Fai.You spotted snakes, with double tongue,Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;Newts, and blindworms, do no wrong;Come not near our fairy queen:Chorus.Philomel, with melody,Sing in our sweet lullaby;Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:Never harm, nor spell nor charm,Come our lovely lady nigh;So, good night, with lullaby.2 Fai.Weaving spiders, come not here;Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:Beetles black, approach not near;Worm, nor snail, do no offence.Chorus.Philomel, with melody, &c.1 Fai.Hence, away; now all is well:One, aloof stand sentinel.[Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps."[345:A]

"1 Fai.You spotted snakes, with double tongue,Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;Newts, and blindworms, do no wrong;Come not near our fairy queen:

"1 Fai.You spotted snakes, with double tongue,

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;

Newts, and blindworms, do no wrong;

Come not near our fairy queen:

Chorus.

Philomel, with melody,Sing in our sweet lullaby;Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:Never harm, nor spell nor charm,Come our lovely lady nigh;So, good night, with lullaby.

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm, nor spell nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

2 Fai.Weaving spiders, come not here;Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:Beetles black, approach not near;Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

2 Fai.Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:

Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

Chorus.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

1 Fai.Hence, away; now all is well:One, aloof stand sentinel.

1 Fai.Hence, away; now all is well:

One, aloof stand sentinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps."[345:A]

This scene, beautiful and appropriate as it is, is yet surpassed, in originality and playfulness of fancy, by the passage in which Titania gives directions to her attendants for their conduct to Bottom, to whom she had previously offered their assistance, promising that they should fetch him "jewels from the deep:"—

"Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;Feed him with apricocks, and dewberries,With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries:The honey-bags steal from the humble bees,And, for night tapers, crop their waxen thighs,And light them at the fiery glow-worms eyes,To have my love to bed, and to arise;And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes;Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies."[346:A]

"Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;

Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;

Feed him with apricocks, and dewberries,

With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries:

The honey-bags steal from the humble bees,

And, for night tapers, crop their waxen thighs,

And light them at the fiery glow-worms eyes,

To have my love to bed, and to arise;

And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,

To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes;

Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies."[346:A]

The working of Oberon's enchantment on Titania, who "straight-way lov'd an ass," and led him to "her close and consecrated bower," and the interview between Bottom, her fairy majesty, and her train, though connected with so many supernatural imaginings, have been transferred to the canvas by Fuseli with a felicity which has embodied the very thoughts of Shakspeare, and which may on this subject be said to have placed the genius of the painter almost on a level with that of the poet, so wonderfully has he fixed the illusive creations of his great original.

To this detail of fairy occupation, must be added another feature, on which Shakspeare has particularly dwelt, namely, the attention of the tribe to cleanliness: thus Puck, on entering the palace of Theseus, exclaims,—

"———————— Not a mouseShall disturb this hallow'd house:I am sent, with broom, before,To sweep the dust behind the door:"[346:B]

"———————— Not a mouse

Shall disturb this hallow'd house:

I am sent, with broom, before,

To sweep the dust behind the door:"[346:B]

and similar care and neatness are enjoined the elves who haunt the towers of Windsor:—

"—— About, about;Search Windsor castle, elves, within and out:Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room;—The several chairs of order look you scourWith juice of balm, and every precious flower."[347:A]

"—— About, about;

Search Windsor castle, elves, within and out:

Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room;—

The several chairs of order look you scour

With juice of balm, and every precious flower."[347:A]

No one could aspire to the favour and protection of the Fairies who was slovenly or personally impure; punishment, indeed, awaited all who thus offended; even the majesty of Mab herself condescended

"To bake the elf-locks in foul sluttish hair;"[347:B]

andCricket, the fairy, being sent on a mission to the chimnies of Windsor, receives the following injunction:—

"Where fires thou find'st unraked, and hearths unswept,There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry:Our radiant queen hates sluts, and sluttery."[347:C]

"Where fires thou find'st unraked, and hearths unswept,

There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry:

Our radiant queen hates sluts, and sluttery."[347:C]

In order to complete the picture of fairy superstition, as given us by Shakspeare, it remains to consider his description ofPuckorRobin Good-fellow, the confidential servant of Oberon, an elf or incubus of a mixed and very peculiar character. This quaint, frolicksome, and often mischievous sprite, seems to have been compounded of the qualities ascribed by Gervase of Tilbury to his GoblinGrant, and to hisPortuni, two species of dæmons whom he describes, both in name and character, as denizens of England; of the benevolent propensities attributed by Agricola to theGuteli,Cobali, or Brownies of Germany, and of additional features and powers, the gift and creation of our bard.

A large portion of these descriptions of the German writers, and of his countryman Gervase, Shakspeare would find in Reginald Scot, and from their union with the product of his own fancy, has arisen thePuckof theMidsummer-Night's Dream, a curious amalgamation of thefairy, thebrownie, and thehob-goblin, whom Burton calls "a biggerkind of fairy."[348:A]Scot's vocabulary of the fairy tribe is singularly copious, including not less than nine or ten appellations which have been bestowed, with more or less propriety, on thisProteusof the Gothic elves.—"In our childhood," he observes, "our mother's maids have so terrified us with—bull-beggers, spirits, urchens, elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, faunes, sylens,kit with the cansticke, dwarfes, imps, nymphes, changlings,incubus,Robin Good-fellowe, the spoone, the mare, theman in the oke, thehell waine, thefier drake, thepuckleTom thombe,hob goblin,Tom tumbler, boneless, and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our owne shadowes."[348:B]

It is remarkable, however, that the Puck of Shakspeare is introduced by a term not found in this catalogue:—"Farewell, thouLob of Spirits," says the fairy to him in their first interview,—a title which, as we shall perceive hereafter, could not be meant to imply, as Dr. Johnson supposed, either inactivity of body or dulness of mind, for Puck was occasionally swifter than the wind, and notorious, as the immediately subsequent passage informs us, for his shrewdness and ingenuity:—

"Either I mistake your shape and making quite,"

says the fairy, after bestowing the above title,

"Or else you are thatshrewdand knavish sprite,Call'd Robin Good-fellow;"

"Or else you are thatshrewdand knavish sprite,

Call'd Robin Good-fellow;"

and then proceeds to characterise him by the peculiarity of his functions:—

—————————————— "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 you not he?"[349:A]

—————————————— "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 you not he?"[349:A]

an interrogatory to which he replies in the following terms:—

———————————— "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 saddest tale,Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,Andtailorcries, and falls into a cough;And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe;And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swearA merrier hour was never wasted there."[349:B]

———————————— "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 saddest tale,

Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;

Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,

Andtailorcries, and falls into a cough;

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

And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear

A merrier hour was never wasted there."[349:B]

The greater part of these frolics, indeed all but the last, may be traced inGervase of Tilbury,Agricola, andScot: the "misleading night-wanderers," for instance, "laughing at their harm," and "neighing in likeness of a filly foal," feats whichPuckafterwards thus again enumerates,—

"I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;Andneigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn,"[350:A]—

"I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,

Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:

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

A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;

Andneigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,

Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn,"[350:A]—

are expressly attributed by Gervase to the goblins whom he has termedGrantandPortuni:—"Estin Angliaquoddam dæmonum genus, quod suo idiomateGrantnominantadinstar pulli equini anniculi, tibiis erectum oculis scintillantibus," &c.—"Cum—inter ambiguas noctis tenebrasAnglisolitarii quandoque equitant,Portunusnonnunquam invisus equitanti sese copulat, et cum diutius comitatur euntem, tandem loris arreptis equum in latum ad manum ducit, in quo dum infixos volutatur,portunus exiens cachinnum facit, etsic hujuscemodi ludibrio humanam simplicitatem deridet."[350:B]

The domestic offices and drudgery which Puck delighted to perform for his favourites, are mentioned byLavaterusas belonging to hisFairies of the Earth; byAgricolato hisCobaliandGuteli, and byScotto hisIncubiandVirunculi. Thus the first of these writers observes, in the words of the English translation of 1572, that "men imagine there be certayne elves or fairies of the earth, and tell many straunge and marvellous tales of them, which they have heard of their grandmothers and mothers, howe theyhave appeared unto those of the house,have done service, haverocked the cradell, and (which is a signe of good luck)do continually tary in the house[350:C];" and he subsequently gives us from Agricola the following passage:—"There be some (demons) very mild and gentle, whome some of theGermanscallCobali, as the Grecians do, because they be as it were apes and counterfeiters of men: for they leaping, and skipping for joy do laughe, and sæme as though they did many things, when in very dæde they doo nothing.—Some other call themElves;—they arenot much unlike unto those whom theGermanscallGuteli, bycause they sæme to beare good affection towards men, forthey keepe horses, and doother necessary businesse."[351:A]

The resemblance which these descriptions bear both to theBrownieof the Scotch and thePuckof Shakspeare are very evident: but the combination and similitude are rendered still more apparent in the words ofScot; the "Virunculi terrei," says he, "are such as wasRobin good fellowe, that would supplie the office of servants, speciallie of maids; as to make a fier in the morning, sweepe the house, grind mustard and malt, drawe water, &c.[351:B];" and speaking of theIncubus, he adds:—"In deede your grandams maides were wont to set a boll of milke before him and his cousineRobin good-fellow, for grinding of malt or mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight: and you have also heard thathe would chafe exceedingly, if the maid or good-wife of the house, having compassion on his nakednesse, laid anie clothes for him, beesides his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing fee. For in that case he saith; What have we here? Hemten, hamten, here will I never more tread nor stampen."[351:C]

The lines initalicspoint out one of the most characteristic features of the Brownie, while the preceding parts, and the last word of the quotation, are in unison, both with the passages just transcribed from our poet, and with that expression ofPuck, where, describing to Oberon the terror and dispersion of the rustic comedians, he says—

"And, atour stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls."[351:D]

It may be also remarked, that the idea of fixing "an ass's nowl" on Bottom's head, is most probably taken from Scot, who gives us a very curious receipt for this singular metamorphosis.[351:E]

So far, then, thePuckof Shakspeare is in conformity with the tales of tradition, and of preceding writers; he is the "Goblin fear'd in field and town[352:A]," who loves all things best "that befal preposterously[352:B]," and who, even when the poet wrote, had not ceased to excite apprehension; for Scot hath told us, nine years before the era of theMidsummer-Night's Dream, thatRobin Good-felloweceaseth now to bemuch feared.[352:C]

But to these traits of customary character, Shakspeare has added some which greatly modify the picture, and which have united to the "drudging goblin," and to the demon of mischievous frolic, duties and functions of a very different cast. He is the messenger[352:D], and trusty servant[352:E]of the fairy king, by whom, in these capacities, he is called gentle[352:F]and good[352:G], and he combines with all his hereditary attributes, the speed, the legerity, and the intellectual skill of the highest order of the fairy world. Accordingly when Oberon says—

"Fetch me this herb: and be thou here again,Ere the leviathan can swim a league;"

"Fetch me this herb: and be thou here again,

Ere the leviathan can swim a league;"

he replies,

"I'll put a girdle round about the earthIn forty minutes;"[353:A]

"I'll put a girdle round about the earth

In forty minutes;"[353:A]

and again, on receiving commission from the same quarter:—

"Obe.About the wood go swifter than the wind:Puck.I go, I go; look, how I go;Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow."[353:B]

"Obe.About the wood go swifter than the wind:

Puck.I go, I go; look, how I go;Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow."[353:B]

Puck.I go, I go; look, how I go;

Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow."[353:B]

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 thepatriaof our popular system of fairy mythology, was theScandinavian Peninsula; that, on its admission into this country, it gradually underwent various modifications through theinfluence of Christianity, theintroduction of classical associations, and theprevalence 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. Itis, in short, to his picture of the fairy world, that we are indebted for theNymphidiaofDrayton[354:A]; theRobin Goodfellowof 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 seeneWith the faeries on the greene,And to them his pipe did soundAs they danced in a round;Mickle solace would they make him,And at midnight often wake him;And convey him from his roomeTo a fielde of yellow broome,Or into the meadowes whereMints perfume the gentle aire,And where Flora spreads her treasure,There they would beginn their measure.If it chanc'd night's sable shrowdsMuffled Cynthia up in clowds,Safely home they then would see him,And from brakes and quagmires free him.There are few such swaines as heNow a days for harmonie."[355:A]

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

[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 ofPericles Prynce of Tyre."

"A book by the like authoritie, calledAnthony and Cleopatra." Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, pp. 488, 489. By a somewhat singular mistake, thesecondof 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'sJovial Crew or the Merry Beggars, 4to. 1652.

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

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