Upon a grasshopper they got And, what with amble and with trot, For hedge nor ditch they spared not, But after her they hie them; A cobweb over them they throw, To shield the wind if it should blow; Themselves they wisely could bestow Lest any should espy them.

But let us leave Queen Mab awhile (Through many a gate, o'er many a stile, That now had gotten by this wile), Her dear Pigwiggen kissing; And tell how Oberon doth fare, Who grew as mad as any hare When he had sought each place with care And found his Queen was missing.

By grisly Pluto he doth swear, He rent his clothes and tore his hair, And as he runneth here and there An acorn cup he greeteth, Which soon he taketh by the stalk, About his head he lets it walk, Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth.

The Tuscan poet doth advance The frantic Paladin of France,[6] And those more ancient do enhance Alcides in his fury, And others Ajax Telamon, But to this time there hath been none So bedlam as our Oberon, Of which I dare assure ye.

And first encount'ring with a Wasp, He in his arms the fly doth clasp As though his breath he forth would grasp Him for Pigwiggen taking: "Where is ny wife, thou rogue?" quoth he; "Pigwiggen, she is come to thee; Restore her, or thou diest by me!" Whereat the poor Wasp quaking,

Cries, "Oberon, great Fairy King, Content thee, I am no such thing: I am a Wasp, behold my sting!" At which the Fairy started; When soon away the Wasp doth go, Poor wretch was never frighted so; He thought his wings were much too slow, O'erjoyed they so were parted.

He next upon a Glow-worm light (You must suppose it now was night), Which, for her hinder part was bright, He took to be a devil, And furiously doth her assail For carrying fire in her tail; He thrasht her rough coat with his flail; The mad King feared no evil.

"Oh!" quoth the Glow-worm, "hold thy hand, Thou puissant King of Fairy-land! Thy mighty strokes who may withstand? Hold, or of life despair I!" Together then herself doth roll, And tumbling down into a hole, She seemed as black as any coal; Which vext away the Fairy.

From thence he ran into a hive: Amongst the bees he letteth drive, And down their combs begins to rive, All likely to have spoiled, Which with their wax his face besmeared, And with their honey daubed his beard: It would have made a man afeared To see how he was moiled.

A new adventure him betides; He met an Ant, which he bestrides, And post thereon away he rides, Which with his haste doth stumble, And came full over on her snout; Her heels so threw the dirt about, For she by no means could get out, But over him doth tumble.

And being in this piteous case, And all be-slurried head and face, On runs he in this wild-goose chase, As here and there he rambles; Half blind, against a molehill hit, And for a mountain taking it, For all he was out of his wit Yet to the top he scrambles.

And being gotten to the top, Yet there himself he could not stop, But down on th' other side doth chop, And to the foot came rumbling; So that the grubs, therein that bred, Hearing such turmoil overhead, Thought surely they had all been dead; So fearful was the jumbling.

And falling down into a lake, Which him up to the neck doth take. His fury somewhat it doth slake; He calleth for a ferry; Where you may some recovery note, What was his club he made his boat, And in his oaken cup doth float, As safe as in a wherry.

Men talk of the adventures strange Of Don Quishott, and of their change, Through which he armed oft did range, Of Sancha Pancha's travel; But should a man tell everything Done by this frantic Fairy King, And them in lofty numbers sing, It well his wits might gravel.

Scarce set on shore, but therewithal He meeteth Puck, which most men call Hobgoblin, and on him doth fall With words from frenzy spoken: "Ho, ho,"[7] quoth Hob, "God save thy grace! Who drest thee in this piteous case? He thus that spoiled my sovereign's face, I would his neck were broken!"

This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt, Still walking like a ragged colt, And oft out of a bush doth bolt, Of purpose to deceive us; And leading us makes us to stray, Long winter's nights, out of the way; And when we stick in mire and clay, Hob doth with laughter leave us.

"Dear Puck," quoth he, "my wife is gone: As e'er thou lov'st King Oberon, Let everything but this alone, With vengeance and pursue her; Bring her to me alive or dead, Or that vild[8] thief Pigwiggen's head; That villain hath defiled my bed, He to this folly drew her."

Quoth Puck, "My liege, I'll never lin[9], But I will thorough thick and thin, Until at length I bring her in; My dearest lord, ne'er doubt it. Thorough brake, thorough briar, Thorough muck, thorough mire, Thorough water, thorough fire; And thus goes Puck about it."

This thing Nymphidia overheard, That on this mad King had a guard, Not doubting of a great reward For first this business broaching; And through the air away doth go, Swift as an arrow from the bow, To let her sovereign Mab to know What peril was approaching.

The Queen, bound with Love's powerful'st charm, Sate with Pigwiggen arm in arm; Her merry maids that thought no harm, About the room were skipping; A humble bee, their minstrel, played Upon his hautboy; every maid Fit for this Revels was arrayed, The hornpipe neatly tripping.

In comes Nymphidia, and doth cry, "My sovereign, for your safety fly, For there is danger but too nigh; I posted to forewarn you: The King hath sent Hobgoblin out, To seek you all the fields about, And of your safety you may doubt If he but once discern you."

When, like an uproar in a town, Before them everything went down; Some tore a ruff, and some a gown, 'Gainst one another justling; They flew about like chaff i' th' wind; For haste some left their masks behind; Some could not stay their gloves to find; There never was such bustling.

Forth ran they, by a secret way, Into a brake that near them lay; Yet much they doubted there to stay, Lest Hob should hap to find them; He had a sharp and piercing sight, All one to him the day and night; And therefore were resolved by flight To leave this place behind them.

At length one chanced to find a nut, In th' end of which a hole was cut, Which lay upon a hazel root, There scattered by a squirrel Which out the kernel gotten had; When quoth this Fay, "Dear Queen, be glad; Let Oberon be ne'er so mad, I'll set you safe from peril.

"Come all into this nut," quoth she, "Come closely in; be ruled by me; Each one may here a chooser be, For room ye need not wrastle: Nor need ye be together heapt"; So one by one therein they crept, And lying down they soundly slept, And safe as in a castle.

Nymphidia, that this while doth watch, Perceived if Puck the Queen should catch That he should be her over-match, Of which she well bethought her; Found it must be some powerful charm, The Queen against him that must arm, Or surely he would do her harm, For throughly he had sought her.

And list'ning if she aught could hear, That her might hinder, or might fear, But finding still the coast was clear, Nor creature had descried her; Each circumstance and having scanned, She came thereby to understand Puck would be with them out of hand; When to her charms she hied her.

And first her fern-seed[10] doth bestow, The kernel of the mistletoe; And here and there as Puck should go, With terror to affright him, She nightshade straws to work him ill, Therewith her vervain and her dill, That hindreth witches of their will, Of purpose to despite him.

Then sprinkles she the juice of rue, That groweth underneath the yew; With nine drops of the midnight dew, From lunary[11] distilling: The molewarp's brain mixed therewithal; And with the same the pismire's gall: For she in nothing short would fall, The Fairy was so willing.

Then thrice under a briar doth creep, Which at both ends was rooted deep, And over it three times she leap, Her magic much availing; Then on Proserpina doth call, And so upon her spell doth fall, Which here to you repeat I shall, Not in one tittle failing.

"By the croaking of the frog, By the howling of the dog, By the crying of the hog Against the storm arising; By the evening curfew bell, By the doleful dying knell, O let this my direful spell, Hob, hinder thy surprising!

"By the mandrake's dreadful groans, By the lubrican's[12] sad moans, By the noise of dead men's bones In charnel-houses rattling; By the hissing of the snake, The rustling of the fire-drake[13], I charge thee thou this place forsake, Nor of Queen Mab be prattling!

"By the whirlwind's hollow sound, By the thunder's dreadful stound, Yells of spirits underground, I charge thee not to fear us; By the screech-owl's dismal note, By the black night-raven's throat, I charge thee, Hob, to tear thy coat With thorns, if thou come near us!"

Her spell thus spoke, she stept aside, And in a chink herself doth hide, To see thereof what would betide, For she doth only mind him: When presently she Puck espies, And well she marked his gloating eyes, How under every leaf he pries, In seeking still to find them.

But once the circle got within, The charms to work do straight begin, And he was caught as in a gin; For as he thus was busy, A pain he in his head-piece feels, Against a stubbed tree he reels, And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels; Alas! his brain was dizzy!

At length upon his feet he gets, Hobgoblin fumes, Hobgoblin frets; And as again he forward sets, And through the bushes scrambles, A stump doth trip him in his pace; Down comes poor Hob upon his face, And lamentably tore his case, Amongst the briars and brambles.

"A plague upon Queen Mab!" quoth he, "And all her maids where'er they be: I think the devil guided me, To seek her so provoked!" Where stumbling at a piece of wood, He fell into a ditch of mud, Where to the very chin he stood, In danger to be choked.

Now worse than e'er he was before, Poor Puck doth yell, poor Puck doth roar, That waked Queen Mab, who doubted sore Some treason had been wrought her: Until Nymphidia told the Queen, What she had done, what she had seen, Who then had well-near cracked her spleen With very extreme laughter.

But leave we Hob to clamber out, Queen Mab and all her Fairy rout, And come again to have a bout With Oberon yet madding: And with Pigwiggen now distraught, Who much was troubled in his thought, That he so long the Queen had sought, And through the fields was gadding.

And as he runs he still doth cry, "King Oberon, I thee defy, And dare thee here in arms to try, For my dear lady's honour: For that she is a Queen right good, In whose defence I'll shed my blood, And that thou in this jealous mood Hast laid this slander on her."

And quickly arms him for the field, A little cockle-shell his shield, Which he could very bravely wield, Yet could it not be pierced: His spear a bent[14] both stiff and strong, And well-near of two inches long: The pile was of a horse-fly's tongue, Whose sharpness nought reversed.

And puts him on a coat of mail, Which was of a fish's scale, That when his foe should him assail, No point should be prevailing: His rapier was a hornet's sting: It was a very dangerous thing, For if he chanced to hurt the King, It would be long in healing.

His helmet was a beetle's head, Most horrible and full of dread, That able was to strike one dead, Yet did it well become him; And for a plume a horse's hair Which, being tossed with the air, Had force to strike his foe with fear, And turn his weapon from him.

Himself he on an earwig set, Yet scarce he on his back could get, So oft and high he did curvet, Ere he himself could settle: He made him turn, and stop, and bound, To gallop, and to trot the round, He scarce could stand on any ground, He was so full of mettle.

When soon he met with Tomalin, One that a valiant knight had bin, And to King Oberon of kin; Quoth he, "Thou manly Fairy, Tell Oberon I come prepared, Then bid him stand upon his guard; This hand his baseness shall reward, Let him be ne'er so wary.

"Say to him thus, that I defy His slanders and his infamy, And as a mortal enemy Do publicly proclaim him. Withal that if I had mine own, He should not wear the Fairy crown, But with a vengeance should come down, Nor we a king should name him."

This Tomalin could not abide To hear his sovereign vilified; But to the Fairy Court him hied (Full furiously he posted), With everything Pigwiggen said: How title to the crown he laid, And in what arms he was arrayed, As how himself he boasted.

'Twixt head and foot, from point to point, He told the arming of each joint, In every piece how neat and quaint, For Tomalin could do it: How fair he sat, how sure he rid, As of the courser he bestrid, How managed, and how well he did; The King which listened to it,

Quoth he, "Go, Tomalin, with speed, Provide me arms, provide my steed, And everything that I shall need; By thee I will be guided; To strait account call thou thy wit; See there be wanting not a whit, In everything see thou me fit, Just as my foe's provided."

Soon flew this news through Fairy-land, Which gave Queen Mab to understand The combat that was then in hand Betwixt those men so mighty: Which greatly she began to rue, Perceiving that all Fairy knew, The first occasion from her grew Of these affairs so weighty.

Wherefore attended with her maids, Through fogs, and mists, and damps she wades, To Proserpine the Queen of Shades, To treat that it would please her The cause into her hands to take, For ancient love and friendship's sake, And soon thereof an end to make, Which of much care would ease her.

A while there let we Mab alone, And come we to King Oberon, Who, armed to meet his foe, is gone, For proud Pigwiggen crying: Who sought the Fairy King as fast And had so well his journeys cast, That he arrived at the last, His puissant foe espying.

Stout Tomalin came with the King, Tom Thumb doth on Pigwiggen bring, That perfect were in everything To single fights belonging: And therefore they themselves engage To see them exercise their rage With fair and comely equipage, Not one the other wronging.

So like in arms these champions were, As they had been a very pair, So that a man would almost swear That either had been either; Their furious steeds began to neigh, That they were heard a mighty way; Their staves upon their rests they lay; Yet, ere they flew together,

Their seconds minister an oath, Which was indifferent to them both, That on their knightly faith and troth No magic them supplied; And sought them that they had no charms Wherewith to work each other's harms, But came with simple open arms To have their causes tried.

Together furiously they ran, That to the ground came horse and man, The blood out of their helmets span, So sharp were their encounters; And though they to the earth were thrown, Yet quickly they regained their own, Such nimbleness was never shown, They were two gallant mounters.

When in a second course again, They forward came with might and main, Yet which had better of the twain, The seconds could not judge yet; Their shields were into pieces cleft, Their helmets from their heads were reft, And to defend them nothing left, These champions would not budge yet.

Away from them their staves they threw, Their cruel swords they quickly drew, And freshly they the fight renew, They every stroke redoubled; Which made Proserpina take heed, And make to them the greater speed, For fear lest they too much should bleed, Which wondrously her troubled.

When to th' infernal Styx she goes, She takes the fogs from thence that rose, And in a bag doth them enclose, When well she had them blended. She hies her then to Lethe spring, A bottle and thereof doth bring, Wherewith she meant to work the thing Which only she intended.

Now Proserpine with Mab is gone Unto the place where Oberon And proud Pigwiggen, one to one, Both to be slain were likely: And there themselves they closely hide, Because they would not be espied; For Proserpine meant to decide The matter very quickly.

And suddenly unties the poke, Which out of it sent such a smoke, As ready was them all to choke, So grievous was the pother; So that the knights each other lost, And stood as still as any post; Tom Thumb nor Tomalin could boast Themselves of any other.

But when the mist 'gan somewhat cease Proserpina commandeth peace; And that a while they should release Each other of their peril; "Which here," quoth she, "I do proclaim To all in dreadful Pluto's name, That as ye will eschew his blame, You let me hear the quarrel:

"But here yourselves you must engage (Somewhat to cool your spleenish rage. Your grievous thirst and to assuage) That first you drink this liquor, Which shall your understanding clear, As plainly shall to you appear; Those things from me that you shall hear, Conceiving much the quicker."

This Lethe water, you must know, The memory destroyeth so, That of our weal, or of our woe, Is all remembrance blotted; Of it nor can you ever think; For they no sooner took this drink, But naught into their brains could sink Of what had them besotted.

King Oberon forgotten had That he for jealousy ran mad, But of his Queen was wondrous glad, And asked how they came thither: Pigwiggen likewise doth forget That he Queen Mab had ever met, Or that they were so hard beset, When they were found together.

Nor neither of them both had thought That e'er they had each other sought, Much less that they a combat fought, But such a dream were loathing: Tom Thumb had got a little sup, And Tomalin scarce kissed the cup, Yet had their brains so sure locked up, That they remembered nothing.

Queen Mab and her light maids, the while, Amongst themselves do closely smile, To see the King caught with this wile, With one another jesting: And to the Fairy Court they went With mickle joy and merriment, Which thing was done with good intent: And thus I left them feasting.

* * * * *

NOTES ON TEXTS

The Legend of Pyramus and Thisbe.

See p. 31.

[1] P. 73, l. 12. let, hinder, prevent.

[2] P. 74, l. 18. vouching safe, vouchsafing.

[3] P. 75, l. 4. parget, plaster, roughcast.

[4] P. 78, l. 10. stound, position.

[5] P. 79, l. 1. meint, mixed.

[6] P. 79, l. 19. belyve, immediately.

[7] P. 80, l. 5. sicker, sure, certain.

[8] P. 80, l. 11. bespect, speckled.

* * * *

Robin Good-fellow.

See pp. 39, 63. The text here given is that of the reprint of the 1628 edition, edited for the Percy Society by J. Payne Collier in 1841. The original black-letter tract, there described as being "in the library of Lord Francis Egerton, M.P.," is still in that collection, which is now known as the Bridgewater House Library. Collier's introduction is characteristic; it contains a good deal of correct information, and an interesting note based on forgeries of his own in Henslowe's Diary.

[1] P. 81, l. 20. Long-tails. Cf, Fuller's Worthies, Kent (1811), i. 486: "It happened in an English village where Saint Austin was preaching, that the Pagans therein did beat and abuse both him and his associates, opprobriously tying fish-tails to their backsides; in revenge whereof an impudent author relateth ... how such appendants grew to the hind-parts of all that generation."—See Murray, N.E.D. s.v. Long-tail. The earliest reference is to Moryson's Itinerary, 1617. "Kentish-tayld" occurs in Nashe's Strange News, 1592, sig. E 4.

[2] P. 84, l. 22. snite, snipe,

[3] P. 88, l. 23. presently, immediately.

[4] P. 90, l. 11. ho, ho, hoh! This is Robin's traditional laugh. Cf. the refrain of the broadside, p. 144.

[5] P. 93, l. 19. bolt, sift, pass through a sieve.

[6] P. 95, l. 5. himpen, hampen. Cf. "Hemton hamton" in Scot's account of Robin, p. 135.

[7] P. 97, l. 18. night-raven, proverbially a bird of ill-omen.

[8] P. 98, l. 7. starkled, stiffened. A dialect word, still in use.

[9] P. 98, l. 22. quills, spools or "bottoms" on which weavers' thread is wound.

[10] P. 101, l. 8. the tune of Watton Town's End. See Chappell's Popular Music, 218-20.

[11] P. 105, l. 18. bombasting, puffing up, frothing.

[12] P. 106, l. 1. Obreon. The 1639 edition spells the name in the ordinary way, but it may be noted that the Pepysian copy of the broadside ballad (p. 144), begins—

"From Obreon in fairyland."

[13] P. 108, l. 16. the tune of What care I how fair she be? This is the tune to George Wither's famous—

"Shall I wasting in despair Die because a woman's fair?"

See Chappell's Popular Music, 315.

[14] P. 109, l. 5. the tune of The Spanish Pavin. (Pavin = Pavan.) See Chappell, op. cit., 240.

[15] P. 110, l. 13. the tune of The Jovial Tinker. See Chappell, op. cit., 187.

[16] P. 110, l. 25. ax = ask. The form "ax" was in use till the end of the sixteenth century, and continues in dialect.

[17] P. 111, l. 13. the tune of Broom. See Chappell, op. cit., 458; but this song does not fit the metre.

* * * *

The Romance of Thomas of Erceldoune.

(Fytte I.)

See pp. 45-7. In preparing the text, I have reduced in as simple a manner as possible the fifteenth-century spelling to modern forms. Dr. J.A.H. Murray's parallel texts (see note on p. 46) have been consulted, but mainly I have followed the oldest of them—that of the Thornton MS. in Lincoln Cathedral Library. The footnotes explain all words save those that are or ought to be familiar to every reader.

[1] l. 1. endris, last.

[2] l. 6. meaned, moaned.

[3] l. 7. bered, sounded. The woodwale is some kind of wood-bird.

[4] l. 14. wrable and ivry, ? wriggle and twist, i.e. in the attempt to describe her.

[5] l. 17. See p. 54.

[6] Swilk, such.

[7] l. 21. roelle-bone; a commonplace in early poetry, as the material for saddles; meaning unknown.

[8] l. 24. crapotee, toad-stone.

[9] l. 32. overbegone, overlaid.

[10] l. 33. paytrell = poitrail, breast-leather of a horse; iral (?).

[11] l. 34. orphare = orferrie, goldsmith's work.

[12] l. 38. raches, dogs.

[13] l. 39. halse, neck.

[14] l. 40. flane, arrow.

[15] l. 43. See pp. 46-7 and note.

[16] l. 45. But-if, unless.

[17] l. 48. For an elaborate investigation of the circumstances concerning the Eildon tree, see the special section in Murray's edition.

[18] l. 49. rathely, quickly.

[19] l. 63. fee, beasts, cattle.

[20] l. 71. sekerly, truly.

[21] l. 79. ware, worse.

[22] l. 86. byrde, bride.

[23] l. 89. stead, place.

[24] l. 98. duleful, painful.

[25] l. 103. gone = go (old infinitive).

[26] l. 104. Middle-earth = Earth, the middle region in the old Northern cosmogony.

[27] l. 107. Thomas is here addressing the Virgin.

[28] l. 111. beteach, entrust, hand over to.

[29] l. 114. derne, secret.

[30] l. 117. mountenance, space.

[31] l. 121. herbere, garden.

[32] l. 126. bigging, building.

[33] l. 127. papejoys, popinjays, parrots.

[34] ll. 131-6. On the danger of eating fairy apples, see p. 53.

[35] l. 137. hight, command.

[36] l. 141. hight (MS. hye), ? pleasure.

[37] l. 143. pay, please.

[38] l. 145 et sqq. See p. 46.

[39] l. 145. fair, pronounced as two syllables.

[40] l. 150. rise, brushwood, undergrowth.

[41] l. 155. teen and tray, pain and trouble.

[42] l. 167. me were lever, I had rather.

[43] l. 168. Or that, ere that, before that.

[44] l. 175. dess, dais.

[45] l. 183. main and mood, might and main.

[46] l. 188. kneeland = kneeling. Cf. l. 191.

[47] l. 189. fand, found.

[48] l. 190. sawtery = psaltery.

[49] l. 191. ribib, rebeck, lute.

[50] l. 191. gangand = going.

[51] l. 196. store, plentiful.

[52] l. 199. brittened = brittled, cut up (the deer)

[53] l. 208. This sudden and momentary change to the first person is found in all the older MSS. See p. 47.

[54] l. 209. thee buse—it behoves thee. Cf. l. 234.

[55] l. 213. cheer, look, face.

[56] ll. 219-24. See p. 54; also Sir Walter Scott's introduction to the ballad of The Young Tamlane, in The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.

[57] l. 220. skill, reason.

[58] l. 221. To-morn, in the morning.

[59] l. 223. hend, noble, mighty.

[60] l. 226. hethen = hence. Cf. sithen = since.

[61] l. 228. rede, advise.

[62] l. 232. Four lines of the MSS. omitted here.

[63] l. 234. buse. See note on l. 209.

[64] l. 235. Fyttes II and III are wholly concerned with the prophecies, and have nothing to do with the story of Thomas.

* * * *

Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft.

[1] P. 135, l. 13. (Book IV, chap, x.) Hemton hamton. Cf. "himpen hampen" in Robin Good-fellow, and note, p. 189.

[2] P. 138, l. 20. (Book VII, chap, xv.) Kit with the canstick. Christopher-with-the-candlestick is another name for Jack-o'-lantern. calkers = diviners. For spoorn, see Wright, Dialect Dictionary, s.v.

[3] P. 140, l. 8. (Discourse, chap. xxi.) Hudgin is more usually spelled Hodeken, the German familiar fairy. Cf. the French Hugon, a bugbear used to frighten children.

* * * *

Strange Farlies.

P. 141. This extract from Churchyard was first cited by E.K. Chambers in his edition of M.N.D. in the Warwick Shakespeare.

[1] farlies, marvels.

[2] feared, frightened.

* * * *

The Mad Merry Pranks of Robin Good-fellow.

P. 144. This broadside is found in various editions in the larger collections (Roxburghe Coll., I. 230; Pepys, I. 80; also in the Bagford); the text here given is Percy's collation (as printed in his Reliques) of one or two of the above. The tune of Dulcina was famous; it may be seen in Chappell's Popular Music, 142.

* * * *

The Fairies' Farewell.

[1] P. 153, l. 11. [need]. Poetica Stromata reads want.

* * * *

The Fairy Queen.

P. 155. The poem was given by Percy in his Reliques from The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence, a curious book of which the preface is signed E.P.; the British Museum Catalogue attributes these initials to Edward Phillips, the nephew of John Milton. But Rimbault pointed out that this song occurs in a tract of 1635, A Description of the King and Queen of the Fairies, attributed to Robert Herrick; a single copy of this pamphlet is known, and is in the Bodleian Library.

* * * *

Nymphidia.

P. 158. Michael Drayton's fairy-poem was first published in 1627, and perhaps owes a little of its charm to Shakespeare's play, though not so much as Drayton's sonnets to those of the elder poet.

[1] P. 160. upright, flat on the back. This is the older meaning, which Drayton would find in Chaucer.

[2] hays, dances. Cf. heydeguys, p. 148.

[3] P. 161. aulfe. Cf. "ouphs," Merry Wives of Windsor, V. v.

[4] Pigwiggen. "Piggy-widden" is a west-country dialect term, meaning a little white pig, used as an endearment for the youngest of a family.

[5] P. 162. starved, i.e. killed.

[6] P. 166. The Tuscan poet, Ariosto; the frantic Paladin, Orlando Furioso.

[7] P. 170. "Ho, ho." See note (p. 189) on Robin Goodfellow.

[8] vild, an old form of "vile."

[9] lin, stop.

[10] P. 174. fern-seed. A very common superstition, which still survives, is that the seeds of the fern have power to confer invisibility.

[11] lunary, a name given to several plants, here probably moonwort. It was supposed to open locks.

[12] P. 175. lubrican, the name of an Irish pigmy sprite, otherwise called leprechaun.

[13] fire-drake, a fiery dragon. The word also meant a meteor.

[14] P. 178. bent, grass-stalk.

* * * * *

INDEX

Aegeus, 12 Aegles, 9 Aethra, 9 Alberich, 36 Alcmena, 9 Amazonide, 13 Anelida and Arcite, 13 Antiopa, 9-10 Apuleius, 30 Arcite, 12-25 Ariadne, 9 Aristotle, 12 Arthur, King, 44, 48, 57 Arthurian cycle, 57-8 Auberon, 35 Avalon, 43

Ballads: Tam Lin, 38, 53 Thomas the Rhymer, 46-7 King Orfeo, 52 Boccaccio, 12-14 Bodin, 30 Bottom, 29-30 Breton lays, 54-5

Chambers, E.K., 9, 24, 40, 64 Characters, 4: Theseus and Hippolyta, 9-11; Egeus, Philostrate, Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia, 12; Bottom and his comrades, 29; Oberon, 35-6; Titania, 36; Puck, 37-40 Chaucer, 9, 10, 12-14, 22-5, 39, 58

Demetrius, 12, 25 Demonology, 37 Diana, 36-7 Discovery of Witchcraft, 29-30, 36, 39, 133-140

Eddic lays, 42 Edwardes, R., 22 Egeus, 12 Elf-land: see Fairy-land. Emelye (Emilia), 12, 14-22 Emetreus, 19, 21, 25 Eochaid, 55-7 Etain, 55-7 Eurydice, 49-50

Fairie Queen, 36, 39 Fairies, 35, 41, 44, 62-6. See also under King and Queen. Fairy-land, 35, 46, 55-7, 59 Fairy-lore: sleeping under trees, 53; the fiend's tithe, 53-4; white horses, 54; horns, 62; hunt, 62 Fates, 42 Fay, 41 Fletcher, John, 23

Golding, A., 31 Gollancz, Prof., 32 Goodfellow, Robin, 37-40, 63, 144-8 Goodfellow, Robin, tract, 39, 81-121 Gower, John, 41 Greene, Robert, 12, 36

Halpin, Rev. N.J., 66-7 Helena, 12 Henslowe's Diary, 22-3 Hercules, 9-10 Hermia, 12 Hippodamia, 9 Hippolyta, 9-11 Huon of Bordeaux, 35-6, 39, 44, 60-2

James I, 36 James IV, 36

King of Fairies, 35-6, 51, 55 Kittredge, Prof., 55 Knightes Tale, 11-14, 24-5 " analysis, 14-22

Launfal, 47-9 Legend of Good Women, 13, 31 Ligurge, 19, 21, 25 Love's Labour's Lost, 3 Lysander, 12, 25 Lysidice, 9

Mab, Queen, 37, 64, 149-150 Malleus Maleficarum, 30 Marie de France, 47 Massinger, Philip, 23 May, observance of, 24 Merchant of Venice, 2 Metamorphoses, 31,36 Mider, 55-6 Midsummer-Night's Dream: date, 1-2; character, 2-3; three component plots, 4; main (sentimental) plot, 9-25; grotesque plot and interlude, 29-32; fairy plot, 35-66 Morgan le Fay, 43, 57

Nashe, Thomas, 12, 40-1 Norns, 42 North, Lord: Plutarch's Life of Theseus, 9, 12 Nutt, Alfred, 41 Nymphidia, 158-187

Oberon, 35-6. His Vision, 66-8 Ogier the Dane, 43 Orpheo, 49-52 Orpheus, 49-50 Ovid, 31, 36

Palamon, 12-25 Palamon and Arcite, 22-3 Palladis Tamia, 1 Pelops, 9 Perrault, 35 Philostrate, 12, 24 Pirithous, 16 Pittheus, 9 Plutarch, 9, 12 Pluto, 36 Proserpine, 36 Puck, 37-40, 64 Pyramus, 29, 31-2, 73-80

Queen of Fairies, 36-7, 45, 49

Romances (metrical): Thomas of Erceldoune, 45-7, 122-132; Sir Launfal, 47-9; Sir (King) Orpheo, 49-52 Saxo Grammaticus, 42 Scot, Reginald, 29-30, 36, 39 Spenser, Edmund, 36, 39 Statius, 13, 15 Subterranean descents, 44 Superstition (modern), 31

Tempest, 3 Teseide, 13-14 Thebais, 13 Theseus, 9-11 Thisbe, 29, 31-2, 73-80 Thomas of Erceldoune, 45-6, 122-32 Titania, 36 Troilus and Criseyde, 14 Tuatha De Danann, 59, 65 Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2 Two Noble Kinsmen, 23, 25

Witches, 31

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Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay.

THE END