vanced concerning the popular Notions of the Devil.-Old Nick is the vulgar Name of this evil Being in the North, and is of great Antiquity. There is a great deal of Learning concerning it in Olaus Wormius' Danish Monuments. We borrowed it from the Title of an evil Genius among the antient Danes. They say he has often appeared on the Sea and on deep Rivers in the Shape of a Sea Monster, presaging immediate Shipwreck and Drowning to Seamen. See Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo, Nick.-I have heard also the Name of Old Harry on the same Occasion; perhaps from the verb To harrie to lay waste, destroy, &c.

To the Account of Fairies may be added that of the Brownies, a Kind of Ghosts, of whom, says the Author of the Glossary to Douglas' Virgil, the ignorant common People and old Wives in Scotland tell many ridiculous Stories, and represent to have been not only harmless, but useful-Spirits possest of a Servility of Temper that made them, provided they were civilly used, submit to do the meanest Offices of Drudgery. They are now extinct as well as the Fairies.-It was supposed that from their hard Labour and mean Employment they became of a swarthy or tawny Colour; whence their Name of Brownies*, as the other, who moved

in

*Dr. Johnson, in his Journey to the western Islands, observes, "that of Browny, mentioned by Martin, nothing has been heard "for many Years. Browny was a sturdy Fairy, who if he was fed

" and

in a higher Sphere, are called Fairies, from their Fairness*.

Perhaps Mr. Bourne's Account of the Origin of Fairies may be controverted: They are rather of Eastern than of Roman Extraction, and are said to have been invented by the Persians and Arabs, whose Religion and History abound with Relations concerning them. They have assigned them a peculiar Country to inhabit, and call it Fairy Land.

A respectable old Woman of our Nation, Mr. Lilly, in his Life and Times, tells us "Fairies love "the southern Side of Hills, Mountains, Groves.

"and kindly treated, would, as they said, do a great deal of Work. "They now pay him no Wages, and are content to labour for them"selves." p. 171.

Junius gives the following Etymon of Hobgoblin: Casaubon, he says, derives Goblin from the Greek Kocaλos, a Kind of Spirit that was supposed to lurk about Houses. The Hobgoblins were a Species of them, so called, because their Motion was fabled to have been effected not so much by walking as hopping on one Leg!

See Lye's Junii Etymolog. &c. Boggle-Boe is said to be derived from the Welch bwgwly, to terrify, and Boe, a frightful Sound invented by Nurses to intimidate their Children into good Behaviour, with the idea of some Monster about to take them away. Skinner seems to fetch it from Buculus, i. e. Bos boans!

See Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo, &c. Well has Etymology been called the Eruditio ad libitum !

* The Account of them by Moresin favours this Etymology: Papatus (says he) credit aibatas mulieres, et id genus larvas, "pueros integros auferre, aliosque suggerere monstruosos & debiles "multis partibus: aut ad baptisterium cum aliis commutare, aut ad "Templi Introitum." Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 139.

This Note illustrates Mr. Bourne's Account of Persons, who were stolen away by the Fairies, and confined seven Years.-Thus also Mr. Pennant tells us, that the Notion or Belief of Fairies still prevails in the Highlands of Scotland, and Children are watched till the Christening is over, lest they should be stolen or changed.

K

Tour in Scotland, p. 94. "Neatness

"Neatness and Cleanness of Apparel, a strict Diet,

"an`

an upright Life, fervent Prayers unto God, "conduce much to the Assistance of those who are "curious these Ways" (!!) He means, it should seem, those who wish to cultivate an Acquaintance with them.

Chaucer, who was born in 'a much darker Age, saw clearer into this Matter: He is very facetious concerning them in his Canterbury Tales: He puts his Creed of Fairy Mythology into the Mouth of his Wife of Bath, thus:

In the old Dayes of the King Artour,

All was this Lond fulfilled of Fayry,

The Elf-Quene with her jolie Company,t

Daunsed

*The Stone Arrow Heads of the old Inhabitants of this Island (that are sometimes found) are vulgarly supposed to be Weapons, shot by Fairies at Cattle. They are called Elf-shots. To these are attributed any of the Disorders the Cattle have.-In order to effect a Cure, the Cow is to be touched by an Elf shot, or made to drink the Water, in which one has been dipped.

See Pennant's Tour.

+ Some ascribe that Phænomenon of the Circle or Ring, supposed by the Vulgar to be traced by the Fairies in their Dances, to the Effects of Lightning, as being frequently produced after Storms of that Kind, and by the Colour and Brittleness of the Grass Roots when first observed.-Others maintain that these Circles are made by Ants, which are frequently found in great Numbers in them. -A pleasant Mead,

Where Fairies often did their Measures tread,
Which in the Meadow made such Circles green,
As if with Garlands it had crowned been.

Within one of these Rounds was to be seen

A Hillock rise, where oft the Fairy-Queen

At Twilight sat, and did command her Elves

To pinch those Maids that had not swept their Shelves:

And further, if by Maiden's Oversight,

Within Doors Water were not brought at Night;

Daunsed full oft in many a grene Mede*,
This was the old Opinion, as I rede.
I speke of many hundred Yere agoe,
But now can no Man se no Elfes mo.
For now the grete Charite and Prayers
Of Limitours and other holy Freres,
That serchen every Lond and every Streme,
As thik as Motes in the Sunne Beme,

This maketh, that there ben now no Faires,
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 go safely up and downe,
There nis none other Incubus but hef: &e.

Or if they spread no Table, set no. Bread,
They should have Nips from Toe unto the Head:
And for the Maid that had perform'd each Thing,
She in the Water Pail bade leave a Ring.

From

Browne's Britan. Pastorals, p. 41. See also Dr. Percy's Songs on the Subject, Vol. III. Collect. Ballads. * Sive illic Lemurum populus sub nocte choreas Plauserit exiguas, viridesque attriverit herbas. Mons Catherinæ. p. 9.

It were invidious not to favour my Reader here with Dr. Percy's Account of Fairies, in his Observations on the old Ballads on that Subject. The Reader will observe (says he) that our simple Ancestors had reduced all these Whimsies to a Kind of System, as regular and perhaps more consistent than many Parts of classic Mythology: A Proof of the extensive Influence and vast Antiquity of these, Superstitions. Mankind, and especially the common People, could not every where have been so unanimously agreed concerning these arbitrary Notions, if they had not prevailed among them for many Ages. Indeed (he farther observes) a learned Friend in Wales assures the Editor, that the Existence of Fairies and Goblins is alluded to by the most antient British Bards, who mention them under various Names, one of the most common of which signifies "the Spirits of the Mountains."

The common People of Northumberland call a certain fungous Excrescence, that is sometimes found about the Roots of old Trees, Fairy Butter. I conjecture that when a Quantity of Rain falls, it

K 2

reduces

From the subsequent Passage in Shakespear, the walking of Spirits seems to have been enjoined by Way of Penance.

Hamlet:

The Ghost speaks thus in

"I am thy Father's Spirit,

"Doom'd for a certain Time to walk the Night,

"And for the Day confin'd to fast in Fires,

"Till the foul Crimes done in my Days of Nature
"Are burnt and purg'd away."

Mr. Gay, in Imitation of the Stile of our old Ennius, gives us a fine Description of one of these

haunted Houses.

"Now there spreaden a Rumour that everich Night
"The Rooms ihaunted been by many a Sprite,
"The Miller avoucheth, and all thereabout,
"That they full oft hearen the hellish Rout;
"Some saine they hear the gingling of Chains,
"And some hath hearde the Psautrie's Straines,
"At Midnight some the heedless Horse imeet,
"And some espien a Corse in a white Sheet*,
"And oother Things, Faye, Elfin and Elfe,
"And Shapes that Fear createn to itself."

I subjoin here some Parts of a finely-written Con

versation between the Servants in Mr. Addison's Comedy of the Drummer, or the Haunted House. It will be thought much to our Purpose.

"Gardiner.

reduces it to a Consistency, which together with its Colour, makes it not unlike Butter: Hence the Name.

I have met with a Man who said he had seen one that had seen Fairies.-Truth is hard to come at in most Cases; none I believe ever came nearer to it in this, than I have done!

The learned Moresin traces thus to its Origin the Popish Superstition, relative to the coming again, as it is commonly called,

or