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." *

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," †

and the light of the moon was a necessary adjunct to their festivity,

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xx. pp. 54-56. Romeo and Juliet, act i. sc. 4.

+ Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 356, 357. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 2.

Ibid. vol. iv. p. 151. Tempest, act v. sc. 1. Thus Milton, in conformity with these passages, describes his fairy night-scene:

"Faery elves,

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side,

Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees, while over-head the moon

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance

Intent, with jocund musick charm his ear."

Todd's Milton, 2d edit. vol. ii. pp. 368, 369.

The music here alluded to is beautifully described, as an accompaniment of the Scottish Fairies, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland: "Notwithstanding the

---

These ringlets, 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, 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." *

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 queen

To dew her orbs upon the green." +

The general amusements of the tribe, independent of their moonlight 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 foot

progressive increase of knowledge, and proportional decay of superstition in the Highlands, these genii are still supposed by many of the people to exist in the woods and sequestered valleys of the mountains, where they frequently appear to the lonely traveller, clothed in green, with dishevelled hair floating over their shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the vermil blush of a summer morning. At night in particular, when fancy assimilates to its own preconceived ideas, every appearance, and every sound, the wandering enthusiast is frequently entertained by their musick, more melodious than he ever before heard." Vol. xii. p. 462. note.

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. pp. 206, 207. Merry Wives of Windsor, act v. sc. 5. + Ibid. vol. iv. p. 343. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.

Is to make midnight mushrooms; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew." *

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's pensioners, 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." +

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." ‡

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, now a 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

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 150, 151. Tempest, act v. sc. 1.
+ Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 344, 345. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.
Ibid. vol. iv. p. 379. Act ii. sc. 2.

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."

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 :"

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 380-383. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 3.

"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."

The working of Oberon's enchantment on Titania, who " straightway 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,

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

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 402, 403. Midsummer-Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 1. + Ibid. p. 493. Act v. sc. 2.