Wove by Arachne, in her loom,

Just before she had her doom;
Dy'd crimson with a maiden's blush,
And lyn'd with dandelyon push.

A rich mantle he did wear

Made of tinsel gossamere,
Be-starred over with a few
Dyamond drops of morning dew.

His cap was all of ladies love,
So passing light that it did move,
If any humming gnat or fly

But buzz'd the ayre, in passing by ;
About it was a wreath of pearle,
Drop'd from the eyes of some poor girle
Pinch'd because she had forgot
To leave faire water in the pot.
And for feather, he did weare

Old Nisus fatall purple haire.

The sword they girded on his thigh Was smallest blade of finest rye.

A paire of buskins they did bring
Of the cow-ladyes corall wing;
Powder'd o're with spots of jet,
And lin'd with purple-violet.

His belt was made of mirtle leaves, Plaited in small curious threaves, Beset with amber cowslip studds, And fring❜d about with daizy budds ; In which his bugle horne was hung, Made of the babbling eccho's tongue; Which set unto his moon-burn'd lip, He windes and then his faeries skip; At that, the lazy dawn 'gan sound, And each did trip a faery round.

XXIV. A FAIRY GUIDE.

A Description of the King and Queene of Fayries, their Habit, Fare, their Abode, Pompe, and State. Beeing very delightfull to the sense, and full of mirth. London: printed for Richard Harper, and are to be sold at his shop at the Hospitall Gate, 1635. sm. 12mo.

This curious little volume, consisting of eleven leaves only, which is plentifully embellished with rude woodcuts, commences with the following address "to the reader :"

"Courteous Reader,-I present thee here with the description of the king of the Fayries, of his attendants, apparel, gesture, and victuals, which, though comprehended in the brevity of so short a volume, yet as the proverbe truely averres, it hath as mellifluous and pleasing discourse, as that whose amplitude containes the fulnesse of a bigger composition : yet not so much presuming on the contentment that it will bring to thee, as partly relying upon thy connivence at the faults. therein contained, which beeing innocent and harmelesse, can give no great disturbance to thy patience, but please thy palate with varietie of mirth, and not doubting but my labour will bee remunerable with your good approbation, I shall thinke my paines well taken, and myselfe really satisfied with your contentment, emboldning me to subscribe myselfe,

"Yours hereafter, if now approved on,

"R. S."

Immediately following this is an extract from Seward's poem on Fairies, under the title of "A Description of the King of Fayries clothes, brought to him on New-yeare's day, in the morning, 1626, by his Queene's chambermaids."

We

have then a poetical address from the compiler, who has thought proper to leave out the names of his authorities:

Deepe skild geographers, whose art and skill
Do traverse all the world, and with their quill
Declare the strangenes of each severall clime,
The nature, scituation, and the time
Of being inhabited; yet all their art
And deepe-informed skill could not impart
In what set climate of this orbe or ile,
The king of Fayries kept, whose honor'd stile
Is here inclos'd, with the sincere description
Of his abode, his nature, and the region
In which he rules: reade, and thou shalt find
Delightfull mirth, fit to content thy mind.
May the contents thereof thy palate sute,
With its mellifluous and pleasing fruit:

For nought can more be sweetn'd to my mind,
Than that this pamphlet thy contentment find;
Which, if it shall, my labour is suffic'd,

In being by your liking highly priz’d.

The remainder of the tract is occupied with extracts from Herrick, the beautiful little ballad of "Robin Goodfellow," printed by Percy, and the poem on Melancholy, prefixed to the early editions of Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy." From this last-mentioned poem Milton is supposed to have derived the hint of "Il Pensoroso."

XXV. QUEEN MAB'S INVITATION.

Percy having inserted this song in his "Reliques," it is well-known to most readers. Several copies of it are found in

the poetical collections of the seventeenth century. One, hitherto unnoticed, is in MS. Ashmole 37, and another in a MS. in the Rawlinson collection. It was sung to the tune of the "Spanish Gipsy." See Thorpe's Catalogue of Manuscripts for 1831, p. 114.

Come follow, follow me,

Ye fairy elves that be
Light tripping o'er the green,

Come follow Mab, your queen :
Hand in hand we'll dance around,
For this place is fairy-ground.

When mortals are at rest,
And snoring in their nest,
Unheard and unespied,

Through key-holes we do glide;
Over tables, stools, and shelves,
We trip it with our fairy elves.

And if the house be foul,
Or platter, dish, or bowl,
Up stairs we nimbly creep,

And find the sluts asleep;

Then we pinch their arms and thighs;
None us hears, and none us spies.

But if the house be swept,
And from uncleanness kept,

We praise the household maid,

And duly she is paid:

Every night before we go,

We drop a tester in her shoe.

Upon a mushrooms head
Our table-cloth we spread;

A grain of rye or wheat

Is the diet that we eat;
Pearly drops of dew we drink,
In acorn cups fill'd to the brink.'

The grasshopper, gnat, and fly,
Serve for our minstrelsy;
Grace said, we dance awhile,
And so the time beguile :

And when the moon doth hide her head,

The glow-worm lights us home to bed.

O'er tops of dewy grass
So nimbly we do pass,
The young and tender stalk

Ne'er bends as we do walk

;

Yet in the morning may be seen

Where we the night before have been.

XXVI. HEYWOOD'S HIERARCHIE.

[From Heywood's "Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels," fol. Lond. 1635, p. 574.]

Of Faustus and Agrippa it is told,

That in their travels they bare seeming gold

1 In some copies is inserted the following stanza :

"The tongues of nightingales,

The unctuous fat of snails,
Between two muscles stew'd,

Is meat that's easily chew'd:

The brains of wrens, the beards of mice
Do make a feast of wondrous price!"