THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS 101
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,lel
or are represented by Fletcher as dancing their rounds
about a " virtuous well," la2 or by Lodge as
Now near the flood, straight on the mounting hill,
Now midst the woods of youth, and vain desire.le3
Like the shepherds and shepherdesses of the pastorals,
the fairies belonged to a world of green and growing
things and, in England, ' the summer did attend upon
their state,' to vary a line of Titania's in A Midsummer
Night's Dream. In Scotland, although their latest re-
corded appearance was during the month of Novem-
ber,le4 " All-Hallow Evin " seems to have been regarded
as the period in which they were most active. Accord-
ing to The Flyting of Montgomerie and Polwart, it was
in " the hinder end of harvest, on ahallow even, Quhen
our good neighboures doth ryd," ls5 while in the Dittay
against Andro Man, tried for witchcraft in 1598, occurs
the statement of his intention " to have kepit the conven-
tioun on All-Hallow Evin . . . with thame." ls6
In England, there is no record of the fairies' appear-
ance during winter. The first day of May and Mid-
summer Eve were the two periods when they were most
powerful and most enjoyed themselves. He was a brave
mortal who wandered out to enjoy the moonlight on the
lsl v, I.
le2 Faith. She*., I, 2.
163 Phillis, XXXI, Hunterian Club ed., 1883, Vol. 11. In this con-
nection, see Chap. I, pp. 58-59.
Is4 Highland Papers, Macphail ed., 1920, Vol. 111, p. 37.
Poems of Alexander Montgomerie, p. 151.
la5
Spald. Club Misc., Vol. I, p. 121.
8