THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

THE FAIRIES OF SHAKESPEARE 185
. . . the first fruit of the re-union of Oberon and Titania, is a
benediction on the house of Theseus:
" Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will to-morrow midnight, solemnly,
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair posterity; . . . "
an intention which is carried into execution at the close of the
play.s0
Especially is the change in the character of the fairies
emphasized by Shakespeare in his introduction in the
fairy kingdom of Robin Goodfell~w,~~ who is employed,
instead of the fairies, to frighten and mislead mortals, to
bewitch Bottom and carry him away into fairyland, to
clean the palace of Theseus, and to call attention to the
evil reputation and connections of the fairies of tradition.
The difference between these fairies and those of A
Midsummer Night's Dream is again made apparent in
the extravagant attachment for flowers which Shakespeare
attributes to his fairies. They had always been
connected with hills and wells and green meadows, with
now and then a garden in which they had danced and
sung, as in " The Marchantes Tale " of Chaucer, and in
the Entertainment at Elvetham. They had been associated,
too, with flowers in Golding's translation of Ovid's
metamorphose^,^^ and in The Queenes Majesties Enter-
so Shak. and His Times, p. 504.
Upon this particular evidence of the fairies' attitude toward mortals
the observation of Drake is most qignificant: " How different this
from the conduct and disposition of their brother elves of Scotland, of
whom Kirk tells us, that 'they are ever readiest to go on hurtful1
Errands, but seldom will be the Messengers of great Good to Men.' "
Shak. and His Times, p. 504.
For a full discussion of Robin Goodfellow's connection with fair-
ies, cf. Chap. VI, pp. 2'19-221, 253-256.
62 Book 9, 1. 337.