THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

12 INTRODUCTION
thology of the 16th century, and the fairy mythology of
Shakespeare.
With the exception of the essay of Robert Kirk in
I 69 I, Secret Commonwealth, or, a Treatise displayeing
the Chiefe Curiosities as they are in Use among diverse
of the People of Scotland to this Day; An Essay of The
Nature and Actions of the Subterranean (and, for the
most Part,) Invisible People, heretofioir going under the
name of ELVES, FAUNES, and FAIRIES, or the lyke,
among the Low-Country Scots, there exists no complete
and detailed contemporary picture of the traditional
fairy commonwealth of the 16th century, and no full ac-
count of the whole body of beliefs popularly held con-
cerning the fairies and their intercourse with mortals
during the period. To remedy this deficiency, I have
ventured upon an endeavor to show, in the words of the
Elizabethans themselves, and of their immediate suc-
cessors of the 17th century, to what race of beings or
spirits the fairies were believed to belong, and what the
origins attributed to them; to reproduce the picture of
their appearance and of the fairyland in which they were
supposed to dwell; to give the intimate details of their
natural history and of their earthly activities; and to trace
the history and career of Robin Goodfellow.
Against this background of native fairy lore, I have
attempted to present Shakespeare's fairies as exemplified
in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and
The Tempest, and to study their reputed origin and con-
nections, especially with reference to their size. I have
endeavored further to trace the development of the fairy
mythology of Shakespeare and the influence which it
exerted upon English literature and upon popular super-
stition.
The strong temptation to draw comparisons between