THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

208 THE FAIRIES OF SHAKESPEARE
In the poems of William Browne of Tavistock, a
change, similar to that of Drayton, from the fairies of
native tradition to those of A Midsummer Night's
Dream, can be traced. The first and second '" books
of Britannia's Pastorals, and The Shepheard's Pipe '"
contain references to the activities and characteristics of
fairies who, though in their more benevolent aspects,
were the fairies of tradition; and the fourth Song of
the first Booke of the Pastorals represents the fairies as
of the size of mortal rnaiden~,"~ or of Venus.
By I 6 I 6, however, in the second Booke of Britannia's
Pastorals, as has been noted,154 the fairies of tradition
are endowed by Browne with marked and extravagant
floral proclivities which were one of the outstanding fea-
tures of the fairies of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The third Booke of the Pastorals l5"s a monument to
160 Booke I, Song 2, 11. 389-404; and Booke I, Song 4, 11. 277-292.
Dated 1613. Vol. I.
Booke 2, Song 4, 11. 699-702 and 747-750. Dated 1616. Vol.
11.
lti2 The First Eglogue, 11. 754-763; The Seventh Eglogve, 11. IIO-
114. Dated 1614. Vol. 11.
lti3 See Chap. 11, p. 72.
154 See Chap. V, p. zoo.
lS6
Date of composition unknown. Ascribed by F. W. Moorman in
Chap. IV of William Browne His Britannia's Pastorals and the
Pastoral Poetry of the Elizabethan Age, 1897, to the years between
1624-1628; not published until 1852. Browne's death, 1643 or 1645.
The question of the exact date of composition of the fairy poems of
Drayton, of Browne, and of Herrick, has never been determined.
Nirnphidia, as has been stated, appeared in a volume of poems in
1627. The poems of William Browne were in manuscript form until
the 19th century. The poems of Herrick appeared in the Hesperides,
1648, and Oberon's Feast appeared separately, 1635. Moorman would
give the poems of Browne precedence over the poems of Herrick.
Bullen dates the poems of Browne 1635, the year of the appearance of
Oberon's Feast.