Folk-lore of Shakespeare. Dyer Thomas Firminger Thiselton

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      The so-called fairy-rings in old pastures30– little circles of a brighter green, within which it was supposed the fairies dance by night – are now known to result from the out-spreading propagation of a particular mushroom, the fairy-ringed fungus, by which the ground is manured for a richer following vegetation. An immense deal of legendary lore, however, has clustered round this curious phenomenon, popular superstition attributing it to the merry roundelays of the moonlight fairies.31 In “The Tempest” (v. 1) Prospero invokes the fairies as the “demy-puppets” that

      In “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (ii. 1), the fairy says:

      Again, in the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (v. 5), Anne Page says:

      And once in “Macbeth” (v. 1), Hecate says:

      Drayton, in his “Nymphidia” (l. 69-72), mentions this superstition:

      Cowley, too, in his “Complaint,” says:

      And again, in his ode upon Dr. Harvey:

      Pluquet, in his “Contes Populaires de Bayeux,” tells us that the fairy rings, called by the peasants of Normandy “Cercles des fées,” are said to be the work of fairies.

      Among the numerous superstitions which have clustered round the fairy rings, we are told that when damsels of old gathered the May dew on the grass, which they made use of to improve their complexions, they left undisturbed such of it as they perceived on the fairy-rings, apprehensive that the fairies should in revenge destroy their beauty. Nor was it considered safe to put the foot within the rings, lest they should be liable to the fairies’ power.32 The “Athenian Oracle” (i. 397) mentions a popular belief that “if a house be built upon the ground where fairy rings are, whoever shall inhabit therein does wonderfully prosper.”

      Speaking of their dress, we are told that they constantly wore green vests, unless they had some reason for changing their attire. In the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (iv. 4) they are spoken of as —

      And further on (v. 4):

      The fairies of the moors were often clad in heath-brown or lichen-dyed garments, whence the epithet of “Elfin-grey.”33

      The legends of most countries are unanimous in ascribing to the fairies an inordinate love of music; such harmonious sounds as those which Caliban depicts in “The Tempest” (iii. 2) being generally ascribed to them:

      In the “Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (ii. 3), when Titania is desirous of taking a nap, she says to her attendants:

      And further on (iii. 1) she tells Bottom:

      The author of “Round About our Coal Fire”34 tells us that “they had fine musick always among themselves, and danced in a moonshiny night, around, or in, a ring.”

      They were equally fond of dancing, and we are told how they meet —

      and in the “Maydes’ Metamorphosis” of Lyly, the fairies, as they dance, sing:

      As Mr. Thoms says, in his “Three Notelets on Shakespeare” (1865, pp. 40, 41), “the writings of Shakespeare abound in graphic notices of these fairy revels, couched in the highest strains of poetry; and a comparison of these with some of the popular legends which the industry of Continental antiquaries has preserved will show us clearly that these delightful sketches of elfin enjoyment have been drawn by a hand as faithful as it is masterly.”

      It would seem that the fairies disliked irreligious people: and so, in “Merry Wives of Windsor” (v. 5), the mock fairies are said to chastise unchaste persons, and those who do not say their prayers. This coincides with what Lilly, in his “Life and Times,” says: “Fairies love a strict diet and upright life; fervent prayers unto God conduce much to the assistance of those who are curious hereways,” i. e., who wish to cultivate an acquaintance with them.

      Again, fairies are generally represented as great lovers and patrons of cleanliness and propriety, for the observance of which they were frequently said to reward good servants, by dropping money into their shoes in the night; and, on the other hand, they were reported to punish most severely the sluts and slovenly, by pinching them black and blue.35 Thus, in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (v. 1), Puck says:

      In “Merry Wives of Windsor” (v. 5), Pistol, speaking of the mock fairy queen, says:

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