Fairies, they tell you, have frequently been heard and seen—nay, that there are some living who were stolen away by them, and confined seven years. According to the description they give who pretend to have seen them, they are in the shape of men, exceeding little. They are always clad in green, and frequent the woods and fields; when they make cakes (which is a work they have been often heard at) they are very noisy; and when they have done, they are full of mirth and pastime. But generally they dance in moonlight when mortals are asleep and not capable of seeing them, as may be observed on the following morn—their dancing–places being very distinguishable. For as they dance hand in hand, and so make a circle in their dance, so next day there will be seen rings and circles on the grass.—(Bourne’s _Antiquitates Vulgares_, Newcastle, 1725, 8vo, p. 82.) These circles are thus described by Browne, the author of _Britannia’s Pastorals_:— “... A pleasant meade, Where fairies often did their measures treade, Which in the meadow made such circles greene, As if with garlands it had crowned beene. Within one of these rounds was to be seene A hillock rise, where oft the fairie queene At twy–light sate, and did command her elves To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves: And further, if by maidens’ over–sight Within doores water were not brought at night, Or if they spred no table, set no bread, They should have nips from toe unto the head; And for the maid that had perform’d each thing, She in the water–pail bad leave a ring.” The same poet, in his “Shepeards Pipe,” having inserted Hoccleve’s tale of _Jonathas_, and conceiving a strange unnatural affection for that stupid fellow, describes him as a great favourite of the fairies, alleging, that— “Many times he hath been seene With the fairies on the greene, And to them his pipe did sound, While they danced in a round, Mickle solace would they make him, And at midnight often wake him, And convey him from his roome To a field of yellow broome; Or into the medowes, where Mints perfume the gentle aire, And where Flora spends her treasure, There they would begin their measure. If it chanc’d night’s sable shrowds Muffled Cynthia up in clowds, Safely home they then would see him, And from brakes and quagmires free him.” The fairies were exceedingly diminutive, but, it must be confessed, we shall not readily find their real dimensions. They were small enough, however, if we may believe one of queen Titania’s maids of honour, to conceal themselves in acorn shells. Speaking of a difference between the king and queen, she says:— “But they do square; that all the elves for fear Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.” They uniformly and constantly wore green vests, unless when they had some reason for changing their dress. Of this circumstance we meet with many proofs. Thus in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_—