“R. A pint of Sallet-oyle, and put it into a vial-glasse; but first wash it with Rose-water and Marygolde water; the flowers to be gathered towards the east. Wash it till the oyle come white; then put it into the glasse, _ut supra_: and then put thereto the budds of Holyhocke, the flowers of Marygolde, the flowers or toppers of Wild Thyme, the budds of young Hazle: and the Thyme must be gathered neare the side of a hill where Fayries used to be: and take the grasse of a Fayrie throne. Then all these put into the oyle into the glasse: and sette it to dissolve three dayes in the sunne, and then keep it for thy use; _ut supra_.”--[_Ashmolean MSS._]. [8] See legend in Part II., under the head of “CLOVER.” Plants of the Water Nymphs and Fays. Certain of the Fairy community frequented the vicinity of pools, and the banks of streams and rivers. Ben Jonson tells of “Span-long Elves that dance about a pool;” and Stagnelius asks-- “Say, know’st the Elfin people gay? They dwell on the river’s strand; They spin from the moonbeams their festive garb, With their small and lily hand.” Of this family are the Russalkis, river nymphs of Southern Russia, who inhabit the alluvial islands studding the winding river, or dwell in detached coppices fringing the banks, or construct for themselves homes woven of flowering Reeds and green Willow-boughs. The Swedes delight to tell of the Strömkarl, or boy of the stream, a mystic being who haunts brooks and rivulets, and sits on the silvery waves at moonlight, playing his harp to the Elves and Fays who dance on the flowery margin, in obedience to his summons-- “Come queen of the revels--come, form into bands The Elves and the Fairies that follow your train; Tossing your tresses, and wreathing your hands, Let your dainty feet dance to my wave-wafted strain.” The Græco-Latin Naiades, or Water-nymphs, were also of this family: they generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the woods or meadows near the stream over which they presided. It was in some such locality on the Asiatic coast that the ill-fated Hylas was carried off by Isis and the River-nymphs, whilst obtaining water from a fountain. “The chiefs composed their wearied limbs to rest, But Hylas sought the springs, by thirst opprest; At last a fount he found with flow’rets graced: On the green bank above his urn he placed. ’Twas at a time when old Ascanius made An entertainment in his watery bed, For all the Nymphs and all the Naiades Inhabitants of neighb’ring plains and seas.”