On the other hand, in a passage presently to be quoted from a celebrated old romance, we shall meet a definition of the word _Fée_, which expressly asserts that such a being was nothing more than a woman skilled in magic; and such, on examination, we shall find to have been all the Fées of the romances of chivalry and of the popular tales; in effect, that _fée_ is a participle, and the words _dame_ or _femme_ is to be understood. In the middle ages there was in use a Latin verb, _fatare_,[13] derived from _fatum_ or _fata_, and signifying to enchant. This verb was adopted by the Italian, Provençal[14] and Spanish languages; in French it became, according to the analogy of that tongue, _faer_, _féer_. Of this verb the past participle _faé_, _fé_; hence in the romances we continually meet with _les chevaliers faés_, _les dames faées_, _Oberon la faé_, _le cheval étoit faé_, _la clef était fée_, and such like. We have further, we think, demonstrated[15] that it was the practice of the Latin language to elide accented syllables, especially in the past participle of verbs of the first conjugation, and that this practice had been transmitted to the Italian, whence _fatato-a_ would form _fato-a_, and _una donna fatata_ might thus become _una fata_. Whether the same was the case in the Provençal we cannot affirm, as our knowledge of that dialect is very slight; but, judging from analogy, we would say it was, for in Spanish _Hadada_ and _Hada_ are synonymous. In the Neapolitan Pentamerone _Fata_ and _Maga_ are the same, and a Fata sends the heroine of it to a sister of hers, _pure fatata_. Ariosto says of Medea-- E perchè per virtù d' erbe e d'incanti Delle Fate una ed immortal fatta era. _I Cinque Canti_, ii. 106. The same poet, however, elsewhere says-- Queste che or Fate e dagli antichi foro Già dette Ninfe e Dee con più bel nome.--_Ibid._ i. 9. and, Nascemmo ad un punto che d'ogni altro male Siamo capaci fuorchè della morte.--_Orl. Fur._ xliii. 48. which last, however, is not decisive. Bojardo also calls the water-nymphs Fate; and our old translators of the Classics named them _fairies_. From all this can only, we apprehend, be collected, that the ideas of the Italian poets, and others, were somewhat vague on the subject. From the verb _faer_, _féer_, to enchant, illude, the French made a substantive _faerie_, _féerie_,[16] illusion, enchantment, the meaning of which was afterwards extended, particularly after it had been adopted into the English language. We find the word Faerie, in fact, to be employed in four different senses, which we will now arrange and exemplify. 1. Illusion, enchantment. Plusieurs parlent de Guenart, Du Loup, de l'Asne, de Renart, De _faeries_ et de songes, De phantosmes et de mensonges. _Gul. Giar. ap. Ducange._