And so befel in that bright morwe tide, That, in the gardin, on the ferther side, Pluto, that is the king of Faërie, And many a ladye in his compagnie, Folwing his wif, the quene Proserpina, Which that he ravisshed out of Ethná, While that she gadred floures in the mede, (In Claudian ye may the story rede, How that hire in his grisely carte he fette); This king of Faërie adoun him sette Upon a benche of turvès, fresh and grene. In the conversation which ensues between these august personages, great knowledge of Scripture is displayed; and the queen, speaking of the "sapient prince," passionately exclaims-- I setè nat of all the vilanie That he of women wrote a boterflie; I am a woman nedès moste I speke, Or swell unto that time min hertè breke. Some might suspect a mystery in the queen's thus emphatically styling herself a woman, but we lay no stress upon it, as Faire Damoselle Pertelote, the hen, who was certainly less entitled to it, does the same. In the Man of Lawes Tale the word Elfe is employed, but whether as equivalent to witch or fairy is doubtful. This lettre spake, the quene delivered was Of so horríble a fendliche creätúre, That in the castle, non so hardy was, That any whilè dorste therein endure. The mother was an _elfe_ by áventure, Y come, by charmès or by sorcerie, And everich man hateth hire compagnie.[388] The Rime of Sir Thopas has been already considered as belonging to romance. It thus appears that the works of manners-painting Chaucer give very little information respecting the popular belief in Fairies of his day. Were it not for the sly satire of the passage, we might be apt to suspect that, like one who lived away from the common people, he was willing to represent the superstition as extinct--"But now can no man see non elves mo." The only trait that he gives really characteristic of the popular elves is their love of dancing. In the poets that intervene between Chaucer and the Maiden Reign, we do not recollect to have noticed anything of importance respecting Fairies, except the employment, already adverted to, of that term, and that of Elves, by translators in rendering the Latin _Nymphæ_. Of the size of these beings, the passages in question give no information. But in Elizabeth's days, "Fairies," as Johnson observes, "were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and Spenser's poem had made them great." A just remark, no doubt, though Johnson fell into the common error of identifying Spenser's Fairies with the popular ones.