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implored the aid of the " shaggy god of Arcady." Another feature in the national creed of the same mountainous district of Greece, is to be met with in the ballad of the Elfin-Gray"; and if the testimony of Elfric, in his translation of Dryades by Wudu-Elfen, is to be received as any thing more than a learned exercise, the same notion must have prevailed in this country. But the collection from whence the ballad alluded to has been taken, the Danish Kiæmpe-Viser, contains more than this single example of such a belief; and the reader will find below" a local tradition, preserved in Germany, which will remind him of the conversation between Peræbius and an

ation (with the exception of the human
race), and patron of hunting, fishing,
&c. He frequently appears to the fisher-
men &c. of Luleå Lapmark, dressed
like a Norwegian nobleman in black, of
a tall and commanding figure, with the
feet of a bird, and with a gun on his
shoulder. His appearance never fails to
produce a successful fishery or chase.
Mone, 36.

47 See the Notes to the Lady of the
Lake.

It may be questioned, whether this
catalogue of Ælfric's (dun-elfen, berg-
elfen, munt-elfen, feld-elfen, wudu-elfen,
sæ-elfen, water-elfen,) ever obtained a
circulation among the people. It is at
least rendered extremely suspicious by
its strict accordance with the import of
the Grecian names.

49"A peasant named Hans Krepel,
being one day at work on a heath near
Salzburg, 'a little wild or moss-wyfie'
appeared to him, and begged that on
leaving his labour he would cut three
crosses on the last tree he hewed down.
This request the man neglected to com-
ply with.
On the following day she ap-
peared again, saying,Ah! my man, why
did you not cut the three crosses yester-
day? It would have been of service both
to me and yourself. In the evening, and
especially at night, we are constantly
hunted by the wild huntsmen, and are
obliged to allow them to worry us, unless
.we can reach one of these trees with a cross

on it; for from thence they have no power to remove us.' To this the boor replied with his wonted churlishness, Pooh! pooh! of what use can it be? how can the crosses help you? I shall do no such thing to please you, indeed.' Upon this the wyfie flew upon him, and squeezed him so forcibly that he became ill after it, notwithstanding he was a stout fellow. Such wyfies, and even mannikins, are said to dwell upon that heath, under the ground, or in obscure parts of the forest, and to have holes, in which they lie on green moss, as indeed they are said to be clothed all over with moss.' Prætorius says, he heard this story from an old dame, who knew the beforementioned Hans Krepel, and adds, the time of day was a [little] after noon, an hour not usually devoted to labour, because at such a time "this sort of diablerie frequently occurs.' Anthropodemus Plutonicus, Magdeburg 1666. vol. ii. p. 231. For this superstitious attention to silence at noon, see Theocritus, Id. i. v, 15.; and for the persecution of the Nymphs by Pan, the romance of Longus, p. 63. ed. Villoison, where it is said of him, Tausta, dì ovdíxori Aguάσιν ἐνοχλῶν, καὶ ̓Επιμηλίσι Νύμφαις πράγ Mara Tagixa. The passage relative to the Hamadryad, who threatened Peræbius with the consequences of neglecting to prop the falling oak, in which she lived, is to be found in the Schol. to Apollon. Rhod. ii. v. 479.

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Hamadryad. How far the Duergar of the Edda were originally distinct from a similar class of dwarfish agents, who are to be met with in the popular creed of every European nation, cannot now be precisely ascertained 50. The earliest memorials of them in the fictions of Germany and Scandinavia, present us with the same metallurgic divinities who in the mythology of Hellas were known by the various names of Cabiri, Hephæsti, Telchines, and Idæan Dactyli". In the other countries of Europe, the traces of their existence as a separate class,

50 The Northern traditions relative to the Duergar, are among the most obscure points of Eddaic lore, and are too important to be discussed in a note. Their residence in stones seems to be a portion of the same belief which gave rise to the ai xa of antiquity. The author of the Orphic poem on stones mentions one in the possession of Helenus, which not only uttered oracular responses, but was perceived to breathe, ver. 339 et seq. Photius (coll. 242. p. 1062, from the life of Isidorus by Damascius) mentions another in the possession of a certain Eusebius. This was a meteoric stone, which had fallen from heaven. On being asked to what deity it belonged, it replied, Gennæus-a god worshiped at the Syrian Heliopolis. Others were said to be subject to Saturn, Jupiter, the Sun, &c. (For this notion of the dæmons being the subordinate followers of some superior god, whose name they bore, see Plutarch de Defectu Orac. 21.) This will serve to illustrate the account given by Pausanias of the thirty stones at Phara, each of which was inscribed with the name of some god. (vii. c. 22.) Damascius thought the stone in question to be under divine, Isidorus only demoniacal, influence. Photius treats the whole story as a mere piece of jugglery. Plato, however, has said, that these lithic oracles were of the same antiquity as that of the oak at Dodona. Phædrus 276.

"The spirit of later times, with its characteristic tendency of studying beauty of form in all its imagery, having converted these ancient deities into the

youthful Curetes, Corybantes and Dioscuri, a confusion arose in the nomenclature of them which wholly baffied the attempts of Strabo to reduce into a system. See the tenth book of this geographer, under the head of Theologoumena, The Dwarf of ancient mythology is perhaps best represented on the coins of Cossyra, where the figure closely accords with the description of the mining dwarf given by Prætorius, i. p. 243. Another representation, from the creed of Egypt, may be seen among the terracottas of the British Museum, No. 42. Mr. Coombe calls "this short naked human figure" Osiris; but there can be little doubt, that it exhibits the dwarfish god of Memphis, whose deformity excited the scorn and ridicule of Cambyses. This deity, whether we call him Phthas or He. phastus, resembled in his person the Patæci or tutelary divinities of Phenicia, to whom Herodotus has assigned the figure of a pygmy man. (Thalia, c. 37.) The attributes on this and a similar monument may be easily accounted for. The reader who is desirous of learning the esteem in which these divinities were held in the ancient world, may consult a treatise "On the Deities of Samothrace" by Mr.von Schelling, a gentleman chiefly known in Europe for his philosophical works, but who is known to his friends for his extensive erudition in every branch of ancient and modern learning, and who, among the numerous virtues that adorn his private character, is particularly distinguished for his hospitality to the "stranger, who sojourns in a foreign land."

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chiefly occupied in the labours of the forge, are not so clearly defined; and if a few scattered traditions 52 seem to favour a contrary opinion, it is equally certain that they have been more frequently confounded with a kindred race, the Brownies or Fairies. The former, as is well known, are the same diminutive beings with the Lares of Latium, an order of beneficent spirits, whom Cicero has taught us to consider as nearly identical with the Grecian Dæmon. In Germany they have received a long catalogue of appellations, all descriptive of their form, their disposition, or their dress; but whether marked by the title of Gutichen, Brownie, Lar, or Dæmon, we observe in all the same points of general resemblance; all have been alike regarded as the guardians of the domestic hearth, the awarders of prosperity, and the averters of evil; and the author of the Orphic Hymn endows the particular Dæmon of his invocation with the same attributes that are given by Hildebrand to the whole tribe of Gutichens or "gude neighbours" " The English Puck, the Scottish Bogle, the French Esprit Follet, or Goblin-the Gobelinus of monkish Latinity --and the German Kobold, are only varied names for the Grecian Kobalus 55; whose sole delight consisted in perplexing the human race, and calling up those harmless terrors that con

52 Essay on the Faeries of popular Superstition, p. 163.

53 Quanquam enim Dæmon latius patere quodam modo videatur, non dubito tamen quin melius sit, Larem, quam Dæmonem vertere, ut sit species pro genere." De Universitate.

Hymn 72. and Hildebrand vom Hexenwerke, p. 310.

55 See the Scholiast to Aristoph. Plut. v. 279. The English and Scottish terms are the same as the German "Spuk," and the Danish "Spogelse," without the sibilant aspiration. These words are general names for any kind of spirit, and correspond to the "Pouk" of Piers Plouhman. In Danish "spog" means a joke, trick or prank; and hence the character

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of Robin Goodfellow. In Iceland, Puki is regarded as an evil sprite; and in the language of that country "at pukra means both to make a murmuring noise, and to steal clandestinely. The names of these spirits seem to have originated in their boisterous temper. "Spuken,' Germ., to make a noise; "spog," Dan., obstreperous mirth; "pukke," Dan. to boast, scold. The Germans use "pochen" in the same figurative sense, though literally it means to strike, beat, and is the same with our poke. In Ditmarsh, the brownie, or domestic fairy, is called Nitsche-Puk. The French "gobelin" seems to spring either from a diminutive-Koboldein? or a feminine

termination, Koboldinn?

stantly hover round the minds of the timid. To excite the wrath, indeed, of this mischievous spirit, was attended with fatal consequences to the luckless objects who rashly courted it; and Prætorius (i. p. 140.) has preserved a notice of his cruelty to some miners of St. Anneberg, to whom he appeared under the guise of the Scottish Kelpie, with a horse's head, and whom he destroyed by his pestiferous breath. The midnight depredators mentioned by Gervase of Tilbury, who oppressed the sleeper, injured his person, despoiled his property, and bore off his children, are either confounded by that worthy chronicler with the separate characters of the Ephialtes and Lamia; or the local creed of some particular spot had concentrated in his day the propensities of both in one personage. The numerous tales gathered by Prætorius observe the classical distinctions of antiquity; with them it is the Incubus or Alp, who causes those painful sensations during sleep, which the ancient physicians have so aptly termed the nocturnal epilepsy; and it is the same race of mis-shapen old hags with the Lamia of Gervase", who, like the ancient Lamia larvata, alternately terrify and carry away the infant from his cradle.

Sir Walter Scott, from whose Essay "on the Faeries of Popular Superstition" the preceding notice of the Lamiæ

56 With this class must also be reckoned the Gyre-Carline, or mother-witch of Scotland, whose name is so expressive of her character (gyr-falcon,`gerhound, Trevisa).

Thair dwelt ane grit Gyre-Carling, in

awld Betokis bour, That levit upoun Christiane menis

flesche, and rewheids unleipit. In this she becomes identified with the "Raw-head-and-bloody-bones" of the English nursery. In the fiction on which the beautiful ballad of Glenfinlas is founded, we have the poetic version of her character; and of which Vossius

has said: "Nam erunt Lamiæ spectra in
formosarum mulierum figuram confor-
mata, quæ adolescentes formosos volup-
tatibus deliniebant, dum eos devorarent."
Etymolog. S. Lat. in Lamia. Compare
also Diodorus's account of the queen
of Libyssa, l. xx. p. 754. Vossius has
likewise shown that the same notion was
current in Judæa. There is one cir-
Carline, which runs through all my-
cumstance in the history of the Gyre-
thology:

Lang or Betok was born
Scho (the G. Carline) bred of an acorne.

recorded by Gervase has been taken, has also extracted from the Physica Curiosa of Schott, a Frisian account of the same destructive tribe, where a similar confusion appears to prevail, though with a different class of spirits. "In the time of the Emperor Lotharius, in 830, says Schott, many spectres infested Friesland, particularly the white nymphs of the ancients, which the moderns denominate witte wiven, who inhabited a subterraneous cavern, formed in a wonderful manner, without human art, on the top of a lofty mountain. These were accustomed to surprize benighted travellers, shepherds watching their herds and flocks, and women newly delivered, with their children; and convey them into their caverns, from which subterraneous murmurs, the cries of children, the groans and lamentations of men, and sometimes imperfect words and all kinds of musical sounds were heard to proceed." Divested of the colouring which seems to identify these spectres "with the fairies of popular opinion," a parallel fiction is related by Antonius Liberalis (c. 8.) in his account of Sybaris, to whom others gave the more appropriate title of Lamia; and, with a change of sex in the agent, the same idea is found in the curious narratives of Pausanias and Ælian, relative to the "dark dæmon" or hero of Temessa 57. The earliest memorial of

57 Vid. Ælian. Hist. viii. c. 18. Pausanias, vi. 6. The people of Temessa having slain a companion of Ulysses, (who had violated the chastity of a virgin,) his spirit sought revenge, by carrying slaughter and destruction into every house and the whole country round. The Pythian oracle recommended the erection of a temple, the consecration of a grove, and an annual sacrifice of the fairest virgin in Temessa, as the only means of appeasing the angry spirit. This was done. On one of these occasions, an Olympian victor named Euthymus, inspired by mingled feelings of love and compassion for the beautiful victim, resolved on effecting her rescue; and having awaited the ar

rival of the dæmon, a struggle ensued,
from which the latter made his escape,
and for ever, by sinking into the sea.
The ravages of Grendel appear to have
been prompted by the death of an uncle.
Hrothgar (in whose palace the spirit's
nightly incursions are made) and his
council vainly implore the powers of
hell (it is a Christian who thus deno-
minates the gods of the heathen king)
for the means of commuting the deadly
feud. The intelligence reaches Beo-
wulf, a champion who had acquired an
extensive reputation by his victories
over the nicors or nicers, a species of sea
monster of which many fables are cur-
rent at the present day in Iceland, and
who, in the true spirit of a berserkr, un-

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