THE WILL-O'-THE-WISP AND ITS FOLK-LORE. 6g 



grounds at Syiham, just by AVingfield, are the i(/nes fatui, commonly 

 called Syiham lamps, the terror and destruction of travelers, and even 

 of the inhabitants, who are frequently misled by them." 



Another of its poj^ular nicknames in former years was " Kit of the 

 Canstick " i. e., candlestick ; and, in " Poor Robin's Almanack " for 

 1777, it is styled " Peg-a-lantern " : 



" I should indeed as soon expect 

 That Peg-a-lantern would direct 

 Me straightway home on misty night ; 

 As wand'ring stars, quite out of sight, 

 Pegg's dancing light does oft betray, 

 And lead her followers astray." 



The expression ignis fatuus, or foolish fire, originated in its leading 

 men astray, as in the "Tempest" (Act iv, sc. 1), where Stephanio 

 says, "Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has 

 done little better than played the jack with us " a passage which is 

 explained by Johnson thus : " He has played Jack-with-a-lantern ; he 

 has led us about like an ignis fatuus, by which travelers are decoyed 

 into the mire." Thus Gray describes it : 



" How Will-a'-Wisp misleads night-gazing clowns 

 O'er hills, and sinking bogs, and pathless downs." 



In Scotland, one of the names for this appearance is " Dank Will," 

 and in Ireland it is known as " Miscann Many," an allusion to which 

 occurs in Croker's " Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland " in the 

 story of the " Spirit Horse," where Morty Sullivan is so sadly deluded 

 by it. 



Again, the term " Fire-drake," * which is jocularly used in " Henry 

 VIII " (Act V, sc. 4) for a man with a red face, was one of the popu- 

 lar names for the Will-o'-the-Wisp ; in allusion to which Burton, in 

 his " Anatomic of Melancholy," says, " Fiery spirits or devils are such 

 as commonly work by fire-drakes or ignes fatui, which lead men often 

 m flumina et prcecipitia.'''^ It appears, also, that in Shakespeare's day 

 " a walking fire " was another common name for the Will-o'-the-Wisp, 

 to which he probably refers in " King Lear " (Act iv, sc. 3), where, 

 Gloster's torch being seen in the distance, the fool says, " Look, here 

 comes a walking fire " ; whereupon Edgar replies : " This is the foul 

 fiend Flibbertigibet ; he begins at Curfew and walks till the first 

 cock." Hence Mr. Hunter f considers that Flibbertigibet was a name 

 for the Will-o'-the-Wisp. That, however, this phenomenon was known 







* A " Fire-drake " appears to have been also an artificial firework, as in Middleton's 

 " Five Gallants " : 



"... But, like firedrakes, 

 Mounted a little, gave a crack, and fell." 



f " New Illustrations of the Life, Studies, and Writings of Shakespeare," ii, 272. 



