Jan. 15. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



ei 



there a.d. 1206 ; it being dedicated to the Virgin 

 Mary ("Locus Benedictus de Whalley"), and 

 having about sixty indwellers. (Tanner's Notitia.) 



Anon. 



THE FAIRIeS in NEW BOSS. 



" When moonlight 



Near midnight 

 Tips the rock and waving wood ; 



When moonlight 



Near midnight 

 Silvers o'er the sleeping flood ; 



When yew tops 



With dew-drops 

 Sparkle o'er deserted graves ; 



'Tis then we fly 



Through welkin high, 

 Then we sail o'er yellow waves." 



Book of Irish Ballads. 



There lived, some thirty years since, in the 

 eastern part of the suburbs of New Ross, in the 

 county of Wexford, denominated the " Maudlins," 

 a hedge carpenter named Davy Ilanlan, better 

 known to his neighbours by the sobriquet of 

 " Milleadh Maide," or " Speilstick." Davy plied 

 his trade with all the assiduity of an industrious 

 man, " and laboured in all kinds of weather " to 

 maintain his little family ; and as his art consisted 

 principally in manufacturing carts, ploughs, and 

 harrows (iron ploughs not being then in use) for 

 the surrounding farmers, and doctoring their old 

 ones, the sphere of Davy's avocations was confined 

 to no mean limits. 



It was a dry, sharp night, in the month of No- 

 vember, and darkness had set in long before Davy 

 left Mount Hanover, two miles distant from his 

 home. At length he started forward, and had 

 already reached the bridge of the Maudlins, when 

 he stopped to rest ; for besides his tools he carried 

 a bundle of wheaten straw, which he intended for 

 a more than usually comfortable " shake-down " 

 for his dear rib Winny. The moon had by this 

 time ascended above the horizon, and by its silvery 

 radiance depicted in delicate outline the hills 

 rising in the distance, while the tender rays mix- 

 ing with, and faintly illumining the gloom of the 

 intermediate valleys, formed a mass of light and 

 shade so exquisitely blended as to appear the work 

 of enchantment. As Davy leaned on the parapet 

 of the bridge, a thrill of alarm involuntarily dis- 

 turbed his feelings : he was about to depart when 

 he heard a clamorous sound, as of voices, proceed- 

 ing from that part of the valley on which he still 

 gazed. Curiosity now tempted him to listen still 

 longer, when suddenly he saw a group of dwarfish 

 beings emerging from the gloom, and coming 

 rapidly towards him, along the green marsh that 

 borders the Maudlin stream. Poor Davy was 

 terror-stricken at this unusual sight ; in vain he 



attempted to escape : he was, as it were, spell- 

 bound. Instantly the whole company gained the 

 road beside him, and after a moment's consultation 

 they simultaneously cried out, " Where is my 

 horse ? give me my horse ! " &c. In the twinkling 

 of an eye they were all mounted. Davy's feelings 

 may be more easily imagined than described, and 

 in a fit of unconsciousness his tongue, as it were 

 mechanically, articulated " Where is my horse ? " 

 Immediately he found himself astride on a rude 

 piece of timber, somewhat in shape of a plough- 

 beam, by which he was raised aloft in the air. 

 Away he went, as he himself related, at the rate of 

 nine knots an hour, gliding smoothly through the 

 liquid air. No aeronaut ever performed his ex- 

 pedition with more intrepidity ; and after about 

 two hours' journeying the whole cavalcade alighted 

 in the midst of a large city, just as 



" The iron tongue of midnight had told twelve." 



One of the party, who appeared to be a leader, 

 conducted them from door to door, Davy follow- 

 ing in the rear ; and at the first door he passed 

 them the word, " We cannot enter, the dust of the 

 floor lies not laehind the door." * Other impedi- 

 ments prevented their ingress to the next two or 

 three doors. 



At length, having come to a door which was not 

 guarded byany of these insuperable sentinels which 

 defy the force of fairy assault, he joyfully cried 

 out " We can enter here : " and immediately, as if 

 by enchantment, the door flew open, the party en- 

 tered, and Davy, much astonished, found himself 

 within the walls of a spacious wine-store. In- 

 stantly the heads of wine vessels were broken ; 

 bungs flew out ; the carousing commenced ; each 

 boon companion pledged his friend, as he bedewed 

 his whiskers in the sparkling beverage ; and the 

 wassail sounds float round the walls and hollow 

 roof. Davy, not yet recovered from his surprise, 

 stood looking on, but could not contrive to come 

 at a drop : at length he asked a rather agreeable 

 fairy who was close to him to help him to some. 

 " When I shall have done," said the fairy, " I will 

 give you this goblet, and you can drink." Very 



* Every good housewife is supposed to sweep the 

 kitchen floor previously to her going to bed ; and the 

 old women who are best skilled in " fairy lore" aflSrm, 

 that if, through any inadvertence, she should leave the 

 dust thus collected behind the door at night, this dust 

 or sweepings will have the power of opening the door 

 to the fairies, should they come the way. It is also 

 believed that, if the broom should be left behind the 

 door, without being placed standing on its handle, it 

 will possess the power of admitting the fairies. Should 

 the water in which the family had washed their feet, 

 before going to bed, be left in the vessel, on the kitchen 

 floor, without having a coal of fire put into it, if not 

 thrown out in the yard, it will act as porter to the 

 fairies or good people. 



