96 ITS FAME IN SONG. 



IV. 



When all aloud the wind doth blow, 



And coughing drowns the parson's saw, 



And birds sit brooding in the snow, 

 And Marian's nose looks red and raw ; 



When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, 



Then nightly sings the staring owl, 

 To-who ; 



Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, 



While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.' 7 



Nor do we forget Ariel's song in The Tempest (Act v. 

 Sc. i)— 



" Where the bee sucks, there lurk I ; 

 In a cowslip's bell I lie, 

 There I couch when owls do cry." 



Amongst the fairies, at least, the owl seems to have found 

 friends, and is generally represented as a companion in 

 their moonlight gambols : — 



" This is the fairy land ! — O, spite of spites ! — 

 We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprites." 



Comedy of Errors, Act ii. Sc. 2. 



The folio of 1623 omits "elvish," but the folio of 1632 

 has " elves," which Rowe changed to " elvish." 



The following quotation we have some hesitation in 

 introducing, for there appears to be a difference of reading, 

 which quite alters the sense : — 



