234 
BltAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
realities, and may be seen by every observer who chooses 
to exercise patience and diligence. On the flats at Wan- 
stead, towards the gate which opens on the road to the 
“ Thatched House ” on the smooth law T n of Cheshunt 
Park, and especially in front of Cheshunt House; in the 
rich meadows between Highgate and Pinchley; and on 
the “ Rye/’ at Peckham; we have always succeeded in 
finding fairy rings: and in no meadowy district will a 
diligent search go long unrewarded. 
In common with all appearances of a mysterious cha¬ 
racter, these rings have been long associated with the 
superstitions of the country, and time out of mind con¬ 
secrated to the service of the fairies. They are, indeed, 
the impressions left by fairy feet upon the grass : where 
they have trodden in the giddy dance at midnight, rings 
of luxuriant verdure spring np; and so sacred are these 
circles of green, that the simple sheep abstain from them, 
and tread but softly where they grow. Shakspere makes 
beautiful use of this article of ancient faith, in that pas¬ 
sage in the Tempest where Prospero invokes for the last 
time the supernatural powers to his aid :— 
“ Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves; 
And ye that on the sands with printless foot 
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him 
When he comes back; you demi-puppets, that 
By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make, 
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime 
’Tis to make midnight mushrooms.” 
Drayton, speaking of the fairies, says— 
“ They in their courses make that round 
In meadows and in marshes found, 
Of them so called the fairy ground.’* 
