SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN ng 
canons of good taste, and turning vivid green to the 
touch, is fully what its name implies. With a little 
useful knowledge and a willingness to adopt new 
ideas the fare of the poorest in our country villages 
might be considerably bettered, but we have insular 
dislike to innovation to contend with, and a contempt 
for all that may be had cheaply, which render it a 
new labour of Hercules to improve the household 
menage of the English rustic. 
Fairies, according to the usual description of those 
beings, were said to live underground, to emerge 
from molehills. They had material bodies with the 
power of making themselves invisible, with the power 
of passing through all enclosures. They were fre¬ 
quently mischievous, but occasionally helped to 
labour. What were they if not the small dark 
aborigines of our island, hiding by day, active at 
night, now milking their enemies’ cows, now steal¬ 
ing. Their chief diversion was dancing, and that 
in circles on the meadow-lands, from which no 
maiden would gather dew to bathe her face, or even 
place a foot within its enchanted round. 
