the eve of his marriage.  He returned in a short time, and narrated, that the spirit that had carried him away, was in the shape of a most beautiful woman, who pressed him to forsake his bride, and remain with her; urging her own superior beauty, and splendid appearance.  He added, that he saw the men who were employed to search for him, and heard them call; but that they could not see him, nor could he answer them, till, upon his determined refusal to listen to the spirit’s persuasions, the spell ceased to operate.  The kidney-shaped West Indian bean, which is sometimes driven upon the shore of the Feroes, is termed, by the natives “the Fairie’s kidney.”

In these traditions of the Gothic and Finnish tribes, we may recognize, with certainty, the rudiments of elfin superstition; but we must look to various other causes for the modifications which it has undergone.  These are to be sought, 1st, in the traditions of the east; 2d, in the wreck and confusion of the Gothic mythology; 3d, in the tales of chivalry; 4th, in the fables of classical antiquity; 5th, in the influence of the Christian religion; 6th, and finally, in the creative imagination of the sixteenth century.  It may be proper to notice the effect of these various causes, before stating the popular belief of our own time, regarding the Fairies.

I. To the traditions of the east, the Fairies of Britain owe, I think, little more than the appellation, by which they have been distinguished since the days of the crusade.  The term “Fairy,” occurs not only in Chaucer, and in yet older English authors, but also, and more frequently, in the romance language; from which they seem to have adopted it.  Ducange cites the following passage from Gul.  Guiart, in Historia Francica, MS.

  Plusiers parlent de Guenart,
  Du Lou, de L’Asne, de Renart,
  De Faeries et de Songes,
  De phantosmes et de mensonges.

The Lay le Frain, enumerating the subjects of the Breton Lays, informs us expressly,

  Many ther beth faery.

By some etymologists of that learned class, who not only know whence words come, but also whither they are going, the term Fairy, or Faerie, is derived from Fae, which is again derived from Nympha.  It is more probable the term is of oriental origin, and is derived from the Persic, through the medium of the Arabic.  In Persic, the term Peri expresses a species of imaginary being, which resembles the Fairy in some of its qualities, and is one of the fairest creatures of romantic fancy.  This superstition must have been known to the Arabs, among whom the Persian tales, or romances, even as early as the time of Mahomet, were so popular, that it required the most terrible denunciations of that legislator to proscribe them.  Now, in the enunciation of the Arabs, the term Peri would sound Fairy, the letter p not occurring in the alphabet