“To William all give audience,
  And pray ye for his noddle,
For all the fairies’ evidence
  Were lost if that were addle."[41]

[Footnote 41:  Corbett’s Poems, edited by Octavuis Gilchrist, p. 213.]

This William Chourne appears to have attended Dr. Corbett’s party on the iter septentrionale, “two of which were, and two desired to be, doctors;” but whether William was guide, friend, or domestic seems uncertain.  The travellers lose themselves in the mazes of Chorley Forest on their way to Bosworth, and their route becomes so confused that they return on their steps and labour—­

     “As in a conjuror’s circle—­William found
     A mean for our deliverance,—­’Turn your cloaks,’
     Quoth he, ’for Puck is busy in these oaks;
     If ever you at Bosworth would be found,
     Then turn your cloaks, for this is fairy ground.’ 
     But ere this witchcraft was performed, we meet
     A very man who had no cloven feet. 
     Though William, still of little faith, has doubt,
     ’Tis Robin, or some sprite that walks about. 
     ‘Strike him,’ quoth he, ’and it will turn to air—­
     Cross yourselves thrice and strike it.’—­’Strike that dare,’
     Thought I, ’for sure this massy forester,
     In strokes will prove the better conjuror.’ 
     But ’twas a gentle keeper, one that knew
     Humanity and manners, where they grew,
     And rode along so far, till he could say,
     ‘See, yonder Bosworth stands, and this your way.’"[42]

[Footnote 42:  Corbett’s Poems, p. 191.]

In this passage the bishop plainly shows the fairies maintained their influence in William’s imagination, since the courteous keeper was mistaken by their associate champion for Puck or Robin Goodfellow.  The spells resorted to to get rid of his supposed delusions are alternatively that of turning the cloak—­(recommended in visions of the second-sight or similar illusions as a means of obtaining a certainty concerning the being which is before imperfectly seen[43])—­and that of exorcising the spirit with a cudgel; which last, Corbett prudently thinks, ought not to be resorted to unless under an absolute conviction that the exorcist is the stronger party.  Chaucer, therefore, could not be serious in averring that the fairy superstitions were obsolete in his day, since they were found current three centuries afterwards.

[Footnote 43:  A common instance is that of a person haunted with a resemblance whose face he cannot see.  If he turn his cloak or plaid, he will obtain the full sight which he desires, and may probably find it to be his own fetch, or wraith, or double-ganger.]