about, in and out, for our brave queen a," etc.

As Mr. Thoms says, in his "Three Notelets on Shakespeare" (1865, pp. 40,
41), "the writings of Shakespeare abound in graphic notices of these
fairy revels, couched in the highest strains of poetry; and a comparison
of these with some of the popular legends which the industry of
Continental antiquaries has preserved will show us clearly that these
delightful sketches of elfin enjoyment have been drawn by a hand as
faithful as it is masterly."

It would seem that the fairies disliked irreligious people: and so, in
"Merry Wives of Windsor" (v. 5), the mock fairies are said to chastise
unchaste persons, and those who do not say their prayers. This coincides
with what Lilly, in his "Life and Times," says: "Fairies love a strict
diet and upright life; fervent prayers unto God conduce much to the
assistance of those who are curious hereways," _i. e._, who wish to
cultivate an acquaintance with them.

Again, fairies are generally represented as great lovers and patrons of
cleanliness and propriety, for the observance of which they were
frequently said to reward good servants, by dropping money into their
shoes in the night; and, on the other hand, they were reported to punish
most severely the sluts and slovenly, by pinching them black and
blue.[35] Thus, in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (v. 1), Puck says:

"I am sent, with broom, before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."

[35] Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. p. 483.

In "Merry Wives of Windsor" (v. 5), Pistol, speaking of the mock fairy
queen, says:

"Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery;"

and the fairies who haunt the towers of Windsor are enjoined:

"About, about,
Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out:
Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room:

* * * * *

The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of balm and every precious flower."

In Ben Jonson's ballad of "Robin Goodfellow"[36] we have a further
illustration of this notion:

"When house or hearth cloth sluttish lie,
I pinch the maidens black and blue,
The bed clothes from the bed pull I,
And lay them naked all to view.
'Twixt sleep and wake
I do them take,
And on the key-cold floor them throw;
If out they cry,
Then forth I fly,
And loudly laugh I, ho, ho, ho!"

[36] Halliwell-P