[THE WELSH FAIRIES.] ONE D. Harding, about twenty years ago, in Lanbistan parish, saw a circle upon the snow, and in it, as it were, the track of hundreds of children in little pump-shoes. It was near a way, said to be haunted, or where people were usually disturbed, in going to and coming from Knightonmarket, or at other times at night*. *From a Welsh MS. TALE XXIX. KENSINGTON GARDEN. Campos, ubi Troja fuit. VIRG. WHERE Kensington high o'er the neighb'ring lands, 'Midst greens and sweets, a regal fabrick stands, Where rich brocades and glossy damasks glow, rest, Stands fairest of the fairer kind confess'd, Form'd to gain hearts, that Brunswicks cause deny'd, And charm a people to her fathers side. Long have these groves to royal guests been known, Nor Nassau first preferr'd them to a throne. Ere Norman banners waved in British air, Ere lordly Hubba with the golden hair, Pour'd in his Danes; ere elder Julius came; Or Dardan Brutus gave our isle a name; A prince of Albions lineage graced the wood, The scene of wars, and stain'd with lovers blood. You, who through gazing crowds, your captive throng, Throw pangs and passions, as you move along, Where all unlevel'd the gay garden lies : If generous anguish for anothers pains Ere heaved your hearts, or shiver'd through your veins, Look down attentive on the pleasing dale, And listen to my melancholy tale. That hollow space, where, now, in living rows, Line above line the yews sad verdure grows, Was, ere the planters hand its beauty gave, A common pit, a rude, unfashion'd cave; The landscape, now so sweet, we well may praise, But far, far sweeter in its ancient days, Far sweeter was it, when its peopled ground For every hedge of vegetable green, In happier years, a crowded street was seen, What urged this mighty empire to its fate, When Albion ruled the land, whose lineage came The whilst poor mortals startle at the sound Amid this garden, then with woods o'ergrown, Came peers and princes of the fairy state, By magick fenced, by spells encompass'd round, It chanced a youth of Albions royal blood Was foster'd here, the wonder of the wood. *This is calumny; the fairies were always liberal, never unjust the only things they ever stole were children, as represented below. |