The inland parts, in some places of the coast of Coromandel, toward the hills, are covered with immense and impenetrable forests, which afford a shelter for all sort of wild beasts: but, in that which forms the inland-boundary of the Carnatic rajahs dominions, there is one singular species of creatures, of which Mr. Grose, the author of "A voyage to the East-Indies," performed, by himself, in the year 1750, (the second edition whereof was published, by the writer, at London, in 1772, in two volumes, octavo,) had heard much in India, and of the truth of which, he says, the following fact that happened sometime before his arrival there, may serve for an attestation :

Vencajee, a merchant of that country, and an inhabitant on the sea-coast, sent up to Bombay, to the then governor of it, mr. Horne, a couple of these creatures, as a present, by a coasting vessel,

of them in 1549: Edin. 1784, 12mo. p. 37. See a defence of the existence of the Pygmies, in Rosses Arcana microcosmi, London, 1652, p. 106. Martin, likewise, in his Description of the Western islands of Scotland, 1703, p. 19, says, The island of Pigmies, or, as the natives call it, The island of little men, is but of small extent. There have been many small bones dug out of the ground here, resembling those of human kind more than any other. This, he adds, gave ground to a tradition, which the natives have of a very lowstatured people living once here, called Lusbirdan, that is pygmies,

of which one captain Boag was the master, and the make of which, according to his description, and that of others, was as follows :

They were scarcely two feet high, walked erect, and had perfectly a human form. They were of a sallow white, without any hair, except in those parts in which it is customary for mankind to have it. By their melancholy, they seemed to have a rational sense of their captivity, and had many of the human actions. They made their bed very orderly, in the cage in which they were sent up, and, on being viewed, would endeavour to conceal, with their hands, those parts which modesty forbids manifesting. The joints of their knees were not reëntering like those of monkeys, but saliant like those of men; a circumstance they have in common with the ouran-outangs in the eastern parts of India, in Sumatra, Java, and the Spiceislands, of which these seem to be the diminutives, though with nearer approaches of resemblance to the human species. But, though the navigation from the Carnatic coast to Bombay is of a very short run, whether the sea-air did not agree with them, or they could not brook their confinement, or captain Boag had not properly consulted their provision, the female, sickening, first died, and the male, giving all the demonstrations of grief, seemed

to take it so to heart, that he refused to eat, and, in two days after, followed her. The captain, on his return to Bombay, reporting this to the governor, was by him asked, what he had done with the bodies; he said, he had flung them over-board. Being further asked, why he did not keep them in spirits, he replied bluntly, he did not think of it. Upon this the governor wrote afresh to Vencajee, and desired him to procure another couple, at any rate, as he should grudge no expense to be master of such a curiosity. Vencajees answer was, He would very willingly oblige him, but that he was afraid it would not be in his power: that these creatures came from a forest, about seventy leagues up the country, where the inhabitants catch them on the skirts of it; but they were so exquisitely cunning and shy, that this scarcely happened once in a century.

If the above relation, concludes our author, should be true, as there is no reason to doubt it, we have here a proof, that the existence of pygmies is not entirely fabulous, as nothing can nearer approach the description of them".

* Vol. I, page 231, &c.

DISSERTATION II.

ON FAIRIES.

THE earliest mention of FAIRIES is made by Homer, if, that is, his English translator have, in this instance, done him justice:

"Where round the bed, whence Achelöus springs,
The wat❜ry FAIRIES dance in mazy rings*."

These nymphs he supposes to frequent or reside in woods, hills, the sea, fountains, grottos, &c.; whence they are peculiarly called Naiads, Dryads, and Nereids:

* Iliad, B. 24, V. 776. The word Fairy, as used in our own language, is a mere blunder; the proper name of the French Fairy is Faée or Fée, or in English Fay; Faërie, or Féerie, which we apply to the person, being, in fact, the country, or kingdom, of the Fays, or what we call Fairyland. We have committed a similar mistake in the word barley; which signifies, in fact, the ley, or land upon which the bear grows (beɲe, hordeum, leag, a ley).

"What sounds are these that gather from the shores, The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bow'rs, The fair-hair'd dryads of the shady wood,

Or azure daughters of the silver flood!"

Odys. B. 6, V. 122.

The original word, indeed, is nymphs, which, it must be confessed, furnishes an accurate idea of the fays (fees or fates) of the ancient French and Italian romances; wherein they are represented as females of inexpressible beauty, elegance, and every kind of personal accomplishment, united with magic, or supernatural power. Such, for instance, as the Calypso of Homer, or the Alcina of Ariosto. 'Agreeably' to this idea it is that Shakspeare makes Antony say, in allusion to Cleopatra,

"To this GREAT FAIRY I'll commend thy acts,"

meaning this grand assemblage of POWER and BEAUTY. Such, also, is the character of the ancient nymphs, spoken of by the Roman poets: as Virgil, for instance:

"Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes,

Panaque, Sylvanumque senem, Nymphasque sorores

They, likewise, occur in other passages, as well as in Horace :

Geor. L. 2, V. 493.