The story of English literature for young readers . orri-fied little company fled tumultuously. Signs anddreams were solemnly believed in. It was no uncom-mon thing for a shepherd returning late at night todeclare that he had been followed by a witch, or evenso remarkable a creature as a fairy. Fairies weresupposed to steal, or change, children in their cradles,and it was even believed by the peasantry that on acertain night in the year, when the fairies came out todance in the marshes, such children could be reclaimed*But great courage and patience were supposed to benecessary in this weird e
The story of English literature for young readers . orri-fied little company fled tumultuously. Signs anddreams were solemnly believed in. It was no uncom-mon thing for a shepherd returning late at night todeclare that he had been followed by a witch, or evenso remarkable a creature as a fairy. Fairies weresupposed to steal, or change, children in their cradles,and it was even believed by the peasantry that on acertain night in the year, when the fairies came out todance in the marshes, such children could be reclaimed*But great courage and patience were supposed to benecessary in this weird enterprise, and the old gossipsabout the firesides were fond of telling how a certainman, whose wife and child had both been stolen, wentout to the moor to watch, on the given night; his en-durance, however, gave way, and he fell asleep, wak-ing to hear sounds of unearthly laughter, and to seethe fairies, on tiny, ghostly horses, riding away in themist, his wife and child among them. These taleswere listened to with awe and delight, and you can see. For Young Readers. 113 by what a spirit of imagination and wild fancy Shake-speares boyhood was surrounded. The inhabitants of a country town in Queen Eliza-beths day were very distinctly separated in class, andwe find, by reading old chronicles, that there were evennine sortes of gentlemen, counting upwards fromthe country squire through the nobility. Many luxu-ries, as you know, had been introduced into the house-holds of the rich ; and I will quote from Holinshead,a chronicler of that day, part of the description whichhe gives of a fine house : ?The wals of our houses at the inner sides in likesort be either hanged with tapisterie, arras worke orpainted cloths, wherein either diverse histories, orhearbes, beasts, knots, and such like, are stained, orelse they are seeled with oke of our owne, or wainescotbrought hither out of the east countries, whereby theroomes are not a little commanded, made warme, andmuch more close than other
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectenglishliterature
