ngs. Imperfect as such an
account must necessarily be, it will yet suffice I trust in some measure
to show that, like the England of Arthurian times, all the world is
"fulfilled of faery."

In dealing with this part of the subject, it would be possible, following
the example of Keightley, to treat the little folk of each country
separately. But a better idea of their nature, and certainly one which for
my purpose will be more satisfactory, can, I think, be obtained by
classifying them according to the nature of their habitations, and
mentioning incidentally such other points concerning them as it may seem
advisable to bring out.

1. In the first place, then, fairies are found dwelling in mounds of
different kinds, or in the interior of hills. This form of habitation is
so frequently met with in Scotch and Irish accounts of the fairies, that
it will not be necessary for me to burden these pages with instances,
especially since I shall have to allude to them in a further section in
greater detail. Suffice it to say, that many instances of such an
association in the former country will be found in the pages of Mr.
MacRitchie's works, whilst as to the latter, I shall content myself by
quoting Sir William Wilde's statement, that every green "rath" in that
country is consecrated to the "good people." In England there are numerous
instances of a similar kind. Gervase of Tilbury in the thirteenth century
mentions such a spot in Gloucestershire: "There is in the county of
Gloucester a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game
that England produces. In a grovy lawn of this forest there is a little
mount, rising in a point to the height of a man." With this mount he
associates the familiar story of the offering of refreshment to travellers
by its unseen inhabitants. In Warwickshire, the mound upon which
Kenilworth Castle is built was formerly a fairy habitation.[A] Ritson[B]
mentions that the "fairies frequented many parts of the Bishopric of
Durham." There is a hillock or tumulus near Bishopton, and a large hill
near Billingham, both of which used in former time to be "haunted by
fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage between Darlington and
Durham, is evidently a corruption of "Fairy-hill." In Yorkshire a similar
story attaches to the sepulchral barrow of Willey How,[C] and in Sussex to
a green mound called the Mount in the parish of Pulborough.[D] The fairies
formerly frequented Bussers Hill in St. Mary