hat used to meet under
yonder hill' (pointing to the great hill between Edinburgh and Leith).
'How, boy?' quoth I, 'what company have you there?' 'There are, sir,'
said he, 'a great company both of men and women, and they are entertained
with many sorts of music besides my drum; they have, besides, plenty of
variety of meats and wine, and many times we are carried into France or
Holland in the night, and return again, and whilst we are there, we enjoy
all the pleasures the country doth afford.' I demanded of him how they
got under that hill? To which he replied that there was a great pair of
gates that opened to them, though they were invisible to others, and that
within there were brave large rooms, as well accommodated as most in
Scotland. I then asked him how I should know what he said to be true?
Upon which he told me he would read my fortune, saying, I should have two
wives, and that he saw the forms of them over my shoulders; and both
would be very handsome women.

"The woman of the house told me that all the people in Scotland could not
keep him from the rendezvous on Thursday night; upon which, by promising
him some more money, I got a promise of him to meet me at the same place
in the afternoon, the Thursday following, and so dismissed him at that
time. The boy came again at the place and time appointed, and I had
prevailed with some friends to continue with me (if possible) to prevent
his moving that night. He was placed between us, and answered many
questions, until, about eleven of the clock, he was got away unperceived
by the company; but I, suddenly missing him, hastened to the door, and
took hold of him, and so returned him into the same room. We all watched
him, and, of a sudden, he was again got out of doors; I followed him
close, and he made a noise in the street, as if he had been set upon, and
from that time I could never see him."

THE DRACAE.

These are a sort of water-spirits who inveigle women and children into
the recesses which they inhabit, beneath lakes and rivers, by floating
past them, on the surface of the water, in the shape of gold rings or
cups. The women thus seized are employed as nurses, and after seven
years are permitted to revisit earth. Gervase mentions one woman in
particular who had been allured by observing a wooden dish, or cup, float
by her, while she was washing clothes in the river. Being seized as soon
as she reached the depths, she was conducted into