the spot next morning, he found the mangled, corpse of the knight and
steed.--_Hierarchie of Blessed Angels,_ p. 554.

[Footnote A: The unfortunate Chatterton was not, probably, acquainted
with Gervase of Tilbury; yet he seems to allude, in the _Battle of
Hastings_, to some modification of Sir Osbert's adventure:

So who they be that ouphant fairies strike,
Their souls shall wander to King Offa's dike.

The entrenchment, which served as lists for the combatants, is said by
Gervase to have been the work of the pagan invaders of Britain. In the
metrical romance of _Arthour and Merlin_, we have also an account of
Wandlesbury being occupied by the Sarasins, i.e. the Saxons; for all
pagans were Saracens with the romancers. I presume the place to have
been Wodnesbury, in Wiltshire, situated on the remarkable mound,
called Wansdike, which is obviously a Saxon work.--GOUGH'S _Cambden's
Britannia,_ pp. 87--95.]

To the same current of warlike ideas, we may safely attribute the
long train of military processions which the Fairies are supposed
occasionally to exhibit. The elves, indeed, seem in this point to be
identified with the aerial host, termed, during the middle ages, the
_Milites Herlikini_, or _Herleurini_, celebrated by Pet. Blesensis,
and termed, in the life of St Thomas of Canterbury, the _Familia
Helliquinii_. The chief of this band was originally a gallant knight and
warrior; but, having spent his whole possessions in the service of the
emperor, and being rewarded with scorn, and abandoned to subordinate
oppression, he became desperate, and, with his sons and followers,
formed a band of robbers. After committing many ravages, and defeating
all the forces sent against him, Hellequin, with his whole troop, fell
in a bloody engagement with the Imperial host. His former good life was
supposed to save him from utter reprobation; but he and his followers
were condemned, after death, to a state of wandering, which should
endure till the last day. Retaining their military habits, they were
usually seen in the act of justing together, or in similar warlike
employments. See the ancient French romance of _Richard sans Peur_.
Similar to this was the _Nacht Lager_, or midnight camp, which seemed
nightly to beleaguer the walls of Prague,

"With ghastly faces thronged, and fiery arms,"

but which disappeared upon recitation of the magical words, _Vezele,
Vezele, ho! ho! ho!_--For similar delusions, see DELRIUS, pp. 29