50
ON FAIRIES.
however, in this piece, is so diabolical, and so different from any thing one could expect in Robin Good-fellow, that it is unworthy of further quotation.
He appears, likewise, in another, intitled Grim, the collier of Croydon, in which he enters "in a suit of leather close to his body; his face and hands coloured russet colour, with a 'flail.'"
He is here, too, in most respects, the same strange and diabolical personage that he is represented in Wily beguiled; only there is a single passage which reminds us of his old habits:
"When as I list in this transform'd disguise,I'll fright the country people as I pass;And sometimes turn me to some other form,And so delude them with fantastic shews.But woe betide the silly dairy-maids,For I shall fleet their cream-bowls night by night."
In another scene he enters, while some of the other characters are at a bowl of cream, upon which he says,
"I love a mess of cream as well as they,I think it were best I stept in and made one:Ho, ho, ho, my masters! No good fellowship?Is Robin Good-fellow a bug-bear grown,That he is not worthy to be bid sit down."
