connected with them; and though some only condescended to meddle
with matters of importance, others, like the May Mollach, or Maid of
the Hairy Arms, condescended to mingle in ordinary sports, and even
to direct the Chief how to play at draughts.

There was, therefore, no great violence in supposing such a being as
this to have existed, while the elementary spirits were believed in;
but it was more difficult to describe or imagine its attributes and
principles of action. Shakespeare, the first of authorities in such a
case, has painted Ariel, that beautiful creature of his fancy, as only
approaching so near to humanity as to know the nature of that sympathy
which the creatures of clay felt for each other, as we learn from the
expression--"Mine would, if I were human." The inferences from this
are singular, but seem capable of regular deduction. A being, however
superior to man in length of life--in power over the elements--in
certain perceptions respecting the present, the past, and the future,
yet still incapable of human passions, of sentiments of moral good and
evil, of meriting future rewards or punishments, belongs rather to the
class of animals, than of human creatures, and must therefore be
presumed to act more from temporary benevolence or caprice, than from
anything approaching to feeling or reasoning. Such a being's
superiority in power can only be compared to that of the elephant or
lion, who are greater in strength than man, though inferior in the
scale of creation. The partialities which we suppose such spirits to
entertain must be like those of the dog; their sudden starts of
passion, or the indulgence of a frolic, or mischief, may be compared
to those of the numerous varieties of the cat. All these propensities
are, however, controlled by the laws which render the elementary race
subordinate to the command of man--liable to be subjected by his
science, (so the sect of Gnostics believed, and on this turned the