[15] Scott. Vide Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii.
[16] By some etymologists of that learned class, who not only know whence words come, but also whither they are going, the term Fairy, or Faërie, is derived from Faë, which is again derived from Nympha. It is more probable the term is of oriental origin, and is derived from the Persic, through the medium of the Arabic. In Persic, the term Peri expresses a species of imaginary being, which resembles the Fairy in some of its qualities, and is one of the fairest creatures of romantic fancy.
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, p. 115-116.
[17] Our modern Bachanals will here observe, that punishing by a bumper is not an invention of these degenerate days. The ancient Danes were great Topers.
[18] The drinking vessels of the northern nations were the horns of animals, of their natural length, only tipt with silver, &c. In York-Minster is preserved one of those ancient drinking-vessels, composed of a large elephant’s tooth, of its natural dimensions, ornamented with sculpture, &c. See Drake’s Hist.
[19] Tam O’Shanter.
[20] The story of this Ballad is traditionary in a village at the foot of Snowden, where Llewelyn the Great had a house. The Greyhound, named Gêlert, was given to him by his father-in-law, King John, in the year 1205; and the place to this day is railed Beth Gêlert, or the Grave of Gêlert.