[25] See Grimm’s “Deutsche Mythologie.”

[26] Thoms’s “Three Notelets on Shakespeare,” 1865, pp. 38, 39.

[27] See Keightley’s “Fairy Mythology,” 1878, p. 208.

[28] See also Thorpe’s “Northern Mythology,” 1852, vol. iii. p. 32, etc.

[29] Gunyon’s “Illustrations of Scottish History, Life, and Superstitions,” p. 299.

[30] Chambers’s “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 671.

[31] Among the various conjectures as to the cause of these verdant circles, some have ascribed them to lightning; others maintained that they are occasioned by ants. See Miss Baker’s “Northamptonshire Glossary,” vol. i. p. 218; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 480-483; and also the “Phytologist,” 1862, pp. 236-238.

[32] Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 112.

[33] Ritson’s “Fairy Mythology,” 1878, pp. 26, 27.

[34] Quoted by Brand, “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. ii. p. 481.