In solitarie rooms these uprores keep,
And beate at doores, to wake men from their slape,
Seeming to force lockes, be they nere so strong,
And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long.
Pots, glasses, trenchers, dishes, pannes and kettles.
They will make dance about the shelves and settles.
As if about the kitchen tost and cast,
Yet in the morning nothing found misplac't.
Others such houses to their use have fitted,
In which base murthers have been once committed.
Some have their fearful habitations taken
In desolate houses, ruin'd and forsaken."
In the account of our unfortunate hawking expedition, I mentioned an
instance of one of these sprites, supposed to haunt the ruined grange
that stands in a lonely meadow, and has a remarkable echo. The parson
informs me, also, that the belief was once very prevalent, that a
household Dubbie kept about the old farm-house of the Tibbets. It has
long been traditional, he says, that one of these good-natured goblins
is attached to the Tibbets family, and came with, them when they moved
into this part of the country; for it is one of the peculiarities of
these household sprites, that they attach themselves to the fortunes
of certain families, and follow them in all their removals.
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