Research source

BY my Lord’s good Leave, I presume to say, that this Sight can be no Quality of the Air nor of the Eyes;…

Date of account: Written 1691; later edited edition
Source: The secret commonwealth of elves, fauns & fairies
Reference: The secret commonwealth of elves, fauns & fairies · selected passage 56
Rights: public_domain
Language: English/Scots historical text
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

BY my Lord’s good Leave, I presume to say, that this Sight can be no Quality of the Air nor of the Eyes; becaus, 1

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

6. BY my Lord’s good Leave, I presume to say, that this Sight can be no Quality of the Air nor of the Eyes; becaus, 1. such as live in the same Air, and sie all other Things as farr off and as clearly, yet have not the SECOND SIGHT. 2. A SEER can give another Person this Sight transiently, by putting his Hand and Foot in the Posture he requires of him. 3. The unsullied Eyes of Infants can naturally perceave no new unaccustomed Objects, but what appear to other Men, unless exalted and clarified some Way, as Ballaam’s Ass for a Time; tho in a Witches Eye the Beholder cannot sie his own Image reflected, as in the Eyes of other People; so that Defect of Objects, as well as Diversities of the Subject, may appear differently on severall Tempers and Ages. 4.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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