First Sentence

"A BELIEF in the existence of fairies, or imaginary beings of diminutive stature, exquisite beauty, and unvarying benevolence, and, according to the poetical mythology of Southern Europe, constant frequenters of the haunts of men, appears to have been established in Europe in the dark ages, and may possibly have been borrowed either, through the Jews, from the Arabs in Spain, or, through the crusaders, from Syria and the Holy Land."