Note 205 — BOOK III. (continued 2)
Reading edition
The disappearance of the Fairies, which Chaucer ascribes to the exercitation of the friars, a latter bard, in the same vein of irony, imputes to the Reformation:
By which we note the fairies, Were of the old profession; Their songs were Ave Marie's; Their dances were procession. But now, alas! they all are dead, Or gone beyond the seas; Or farther for religion fled, Or else they take their ease.
See "The Fairies Farewell," a lively little song, by the witty Bishop Corbet.