The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies

by Robert Kirk, Andrew Lang (Introduction)

"Kirk is a magnificent dish to set before any student of either folk-lore or folk-psychology." — Times Literary Supplement

In the late 17th century, a Scottish minister went looking for supernatural creatures of "a middle nature betwixt man and angel." Robert Kirk roamed the Highlands, talking to his parishioners and other country folk about their encounters with fairies, wraiths, elves, doppelgangers, and other agents of the spirit world. Magic was a part of everyday life for Kirk and his fellow Highlanders, and this remarkable book offers rare glimpses into their enchanted realm.

Left in manuscript form upon the author's death in 1692, this volume was first published in 1815 at the behest of Sir Walter Scott. In 1893, the distinguished folklorist Andrew Lang re-edited the work. Lang's introduction to Kirk's extraordinary blend of science, religion, and superstition is included in this edition. For many years, The Secret Commonwealth was hard to find — available, if at all, only in scholarly editions. Academicians as well as lovers of myths and legends will prize this authoritative but inexpensive edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Folklore, Mythology, Fairies, History, Occult, Classics

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1815

About the author

Robert Kirk was a Scottish minister, Gaelic scholar and folklorist, best known for The Secret Commonwealth, a treatise on fairy folklore, witchcraft, ghosts and the second sight of the Scottish Highlands.

Reviews

[Nathanimal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect Susanna Clarke was influenced by this book when writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It could be a sourcebook for that novel’s bookish weirdness. The first half paints a world view that isn’t just magical, but uncanny. Tropes that may seem cliché, like the Changeling and the Doppelgänger, are somehow strange and even kinda scary, as though experiencing them for the first time. The subterraneans a.k.a. fairies, seemed to me like an expression of what was later called hysteria and automatism, those troubling incontinuities of self where we seem possessed or, in this book, replaced by a ‘co-walker’ or ‘reflex-man.’

The second half is fine, though much more sermon-like in tone. The magic, which Kirk goes to great lengths to defend on Biblical grounds, is more your workaday second-sight hocus-pocus. But you will be charmed by colorful words like wramp* and trake**, lynx-eyed and planet-struck. And in the final treatise you may be surprised by all the enchanting uses to which one can put spit and hair.

*to wrench or twist
** to wander idly

[Sarah Seele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y’all it’s basically a scientific report written by a Scottish minister (who, according to legend and apparently closely related eyewitnesses??? was stolen away by the fairies and appeared to his relative to tell him how to win him back from the fairies and then appeared at a christening to all assembled and his relative was so surprised he failed to do anything. Poor knockoff-brand-Tamlane Robert Kirk. Where was his Janet Byrd???) in the 1600s on fairies and the second sight. Like. He’s just collecting the facts and writing them down, folks. I love it.

Read this for research too - it didn’t touch on some of the things I was hoping it would (i.e., how does one get stolen away by the fairies? I guess this was written before the Reverend Kirk found that out, after all), but it was still great. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while anyhow, because what’s more fascinating than a Scottish minister writing a guidebook on the fair folk?

[Scott Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre, beautiful, and wonderful. I listened to this while doing odd jobs at work, and will need to go back through to read each chapter. Written like a natural essay, Kirk takes these accounts very seriously -- often comparing and contrasting Biblical and theological references of the spiritual world with these supposedly neutral beings.

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned that there are good fairies that will clean my house at night but didn't learn how to actually make that happen so kind of a letdown.

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book, courtesy of Project Gutenberg, simply because Philip Pullman mentioned it in his acknowledgements at the back of The Secret Commonwealth as having "been an inspiration in many ways, not least in reminding me of the value of a good title." The Reverend Robert Kirk, if one believes in such stories, disappeared one day when climbing a fairy hill leaving behind what was thought to be his corpse. He was actually taken by the Secret Commonwealth, the community of supernatural beings, into their world against his will.

The Reverend Kirk had one chance to return to the human world when he was allowed to appear as an apparition at the baptism of his child. If his friend, Grahame of Duchray, threw a knife over his ghostly head he would be revived into real life. Sadly, whether through shock at the Reverend's materialization or through wetting the child's head a little too liberally, Duchray forgot all about the importance of knife throwing. Reverend Kirk is still, one assumes, held in the timeless faery world.

There are a couple things Kirk mentions which may have inspired Pullman, other than the simultaneous existence of a world other than our own. The idea of daemons as spectral beings drawn from and attached to humans is discussed, though the nature of the beings is more that of doppelgangers rather than animals; and, while in Pullman's Secret Commonwealth, the essence of mysterious roses can be rubbed on the eyes to produce some form of mystical insight, Kirk gives accounts of something rather like fairy-dust which the people of faery can throw into the eyes of humans to distort or change what and how they see.

The original book, which seems to have existed only as a hand-written manuscript from the seventeenth-century, shows all the fascination clergymen had for antiquarianism and the gathering of folklore and folk tales. The importance was to collect such information in rural areas before they died out among the older generation. Education of the young was improving, science was developing and pointing to reasoned explanations rather than relying on superstition and, failing that, Christian preachers of various denominations were pushing to suppress the old lore and its ways and replace them with the true faith.

And then the Reverend Kirk goes and walks up a fairy hill. Serves him right.

[Xenophon Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardcore fantasy readers might find The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by Robert Kirk and Andrew Lang to be interesting reading. Lang, a nineteenth-century folklorist, had printed and wrote a long introduction to a seventeenth-century manuscript by Kirk.

Both parts are worth reading if you like the topic. The language is old, and by our standards the spelling is eccentric, but you will see where this little book has had an influence on contemporary fantasy. Definitely read the footnotes and make free use of Google.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating long essay on Scotland's metaphysical beings, including accounts from Scots about their interactions with them, with a introduction from the ever-brilliant Marina Warner, who we stan.

[Jeremy]

Online version here. Read a little bit about Kirk here. Apparently, David Bentley Hart has an essay on Kirk in A Splended Wickedness.

[Crystal King · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange, odd book, compiling the notes of a Scottish 17th century minister all about his parishioners’ many striking stories about elves, fairies, fauns, doppelgängers, wraiths, and other beings of, in Kirk’s words, “a middle nature betwixt man and angel.” He believed these views and set them forth in a manuscript that was found after he died in 1692.

[Benino · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very difficult book to review. Having languished in a manuscript form for a century, and having been written at a time when witchcraft was still an executionable offence, it might be easy to find fault with Kirk's archaic style, continual use of Scots gaelic, the confusing index, or his almost matter of fact tone. However, it is also remarkable that a Scottish minister should be so frank in his report of the nature of 17th Century beliefs, and give them a measured account, without contempt or disdain for the Elves, Fairies, Brownies and Spirits, or those who believe in them.

It is also refreshing to find these occurances placed with tradition and folklore but from Kirk's own voice and upbringing, relaying original conversations. The treatise is therefore much more than a retelling old wive's tales and superstition, but is a curious psychological investigation into the culture of reformation Scotland, and how beliefs persist in contradiction of and parallel to religion. Therefore, Kirk's accounts of the supernatural, as well as greatly influencing future writers of magical worlds, present a system of folklore that incorporates both genuine beliefs, and convenient but ludicrous alibis for social misadventure and mischief. It is therefore much more mysterious than the little box of tricks and tales it initially seems to be.

[Undomiel Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I misconceived what to expect from this; I expected these stories and viewings of Elves, Fauns and Fairies to be more fairytale-esque as opposed to a "factual" list of observations. An interesting source if like me you're interested in folklore and fairytales, particularly their origins, but definitely not a whimsical read like I anticipated.

[Norman Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting work. Obviously a predecessor of Charles Fort and John Keel.

[Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was quite interesting read this essay about this imagery topic. Sometimes it was difficult to read but in conclusion I enjoyed the book.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirk, a parson, wrote this book basically defending the belief in fairies, charms, and second sight that his parishioners had. He wanted to argue that you could be a good Christian and also believe in these kinds of other-world elements that were so pervasive in his community. He describes some of these beliefs and offers examples of specific instances and offers biblical references to back up his position (although some were a bit of a stretch).
It's VERY interesting and is considered to be a must for students of folklore.
The version I read was edited from the original manuscript by Stewart Sanderson. According to him, the version edited by Lang (which is the more famous and readily available one) has some problems where Lang made some assumptions that maybe he shouldn't have made. Do with that what you will.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting quick read. It was a little challenging at times to wade through the old English that was used, and I found the introduction to be long winded, but it was fascinating to read a document that was written in 1692. Although it wasn’t entirely what I was expecting, since I breezed through it in about 2 hours, it was well worth the time. I’m only giving it three stars because it wasn’t what the description had led me to believe and the introduction got on my nerves.

[Greg Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting wee book. A bit more meandering and interested in ‘second sight’ then I was looking for, and very little on the ‘secret commonwealth’. However, it does paint a distinct picture of the Highlands in the mid 1600’s.

[Max Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini review soon!

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished the Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies and all I got was boredom and confusion.

[Suzannah Rowntree]

A seventeenth century clergyman discusses folk belief in fairies, doppelgangers and the second sight. Interesting, brief, and potentially helpful for the historical fantasy novelist.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This manuscript was written by a priest in the 1640’s Scotland. It really took me a while to understand the meanings of things because of the old language. There was a glossary to help with some Scottish/Irish words. I found this fascinating.
Basically, he explained remedies for ailments using herbs, magic and superstition.
As for the fairies, etc, he claimed that some people have the gift to see them, and he explained what he knew about this fairy society, where their bodies are ethereal. Interesting. Pretty cool piece of historical writing.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a truly fascinating document: a collection of folk mythology collected by a Protestant priest in the 1600s. It reminds me of Dermot MacManus’ The Middle Kingdom, but with even more of curiosity and open-mindedness. Kirk really can’t say for sure if the fairies are real but he sure sounds like he thinks they are; he writes about them the way an anthropologist might, not a folklorist.

Some of the things I learned about for the first time:

The concept of a coimimechd or co-walker, like a guardian angel

‘[...] wounded at home when the astral bodies are stricken elsewhere (as the strings of a second harp tuned to a unison sound though only one be struck);’

‘With their weapons they also gon, or pierce, cows or other animals, usually said to be elf-shot, whose purest substance (if they die) these subterraneans take to live on, viz. the aerial and ethereal parts [...]’

‘The same knot is oft cast on a thread by sportful people when a party is marrying, and before the minister, which ties up the man from all benevolence to his bride, till they be loosed [...]’

‘Lychnobious: he that instead of the day useth the night and liveth as it were by the candle light.’

This is a lovely spell, I think:

‘As the wind turns about the hillock, thy evil turn from thee (O Allex, or such), a third part on this man, a third part on that woman, a third on waters, a third on woods, a third on the brown harts of the forest, and a third on the grey stones.’

There should have been more documentation of spells, methinks.

The writing is extremely dense for modern eyes – I flew through Marina Warner’s introduction but the text itself required a lot of me. Interesting, considering how low the literacy rates were at the time of writing, how closely he expected you to attend to each sentence!

He’s also quite wry:

‘[The Scottish-Irish] set about few actions all the year over without some charm or superstitious rite interwoven, which hath no visible natural connection with the affair about which ‘tis made to further it. Yet herein they have been taught of old, to keep them in an implicit obedience, still busy and yet still ignorant, every age transmitting such supposed-profitable folly and reckoning it a greater piaculum to neglect such, than to transgress God’s most holy and undoubted commandments. This is the secret.’

Some random Other People quotes I loved:

Yeats: ‘The lake is not burdened by its swan, the steed by its bridle, or a man by the soul that is in him.’

Isaiah 30.9-10: ‘This is a rebellious people, which say to the seers see not; and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things but smooth things.’

Overall a great resource for any fantasy-writer.

[Lewis Carnelian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The language here, no doubt due to the time, is a bit hard to follow, circuitous, obscure and ornate, but what comes across is a slim but fun attempt to organize the unorganizable: the Faerie Folk, but in a rather novel way (that the introduction is adroit in explicating), that of reconciling such Worlds of the Fae within a Christian cosmology, and not as a strict condemnation. It’s all rather loose, and less declamatory and more conjectural, which adds to its naif charm. My favorite parts were the language and style, which allows a certain imaginative zest, in terms of its antiquity, lore, and references. Also, the willful agnosticism and credence given imbibes the whole thing with a Barrie-esque charm (and by that I mean the writer of Peter Pan). Slim, but…fecund in many ways.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A late 17th manuscript embedded in a 19th century manuscript. The former was written by a clergyman trying to record some Scottish folklore and reconcile it with snippets of Biblical texts. The latter was written by a scholar interested in psychic phenomena, along with others of his time (which would include Arthur Conan Doyle). So, it's layered--oral tradition, anecdotal experiences of folks that both scholars talked with, and attempts to fit it all into a couple of different frameworks. That's what makes it interesting, not any coherence or narrative. There are some interesting insights, though. One item that impressed me was the observation that when Scots with Second Sight emigrated to the Americas they lost their abilities, suggesting that their talent for perceiving an otherwise unseen world and beings was tied to their natal land, not to some essential ability they could carry with them. The translation from printed book to ebook is a bit rough in that the old long s (google "long s" for explanation). In this rendition, it looks exactly the same as the letter f. So, it's slow going. That, and the old spellings based on Scottish pronunciation. But it's worth a look if you are interested in folklore, alternative ontologies/animism/conflation of space and time, or even if you are just interested in where Phillip Pullman got some of his ideas for "His Dark Materials."

[✮ mads ✮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is over 300 years old and remains relevant as an anthropological piece. it doesn’t fully conform to all we know nowadays (obviously), but the intersection of the mythical and the rational is what makes it so good. i love folklore, witchcraft, fairies, etc. even though this is simply another belief or interest one may have, it reminds us that we still know very little about our existence and the world we exist in…and i love that. reading something like this feels like finding a treasure!

[The Elves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather charming book...
dear lovers of faerie lore,

... and we like Matthews' interpretation of Kirk's original journal. The cover and the illustrations were a plus, and while some might object to the fact that Matthews re-imagined Kirk's work, that did not bother these elves. Some have also complained that he used some of the material from his channeled book The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworld, but that did not bother us, either. It is surely not a great or important addition to faery lore, yet it is, in many ways, a sweet one.

kyela,
the silver elves
authors of 31 books on elven magic and enchantment, including What an Elf Would Do: A Magical Guide to the Manners and Etiquette of the Faerie Folk

[Pluviostar ~ (Adriano) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trattato sui fenomeni soprannaturali, mescolate ad una catalogazione mentale e limitata secondo gli usi dell'epoca e il vissuto dell'autore. Essendo frutto di una mente educata al cattolicesimo, correlato da mitologie e credenze del vissuto celtico, questo scritto riporta pensieri personali ma anche pompati da un aspetto quasi visionario. A tratti sembra proprio qualcosa di inventato, eppure in parte potrebbe essere tutto vero.
Stando a quanto scritto il Popolo Gentile può realmente punire coloro che ne raccontano le reali vicende, quindi potrebbe anche essere stata una maniera (quella riportata da Kirk) per nascondere determinate realtà... forse per questo a tratti sembra un racconto di finzione pura.
Certamente fa parte di un bagaglio esperienziale e arricchisce il lettore, incuriosito dalle tematiche folkloristiche a monte. Non dovrebbe mai mancare nella libreria di uno studioso del genere.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very sweet little book, telling the story of a Reverend who discovers the way into fairyland and writes about the people, plants and places that he finds there. Only his presence seems to cause dissent amongst the fairy people and he has to decide which of his worlds he should choose.

This is a simple story - nothing exactly original or very exciting, but an ok read. The ending was purposely left open and 'mysterious', but I found it a bit of a let down. It's not really fully fleshed and so you can't really read it like a novel, but it was vaguely entertaining for a short while.

My edition is nicely presented, with some lovely sketches throughout. But I hated the font used. In an effort to make it look like handwriting, the publishers have managed to give me a mild headache!

An ok read, but not one I would return to again.

[Philippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the easiest read, but a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a tolerant, curious man whose writings on fairy lore have survived nearly 400 years, despite not being published in his lifetime.

I wish that Kirk had been a little *more* curious as to why seers were (apparently) seldom women. Possibly because women were more associated with witchcraft? I feel that Kirk's investigations suffered for his exclusion of women's experience, but this is still an interesting, valuable piece of work with a good introduction by Marina Warner.

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

So very boring. The subject matter - the curious nature of Scottish faeries and the faery faith of those that fear them - held tremendous potential, but this book fell far short of my expectations. It was dull and difficult reading, thanks to the 17th century grammar and vocabulary, and scattered with irrelevant Biblical quotes. If you want to learn about the faery faith, I would recommend Evan-Wentz's "The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries" over this one any day of the week. 'Tis a shame.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rev. Kirk gives a very good description of the Scottish underground Faerie world and why it is there instead of above ground. In 1692 the Faeries decided to introduce themselves to him so he could introduce them to the world. His adventures and misadventures are included, plus a good description of the different residents of Fairey world and how they live. This book is the first full copy of his journal found since he wrote it. John Matthews found and published in 2004.