Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

-- Hamlet, I i


Saint Francis and Saint Benedight
Bless this house from wicket wight,
From the night-mare and the goblin
That is hight good fellow Robin;
Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weazles, rats, and ferrets:
From curfew-time
To the next prime.

-- "Cartwright," quoted in Washington Irving, The Sketchbook, "Christmas Eve"