Drake's claim to association with the Hudson River rests on his beautiful and imaginative creation, The Culprit Fay, which was composed among the Highlands in the same year that saw the production of the " Croaker" papers and of Fanny. The story goes that while walking with some friends, one of them remarked to the poet that, without the introduction of human characters it would be next to impossible to write a purely imaginative fairy poem. Drake accepted this as a challenge, and in a very short time submitted to his associates the manuscript of the work upon which rests his principal title to fame. The scheme or plot of TJic Culprit Fay is familiar. A fairy has stained his wings and lost the light of his torch by falling in love with a mortal maid. The decree of the King is that he must wash the stain away with a drop of water, caught in a colen-bell from the spray scattered on the river by the leap of a sturgeon. The torch must be relighted by a spark from a meteor. Some of the descriptions are exquisite, as in the lines:

Onward still he held his way. Till he came where the column of moonshine lay. And saw beneath the surface dim The brown-back'd sturgeon slowly swim; Around him were the goblin train --

Literary Associations of the Hudson 259

But he scull'd with all his might and main, And follow'd wherever the sturgeon led, Till he saw him upward point his head ; Then he dropp'd his paddle blade. And held his colen-goblet up To catch the drop in its crimson cup.