to be found, even among the lowest orders, as articles of popular belief. They still serve, however, to decorate the regions of poetry and romance, and are still capable, through their metaphysical possibility, of exciting, under the direction of genius, very powerful and grateful emotions; while, at the same time, from the progress of every branch of science, their impression cannot now be such as to warp, in any inju rious degree, the powers of ratiocination.

No. IV.

Pauci dignoscere possunt

Vera bona, atque illis multum diversa, remota
Erroris nebula. Quid enim ratione fimemus,

Aut cupimus? Quid tam dextro pede concipis, ut to
Conatus non pœniteat, votique peracti?

Mark by man how little understood

Is the true path of evil or of good:

JUVENAL.

Error's deep shade o'erñangs our hopes and fears,
And prosperous fools repent their plans in tears.

HODGSON.

THERE was a country-woman, who, upon her intimacy with a fairy, desired her to come and assist at her labour. The good woman was delivered of a daughter; when the fairy (taking the infant in her arms) said to the mother, make your choice; the child, if you have a mind, shall be exquisitely handsome, excel in wit even more than in beauty, and be queen of a mighty empire; but, with all, unhappy: or, if you had rather, she shall be an ordinary, ugly, country creature, like yourself; but contented with her condition. The mother immediately chose wit and beauty for her daughter, at the hazard of any misfortunes.

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As the child grew, new beauties opened daily

in her face, till, in a few years, she surpassed all

the rural lasses that the oldest people had ever seen. Her turn of wit was gentle, polite, and insinuating; she was of a ready apprehension, and soon learned every thing, so as to excel her teachers. Every holiday she danced upon the green, with a superior grace to any of her companions. Her voice was sweeter than any shepherd's pipe, and she made the songs she used to sing.

For some time she was not apprised of her own charms; when, diverting herself with her play-fellows on the green flowery border of a fountain, she was surprised with the reflection of her face; she observed how different her features and her complexion seemed from the rest of the company, and admired herself. The country flocking from day to day to obtain a sight of her, made her yet more sensible of her beauty. Her mother, who relied on the predictions of the fairy, began already to treat her as a queen, and spoiled her by flatteries. The young damsel would neither sew, nor spin, nor look after the sheep; her whole amusement was to gather flowers, to dress her hair with them, to sing and to dance in the shade.

The king of the country was a very powerful

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king, and he had but one son, whose name was Florio; for which reason his father was impatient to have him married. The young prince could never bear the mentioning any of the princesses of the neighbouring nations; because a fairy had told him, that he should find a shepherdess more beautiful and more accomplished than all the princesses in the world. Therefore the king gave orders to assemble all the village nymphs of his realm who were under the age of eighteen, to make a choice of her who should appear most worthy of so great an honour. In pursuance of the order, when they came to be sorted, a vast number of virgins, whose beauty was not very extraordinary, were refused admittance; and only thirty picked out, who infinitely surpassed all others. These thirty virgins were ranged in a great hall, in the figure of a half moon, that the king and his son might have a distinct view of them together. Florella (our young damsel) appeared in the midst of her competitors, like a lily amongst marygolds; or as an orange tree in blossom shews, amongst the mountain shrubs. The king immediately declared aloud, that she deserved his crown; and Florio thought himself happy in the possession of Florella.

Our shepherdess was instantly desired to cast off her country weeds, and to accept a habit

richly embroidered with gold. In a few minutes she saw herself covered with pearls and diamonds, and a troop of ladies was appointed to serve her.

Every one was attentive to prevent her desires before she spoke, and she was lodged within the palace, in a magnificent apartment, where, instead of tapestry, there were large pannels of looking-glass from the floor to the cieling, that she might have the pleasure of seeing her beauty multiplied on all sides, and that the prince might admire her wherever he cast his eyes. Florio in a few days quitted the chace, and all the manly exercises in which before he delighted, that he might be perpetually with his mistress. The nuptials were concluded, and, soon after, the old king died. Thereupon Florella becoming queen, all the councils and the affairs of state were directed by her wisdom.

The queen-mother (whose name was Invidessa) grew jealous of her daughter-in-law. She was an artful, perverse, cruel woman; and age had so much aggravated her natural deformity, that she seemed a fury. The youth and beauty of Florella made her appear yet more frightful: she could not bear the sight of so fine a creature; she likewise dreaded her wit and understanding, and gave herself up to all the rage of envy.