ou can be happy in such a habitation as this?" Adrian,
willing to ingratiate himself in her opinion, promptly replied, "Ah,
Madam, we shall be most happy to receive any favour from you. You, no
doubt, will always continue your generous kindness, and not desert us
like the treacherous Felicia."

"Presumptuous mortal!" answered Benigna, with a frown, "what right
have you or your sister to call Felicia treacherous? Did you not
obstinately persist in choosing the gifts she warned you against? And
did either of you practise the good precepts she gave you with them? Had
they been observed, you are conscious that you might still have been
rich, and Amaranthe handsome. But come," she added, observing the effect
her words had upon them, "be not alarmed. My design is not to arraign,
but to instruct. The fact is, my sister is not treacherous, but she is
injudicious. Her power is very limited, and the few gifts she has to
bestow, are more likely to ensnare than to benefit those whom she means
to serve. She gave you, indeed, good advice, but she could not endow you
with the good sense that would enable you to follow it. Even you, my
quiet Claribel, have not, I fancy, profited much by her favor. Say, were
you very happy in the possession of your lily?" Claribel, after
considering a little, answered, "I do not know that I was absolutely
happy. I was, indeed, always contented, as she promised I should be, and
never felt inclined to repine, or be vexed at any thing; but I do not
remember ever experiencing any particular pleasure." "No," returned the
fairy, "nor would any one under such circumstances. The content Felicia
bestowed on you, was not the happy result of a well-regulated mind,
satisfied with its own exertions, and the performance of those duties
incumbent on all rational beings. It was indolence, mistaken for a
virtue. A being endued with reason, of which it obeys not the dictates;
with faculties, of which it makes no use, but is content to occupy its
station in life without fulfilling the purposes for which it was placed
there, is scarcely less censurable than those who waste their time in
riot and dissipation. Others may reap some advantage from their follies,
but no benefit can be derived from a mere moving machine."

The vaunted favorite of Felicia found herself no higher in the esteem
of Benigna than her indiscreet cousins, and felt ready to sink under her
reproving eye; but, resuming her benevolent aspect, the fairy cont