inuing
her discourse, said, "take courage, my children, you are none of you
irreclaimable, and may hope, by your future conduct, to make some amends
for past transgressions. The fault has not been so much in yourselves,
as in those whose duty it was to have prepared you for the trials and
temptations, that you had little chance of passing through the world
without encountering. Now, let me try if this wand cannot confer more
lasting happiness than the roses and hyacinths of my sister." So saying,
she waved it gently over their heads. In a moment, they all felt like
new-created beings. They seemed to awaken to a different sense of
existence. They became painfully sensible of their own deficiencies, and
of the deplorable want of education, yet the pain was alleviated by the
cheering influence of the light let in upon them, and the earnest desire
they felt for improvement.

"You are now," said Benigna, "all conscious of the folly and uselessness
of your past lives; and if my wand has done its duty, you are equally
willing to repair the evils they have been the cause of. As I before
said, you have been less to blame than others. You wanted instruction in
every thing, but the chief and most important instruction you wanted,
was--principle! Had that been properly inculcated into you, all the ills
that have befallen you, might have been avoided. In this apartment,
(looking round,) you will find store for your minds, and employment of
the most pleasing kind for your time; but this (placing her hand on a
very large volume that was on a desk before her) must be your first and
most assiduous study. In these writings you will find how unnecessary is
the aid of fairies to your welfare, when by humbly imploring that of the
all-powerful Being who never forsakes those who resort to him, you will
secure those endless blessings that magic has not to bestow.

"But you probably wish to know where you are. Learn then that this
abode, and the fortune annexed to it, is no gift of mine; it is the
bequest of your uncle, who died in a foreign country. He, as well as the
rest of her friends, disapproved of his sister's connexion with a person
who had always conducted himself very ill towards him; and when the
marriage took place, his resentment was so great, that he forsook his
native country, accompanied by the friend whose return to it cost you
the loss of your parents. On his death-bed, your uncle's heart relented
in favour of his sister, to