rubbing it bright; for as he could not succeed in five minutes, down he flung it in despair.

"What do you cry for, my pretty master?" said a man in a fine coat, who was passing by. George told him his distress. "Be comforted," said the man; "I will give you a gold key set with emeralds, that shall be better by half, and fitter for a young gentleman of your rank, than that old woman's rusty iron."

Just then, George, who did not want cleverness, began to suspect something; and smelling to his violets, the fine man appeared in his true shape, which was, indeed, no other than that of the ma gician Pride. He was immoderately tall and bloat

ed; his eyes were fierce and malignant; his cheeks were painted; a peacock sat upon his head; a bear and a leopard followed him in one hand he held an empty bladder, and in the other a fatal wand; his under vest was stained and ragged, but over it he had a pompous herald's coat, with a long train, supported by an ugly dwarf and a limping idiot, whom he turned back continually to insult and abuse. Well was it for little George that his violets had rendered him invisible: he saw the magician go on to one of his companions, who being destitute of such a defence, immediately became his prey. "Take this nosegay, my child," said the wicked wretch, and presented him with a bunch of nettles finely gilded, but very stinging. The poor boy had no sooner touched them, than his countenance expressed pain; he quarrelled with every body round

him; yet the simpleton kept continually smelling to his nosegay, and the more he was nettled the more quarrelsome he grew: his size too increased in proportion; he became swelled and bloated: he grew tall, too tall at once, but it was only by being raised to an enormous pair of stilts, on which he could not walk a step without danger of tumbling down.

George could not help laughing at his ridiculous figure, but would, out of good nature, have offered him his own bunch to smell to, if those unfortunate stilts had not raised him quite out of his reach: he, therefore, was making the best of his way back, having first secured his key, when a laughing giddy. hoyden called out to him that she had found a bird's nest. Away with her he ran upon this new pursuit; and from bird's nest to bird's nest, and from butterfly to butterfly, they scampered over the flowery fields till night drew on: she then persuaded him to go with her to her mother's house, which was just by, and rest himself,

He found there a lady lolling in an easy chair, who scarce raised her head to bid him welcome. A table, however, stood by her ready spread with every kind of dainty, where Idleness, for so was his playfellow called, invited him to sit down; and after supper he was conducted into a chamber set round with shelves of playthings, where, in a soft down bed, he slept till very late the next day. At last, though unwillingly, he got up; but for no better purpose than to look over those worthless

toys which he half despised all the while. "What," thought he, "is this tinsel, and glass, and wood, to compare with the rich treasures of the old fairy's castle? Neither the old woman here, nor the simpleton her daughter, will answer me a question I ask, nor divert me with such stories as the very pictures and statues there were full of." Thus thinking, he continued, nevertheless, to divert himself with the playthings, and was growing fast back into the love of rattles and bells, when a sudden panic seized him on seeing in the corners of every shelf fillagree cages full of dormice. "Miserable boy that I am!" cried he, "this must certainly be the den of Laziness! How shall I escape ?" He tried to stretch his wings; but alas, they drooped, and now, for the first time, he found and lamented the want of his spur. He ran to the windows: every prospect from thence was desolate and barren, resembling exactly what he had read in his rubyclasped book of the field of the sluggard.

In vain did he look for the holydays to transport him from this wretched place: the last of them was already on the wing, and almost out of sight; for it is peculiar to these little beings to approach slowly, but to fly away with amazing swiftness. However, he met with assistance where he least expected it: a dismal cloud hung almost over his head, which he feared would every minute burst in thunder; when out of it flew a black eagle, who seized little George in her talons, and in a moment he found himself at the gates of the castle of Instruction.

Perhaps you may not think his case now much better than it was before. A little dormouse could have lain snug and warm in cotton; whereas poor George was forced to stand in the cold, among thorns and briers, vainly endeavouring to read the inscription on his key, which was now, alas, grown rustier than ever. In the mean time, he saw most of his companions, his friend Henry one of the foremost, fly over his head, while their polished keys glittered like diamonds; and all of them were received into the apartments they came out of, with joyful acclamations. The boy upon stilts, indeed, did not make so good a figure: he reached up to the window, but his false key would not open it; and making a false step, down he tumbled into the dirty pool.

At this minute the old fairy looked out, and calling to George, "Why do not you, my child," said she, "make use of your wings and your key? I am impatient to have you amongst us again, that you may receive finer gifts, and see greater wonders than any you have ever met with yet."

Here a woman came to him, clothed in hareskins and shivering with an ague: she touched him with a cold finger that chilled his blood, and stammered out these terrifying words: "D d' ont g go int t to the ccastle : P punishment is r ready for r y you; r run away."

"Scorn punishment, and despise it," said Foolhardiness, a little pert monkey in a scarlet coat, and mounted upon a goose.

"Fear Disgrace," said Shame; and with a rosebush which she carried, brushed the monkey into the dirty pool, where he lay screaming and chattering, while his goose hissed at him.

Poor George knew not what to do. It once came into his head to make a plausible excuse, and say his key was very bright, but the lock was out of order but bethinking himself to apply to his glass, he no sooner saw the ass's ears, than, in honest distress, he called out, "O Truth, Truth, come to my assistance: I have been very idle, and I am very sorry. Truth, Truth, come to my as

sistance."

He fainted away with terror as he spoke, but when he recovered, found himself within the castle, the bright figure of Truth smiling upon him; and Forgiveness, another very amiable form, distinguished by a slate and a sponge, with which she wiped out all faults, caressing him. Indeed she had need, for he felt himself a little stiff and sore with some rough methods that had been used to bring him to himself. These two nymphs consigned him to the care of Amendment, who promised never to forsake him till he got to the top of the castle; and, under her guidance, he went on very cheerfully.

Indeed, he was a little vexed at the first steps he came to, on finding himself struck pretty hard by an angry looking man; but when he found that it was only in order to return him his staff and, his spur, he thanked him for his friendly blow, and