madam,' I replied: "if you would be satisfied of what I say (every word of which is as true as that my boat now is in the lake), pray walk with me thither, and make your own eyes judges what sincerity I speak with.' To this she agreed, it growing dusky; but assured me, if I did not give her good satisfaction, I should see her no more.

"We arrived at the lake; and going to my wetdock, 'Now, madam, pray satisfy yourself whether I spoke true or no.' She looked at my boat, but could not yet frame a proper notion of it till I stepped into it, and, pushing from the shore, took the oars in my hand, and sailed along the lake by her as she walked on the shore. At last she seemed so well reconciled to me and my boat, that she desired I would take her in. I immediately did so, and we sailed a good way; and, as we returned to my dock, I described to her how I procured the water we drank, and brought it to the shore in that vessel.

666

"Well,' said she, 'I have sailed, as you call it, many a mile in my lifetime, but never in such a thing as this. I own it will serve, where one has a great many things to carry from place to place; but to be laboring. thus, when one intends pleasure in sailing, is in my mind most ridiculous.' — 'Why, pray, madam, how would you have me sail? for getting into the boat only will not carry us this way or that, without using some force.' 'But, pray, where did you get this boat, as you call it?'- 'O madam!' I answered, 'that is too long a story to begin upon now; but I will make a faithful relation of all to you when we get home.'

*

"I now perceived, and wondered at it, that, the later it grew, the more agreeable it seemed to her; and, as I had now brought her into a good humor again by seeing and sailing in my boat, I was not willing to prevent its increase. I told her, if she pleased, we would land; and, when I had docked my boat, I would accompany her where and as long as she liked. As we talked and walked by the lake, she made a little run before me, and sprung into it. Perceiving this, I cried out; whereupon she merrily called on me to follow her. The light was then so dim as prevented my having more than a confused sight of her when she jumped in; and, looking earnestly after her, I could discern nothing more than a small boat on the water, which skimmed along at so great a rate, that I almost lost sight of it presently: but, running along the shore for fear of losing her, I met her gravely walking to meet me, and then had entirely lost sight of the boat upon the lake. This,' accosting me with a smile, is my way of sailing, which, I perceive by the fright you were in, you were altogether unacquainted with; and, as you tell me you came from so many thousand miles off, it is possible you may be made differently from me; and I suspect from all your discourse, to which I have been very attentive, it is possible you may no more be able to fly than to sail as I do.' — 'No, charming creature! that I cannot, I'll assure you.' She then stepped to the edge of the lake, for the advantage of a descent before, sprung up into

6

* Peter subsequently learns, that, in the regions of the Flying People, it is always twilight, which makes them tender-eyed in places where the day is brighter.

the air, and away she went, farther than my eyes could follow her.

"I was quite astonished: but I had very little time for reflection; for, in a few minutes after, she alighted just by me on her feet.

"Her return, as she plainly saw, filled me with a transport not to be concealed, and which, as she afterwards told me, was very agreeable to her. Indeed, I was some moments in such an agitation of mind from these unparalleled incidents, that I was like one thunder-struck; but coming presently to myself, and clasping her in my arms with as much love and passion as I was capable of expressing, 'Are you returned again, kind angel!' said I, 'to bless a wretch who can only be happy in adoring you? Can it be, that you, who have so many advantages over me, should quit all the pleasures that Nature has formed you for, and all your friends and relations, to take an asylum in my arms? But I here make you a tender of all I am able to bestow, my love and constancy.'-'Come, come,' replied she, 'no more raptures. I find you are a worthier man than I thought I had reason to take you for; and I beg your pardon for my distrust, whilst I was ignorant of your imperfections: but now I verily believe all you have said is true; and I promise you, as you have seemed so much to delight in me, I will never quit you, till death, or some other fatal accident, shall part us. But we will now, if you please, go home: for I know you have been for some time uneasy in this gloom, though agreeable to me; for, giving my eyes the pleasure of looking eagerly on you, it conceals my blushes from your sight.'

"In this manner, exchanging mutual endearments and soft speeches, hand in hand, we arrived at the grotto."

The author here proceeds to give an account of his nuptials; which, though given in the very best taste of the time, and evincing great purity, as well as pleasurability of nature, is better left in its place than brought forward out of the circumstances which invest it.

But are not such of our readers, as did not know her before, glad of their new acquaintance?

ENGLISH AND FRENCH FEMALES.

Their Costumes and Bearing.

HE writer of the following letter is very unmerciful on the ribbons, plumes, and other

enormities of the present mode of dress; and, having torn these to pieces, proceeds to rend away veils and gowns, and fall plumb down upon the pretty feet of the wearers, and their mode of walking: but when our fair readers see what he says of their faces, and call to mind how Momus found fault with the steps of Venus herself, we trust they will forgive his fury for the sake of his love, and consider whether so fond an indignation does not contain something worth their reflection.

FRENCH LADIES VERSUS ENGLISH.

To the Editor.

SIR,It is Mrs. Gore, I think, in one of her late novels, who says that ninety-nine English women out of a hundred dress infinitely worse than as many French; but that the hundredth dresses with a neatness, elegance, and propriety which is not to be paralleled on the other side of the channel. On my relating this to a fair relation of mine, she replied, "Very true: only I never saw that hundredth." Nor has any one else.

Without exception, the English women wear