It was situated in the middle of a garden, laid out in excellent taste, and well stored with fruits, flowers, and shrubs of all kinds, bounded by verdant meadows, with a fine river passing through them, and the surrounding country richly cultivated, and luxuriantly beautiful.
Their conductress desired them to enter the house, where the first objects that met their view, were Ursula and Gabriel, who had been conveyed thither by the agents of the fairy, and who welcomed them with raptures of joy.
Benigna led them through the apartments which were sufficiently spacious for convenience, and fitted up with elegance and propriety. The last she introduced them into was, a library, furnished with a large collection of books, maps, globes, &c. “And now, my young friends,” said she, “do you think you 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 Amaranthé 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 continuing 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 whom and her children, he bequeathed his property, with an equal portion to his niece, Claribel. He consigned the deed of gift to that friend, exacting a promise from him, that he would deliver it only into your mother’s hands. You already know how he was prevented doing that; and when the priest, to whom he entrusted it, also died, I took care to secure the deed for the purpose of restoring it to your mother; but death defeated all our intentions.
“I should not have withheld your own property so long from you, had not my sister taken you so hastily under her protection; but as I surmised what the result of her patronage would be, I determined to reserve this resource against the hour of distress, to which I had little doubt her favours would reduce you. And now, my children, it only remains for you to make a right use of these valuable possessions. You have not boundless riches, but have sufficient to satisfy all your own reasonable wants, and to administer to the wants of your suffering fellow beings. I have furnished you with the means, as well as the desire of improvement. Let the remembrance of your past errors, and the folly of your first wishes, operate on your future conduct. Fail not to observe these injunctions, and you will secure the love and esteem of all whose good opinion you wish to obtain; and though I may never appear to you again, my attendant spirit and good offices shall not be withdrawn.”
So saying, the excellent fairy Benigna, casting on them all a look of maternal affection, again gently waved her powerful wand, and vanished!
The fairy indeed vanished, and the wand was seen no more; but their influence was still felt by the now happy and deserving orphans. They assiduously obeyed her commands in seeking knowledge and instruction and took care that their first study should be that volume to which she had directed their attention. There Adrian learned that “in Godliness is great riches,” and Amaranthé found in “the beauty of holiness”—that pure gratification and unabated happiness, that beauty of person, had no chance of bestowing. Claribel, by “faith and good works,” experienced content, accompanied by real enjoyment, instead of the negative satisfaction derived from her lily. She became as animated and active as she had before been indolent and helpless.