to be strawberries of a delicious flavour. "Ah! (said he) I should have planted strawberries in my garden."

10. Some time afterwards, walking again in his brother's garden, he saw little berries of a milk-white colour, which hung down in clusters from the branches of a bush. Upon examination, he found they were currants, which even the sight of was a feast. Ah! (said he) I should have planted currants in my garden.

11. The gardener then observed to him, that it was his own fault that his garden was not as productive as his brother's. "Never for the future, (said Rufus) despise the instruction and assistance of any one, since you will find by experience, that two heads are better than one."

BERQUIN.

SECTION VI.

Cleopatra; or, the Reformed Little Tyrant.

1. A PERT little vixen, whose name was Cleopatra, was continually teazing and commanding her poor brother. "So you will not do what I bid you, Mr. Obstinacy! (she would often say to him) Come, come, sir, obey, or it shall be the worse for you."

2. If Cleopatra's word might be taken for it, her brother did every thing wrong; but on the contrary, whatever she thought of doing was the master-piece of reason and sound sense. If he proposed any kind of diversion she was sure to consider it as dull and insipid; but it often happened that she would herself the next day recommend the same thing, and having forgotten what she had said of it before, consider it as the most lively and entertaining.

3. Her brother was obliged to submit to her unaccountable whims and fancies, or else endure the most disagreeable lectures a little female tongue could utter. If ever he presumed to be so hardy as to reason with her on her strange conduct, instant destruction to his play things was the inevitable consequence.

4. Her parents with regret saw this strange and tyrannical disposition of their daughter, and in vain did every thing they could think of to break her of it. Her mother in particular, continually enforced on her mind, that such children never procured the esteem of others; and that a girl, who set up her own opinion against that of every one

else, would soon become intolerable and insupportable to all her acquaintance.

5. This prudent advice, however, made no impression on her stubborn heart; and her brother wearied out by her caprice and tyranny, began to have very little affection for her. It one day happened, that a gentleman of a free and open temper, dined at their house; he could not help observing with what a haughty air she treated her poor brother, and indeed, every other person in the room.

6. At first the rules of politeness kept him from saying any thing; but at last, tired out with her impertinence, he began, addressing his discourse to her mamma in the following manner.

7. "I was lately in France; `and I was fond of being present at the soldier's exercise. I used to go as often as I could to see their manœuvres on the parade, nearly in the same manner as here on the field days. Among the soldiers there were many I observed with whiskers, which gave them a very fierce soldier-like look. Now had I a child like your Cleopatra, I would instantly give her a soldier's uniform and put on her a pair of whiskers, when she might with rather more propriety than at present, act the part of a commander."

8. Cleopatra heard this, and stood covered with confusion! She could not help blushing, and was unable to conceal her tears. However, this reproach perfectly reformed her, and she became sensible how unbecoming was a tyrannizing temper. It has been observed, that to be sensible of our errors is half the work of reformation.

9. So it happened with Cleopatra, who with the assistance of her mother's prudent counsels, became an amiable girl.

10. Her reformation was a credit to her; and it is much to be wished that all young ladies, who take no pains to conquer their passions, would at least imitate Cleopatra, and wish to avoid being told, that a soldier's dress and a pair of whiskers would better become them than nice cambric frocks and silk slips. Had Cleopatra attended to the advice of her parents, and not have imagined that greatness consists in impertinence, she would have been happy much sooner than she was. BERQUIN.

11. There was a little stubborn dame,
Whom no authority could tame;

Restive by long indulgence grown,
No will she minded but her own;
At trifles oft she'd scold and fret,
Then in a corner take a seat,
And surly moping all the day,
Disdain alike to work or play.

12. Papa all softer arts had try'd,

And sharper remedies applied;

But both were vain, for every course
He took still made her worse and worse.
Mamma observ'd the rising lass

By stealth retiring to the glass;
On this a deep design she laid,
To tame the humour of the maid.
Contriving, like a prudent mother,
To make one folly cure another.
13. Upon the wall, against the seat
Which Cleo used for her retreat,
Whene'er by accident offended,

A looking-glass was straight suspended,
That it might show her how deform'd
She look'd, and frightful, when she storm'd;
And warn her, as she priz'd her beauty,
To bend her humour to her duty.

14. All this the looking-glass achiev'd,
Its threats were minded and believ'd.
The maid, who spurn'd at all advice,
Grew tame, and gentle in a trice;
So when all other means had fail'd,
The silent monitor prevail'd.

SECTION VII.

The Bird's Egg.

WILKIE.

1. LITTLE GREGORY was fond of walking in a wood which stood at a short distance from his father's house. The wood being young, the trees were consequently small, and placed very near to each other, with two or three paths between them.

2. As he was one day walking up and down, in order to rest himself a little, he placed his back against a tree whose stem was quite slender, and therefore all its branches shook as soon as it was touched. This rustling happened to frighten a little bird which sprung from a neighbouring bush, and flew into another part of the wood.

3. Gregory was vexed to think he had disturbed the bird, and fixed his eyes on the bush, in hopes of seeing it return. While he was thus attentively on the watch, he

imagined he saw among the twisted branches something like a tuft of hay. As his curiosity was raised to know what it was, he went up close to the hedge, and found this tuft of hay was hollow like a bowl.

4. On putting aside the branches, he saw something like little balls within it, which were spotted, and of an oval shape. They lay close to each other, on something very soft. "Bless me, (said Gregory) this must be certainly what I have heard some people call a bird's nest, and the balls must be eggs. They are indeed less than our eggs, but then our hens are larger than these birds."

5. He had some thoughts, at first, of taking away the whole nest; but upon second consideration, he contented himself with taking only one of the eggs, with which he instantly ran home. In the midst of his haste, he met his sister."See this little egg, (said he to her) I have just now found it in a nest in which were five others."

6. She desired to have it in her hand, examined it attentively, and then returned it to her brother. At last they began rolling it up and down a table, just as they would a ball. One pushed it one way and the other a different way, till at last they pushed it off the table, when it fell on the floor and broke. This set them a crying, and each mutually accused the other of being the cause of this sad disaster.

7. Their mother happening to hear them cry, came to inquire into the cause of it, when both began at once telling their sorrows; and having heard their different stories, she took them affectionately by the hand and led them to a tree, whose stately boughs afforded a pleasant shade to a verdant bank, on which they all sat down together.

8. "My dear children, (said their mamma) make yourselves easy. You have broken the egg between you, and that, to be sure is a misfortune; but it is of too trifling a nature to suffer it to make you so unhappy. After all, Gregory, there is some room for complaint against you, as it was an act of injustice to rob the poor bird of its egg.

9. "You must have seen how the hen places her eggs in a nest on which she sits to warm and animate them. In about three weeks, from the eggs proceed chickens, which pierce the shell, and in a few days come and feed out of your hand. This egg which you have just now broken, had you left it in the nest, would have become a sort of chick.

C

10. The bird you saw fly out of the bush, was probably the mother, which will, very likely, return again, to see what mischief you have done her, and perhaps she will forsake it altogether, which birds frequently do when disturbed.

11. "Though the loss is only a single egg, yet that perhaps will inform them that their habitation is discovered, when they have every thing to be afraid of from our violence. They guess, perhaps, that when their little ones shall be hatched, those that robbed them of an egg, will return and seize upon their infant family. If this nest you have been robbing, for I cannot call it any thing less than a robbery, should be on that account forsaken, I think you will be very sorry for it."

12. Gregory replied, that it would indeed give him much. uneasiness, and seemed very sorry that he had meddled with the egg. "But, said he to his mamma, I had not the least thought of what you have been telling me, nor did I suppose there could be any harm in bringing it to my sister, for it was principally on that account I took it."

13. His mamma replied, that she readily believed him; for she told him she was sensible, that he had too good a heart to wish to do mischief merely for the sake of tormenting others. Gregory was, indeed, a very good boy, and was remarkable for his duty to his parents, his tender attachment to his sister, and his universal benevolence to every one.

14. The little girl observed to her mamma, that the nest which her brother had shown her, did not, in any degree, resemble the swallows' nests which were seen about the corners of the windows of some houses.

15. "My dear, replied her mamma, every nest is not alike, any more than every bird, some being great and others little; some are never seen to perch on trees, while others are hardly ever out of them; some are bulky and inactive, others slim, and full of cunning and industry; the plumage of some is beautiful beyond description, with an amazing variety of colours, and others have a plain and homely appearance; some subsist on fruits, some feed upon insects, and many live by making a prey of, and devouring the smaller birds."

16. Here her little daughter exclaimed, "O, what wicked creatures! I am sure I should think it no crime to destroy the nests of such unnatural birds!"-" Very true, replied