painfully, and I may say sinfully, agitated by envious feelings respecting each other, and by the vain desire of outshining and surpassing each other in those qualities which you esteem admirable in a human creature. Of the sinfulness of these feelings, my dear daughters (I continued), I need not speak; but on their folly I will enlarge, inasmuch as it seems that you are not aware of this folly. The Almighty is not so partial a parent that he has not bestowed some beautiful and excellent quality on each of his children. Look at the flowers in that blooming parterre which extends itself beneath the window! amongst these some attract the eye from a distance, some shed powerful odours in the air, some are endowed with healing qualities, some retire from the view and are only admirable when closely inspected; some excel in only one point, some in several, some in every quality attributable to the vegetable creation; but all are so exquisite in their way, so perfect in their conformation and their internal construction, that the utmost art of man would endeavour in vain to imitate the simplest, the most humble flower amongst them. Go forth into the forest

and observe the leaves of the trees; compare them one with another remark the delicacy of their texture, the infinite variety of their forms, and make a comparison, if it lies in your power, of the beauty of one with that of another; say, if you can, that one is worthy of admiration and another of contempt, that one is surpassingly fair and another despicably ugly. And such are each and all of you, my fair daughters; all and each of you have some beauty, some perfection, some lovely quality, external or internal, which sets you more on a par with each other than an inconsiderate observer would at first suppose: thus the rose of this parterre has no cause to triumph over the violet, neither has the tulip any occasion to envy the whiteness of the lily.

Having finished my exordium much to my own satisfaction, though I believe with little effect upon my audience, I withdrew, and that very evening met Madame Bulé at the chateau, where Madame la Baronne happening to mention that she intended to give an entertainment to the young ladies on the day of her fête (her birthday), Madame Bulé

thought it necessary to tell her the state of her family as it regarded the jealousies and rivalries which subsist among her pupils.

Madame la Baronne smiled at this state of affairs, and after some reflection said, Make my compliments to your young ladies, Madame Bulé, and invite them on my part to the chateau. Tell them that my fête this year is to be called the Feast of the Flowers, and that I shall expect each young lady to appear adorned with a garland or wreath of her favourite flower; adding, I shall bestow a crown on that young lady whose ornaments please me best; and lest, she added, that my taste should be disputed, there shall be a motto woven with the myrtle of which my crown is to be composed, which shall signify the rule by which I am to make my selection.

Madame Bulé assured Madame la Baronne that her message should be faithfully delivered; and I was very solicitous to know of the lady what was to be the import of her motto.

I assure you, father, she replied, that it shall be one you shall not dare to disapprove;

F

but lest you should give a hint to some little favourite you may have, I cannot tell you. I was therefore obliged, after having shrugged up my shoulders several times, to acquiesce in my ignorance.

Madame Bulé did not fail to inform the young ladies of the kind invitation of the Baronne; and the next day, when these young people had concluded their morning exercises, an envoy was sent to request my company at the collation, in order that I might be consulted respecting preparations for the Feast of the Flowers.

As soon as I arrived, various questions were put to me by one and by another, to many of which I was not able to answer.

To whom, said one, does Madame la Baronne mean to give the crown, father, to the one who has the fairest garland, or to the one whom otherwise she likes best?

With respect to the beauty of the garland, I answered, it might perhaps be hard to judge, tastes may differ, one person may think that no wreath can be compared to that which is formed of roses, whilst another perhaps might

prefer a garland of jasmine as being more elegant.

Then you do not suppose, said another of my inquirers, that she will bestow the crown on her who has the fairest wreath?

Indeed I cannot tell, I replied.

You are in the secret, we know, Father Raffré, said Mademoiselle Victoire, we are sure of it.

Well, it may be so, I answered; but you shall none of you be the better for my knowledge. I will for once keep what I know to myself.

Mademoiselle would have been angry at this, had I cared for her anger, but as I did not, she proceeded to discuss the choice of the garlands with her favourite pupils.

Each one was, it was understood, to select a different flower, and the eldest chose first; Susette chose the rose; Fanchon would, she said, be royal, and adorn herself with the fleur-de-lis; a third selected the jasmine; a fourth the white thorn. The laurel, the honeysuckle, the sweet scented clematis, the convolvulus, and the orange flower were none of