and improved his appearance. Bedou then found himself possessed of gratitude. What did he not say to the Queen and Princess, to prove it on this occasion. Finally, by a stroke of the Queen's wand, the cabbages became men, the hen a woman. Prince Pink remained the only person discontented. He was sighing beside the Princess; he conjured her to take a resolution in his favour. At length she consented; she had never before seen any loveable object, and all that was most loveable was less so than this Prince. The Queen of the Woods, delighted at so fortunate a marriage, neglected nothing to make it sumptuous. The fêtes on this occasion lasted many years, and the happiness of this tender couple as long as they lived.
One might have guess'd, without a fairy's aid,
That Fortunée was born a throne to grace:
The brilliant virtues which adorn'd the maid
Proved she had sprung from an illustrious race;
For in her veins ran the high blood of worth,[1]
Virtue alone is true nobility.
O thou with nought to boast of but thy birth,
Learn from my page this lesson with humility.
Vainly thou vauntest that ancestral fame
Which makes thee hearer of a glorious name;
Vainly thou dreamest the purple robe of pride
Thy crimes can justify, thy follies hide.
The wise and good, whatever their estate,
Alone have claims to be accounted great.
Pomp, wealth, and power, without a noble mind,
No place in honour's spotless roll will find.
- ↑ I presume the "beau sang" to which the countess alludes, as the cause of the "brilliant virtues "of Fortunée, was entirely on the mother's side. The virtue of the poor queen is unquestioned, but that of her royal husband, who threatened to murder her if she did not bring him an heir to his crown, is scarcely of that class which we should call brilliant, even in an "antique Roman." The moral is an admirable one. Its only fault appears to me to be, that it has nothing to do with the story.
