with the power of taking the borrowed form of their progenitor, under certain circumſtances and for certain purpoſes. In the three quarters of the globe there ariſe from the boſom of the earth three fountains, uſed by the genii of the air as baths, and endowed with the power of perpetuating the youthful charms of the fair inhabitants of the upper ſky, whom we know under the name of fairies, and our anceſtors worſhipped as goddeſſes. Theſe ſprings exert the ſame power on all the mortal beauties, who date their deſcent from the interpoſition of any genius or fairy, provided they bathe once every year, at the ſeaſon of the ſummer ſolſtice. But as the waters riſe in far diſtant climes, and only that branch of the fairy nobleſſe which were hatched from mother Leda’s egg has been furniſhed with wings, few can reap the benefit of their hereditary privilege, the greater part fade away like mortal‘flowers,
