THE FAERY QUEEN. 181 



betwixt earth and heaven, when a slight noise brought us 

 down for a moment to our proper sphere ; yet hardly, for on 

 looking up we beheld, standing in the wake of a coloured sun- 

 beam, from which, on wings of gossamer, she seemed to have 

 just descended, an unexpected apparition of surpassing grace 

 and beauty. Titania's self, just stepped upon the moonlit 

 earth, could scarcely have stood poised on an unbroken flower- 

 stalk, in form more airy, in attitude more graceful, with coun- 

 tenance more radiant than those of Emily F , as, arrayed in 

 likeness of the Faery Queen, she thus burst upon our view, 

 and with an air half archly playful, half proudly triumphant, 

 enjoyed our bewildered surprise, and received the involuntary 

 homage of our admiration. 



We saw in a moment how the matter stood ; Emily was 

 really going to the fancy ball : and this, of the Queen of Fays, 

 was the fantastic and too bewitching costume she had chosen 

 to assume. Knowing her kind heart, and having believed 

 that its best affections had been gained by her estimable hus- 

 band, if not bestowed on him at first, we were vexed and dis- 

 appointed in our young relation, and felt it only right to give, 

 if we could, a check to her buoyant vanity, by letting her feel 

 the weight of our disapproval, shown, if not expressed. 

 " So I see, Emily," said I, in the coldest tone ; " I see, after 

 all, that you are going to this foolish ball." 



The beaming countenance of the beautiful sylph darkened 

 in a moment, like a cosmoramic landscape. " And why 



