The Young Lady's Book. 315 



around them look dim by the mefaUic lustre of their plumage : — 

 all these remind me of sciences which are apphcable to the study 

 of young ladies; — I have made a ' prief of it in my note-book;' 

 and introductory papers on Botany, Mineralogy, Conchology, 

 Ornithology, and Entomology, have been the consequence.' 



' Then there is some probabilit}^, — as, of course, I shall have 

 the work,' said Lady Mary, ' that ere long I may know something 

 of two sciences, of which, although they are represented in my 

 boudoir, I am now altogether ignorant.' 



' One of them, I know,' said Penelope, 'is Mineralogy ; and I 

 must confess it surprises me that it should never have attracted 

 your favorable notice. If minerals were only to be seen in mines,' 

 she continued, ' it would be a different case; but they have, for 

 years, been mutely pleading to you in their own behalf: they meet 

 your view on all sides; many of them even in a native state. They 

 contribute essentially to our comfort, and add to our splendor: 

 they embeUish the lofty domes and high places which are the pride 

 of our country, and passively contribute to its defence: they adorn 

 our parlors and our persons: some of them are almost indispensa- 

 ble even to the cottager's v/ife; while others sit enthroned on the 

 brows of royal beauty, exceeding all beneath ' the Lady Luna and 

 her silvery train' in brilliancy, and equalling the chaplet with which 

 Flora would bedeck herself, in richness and variety of hue ; and 

 although they possess not the fragrance of the rose-bud, nor the 

 graceful form of the lily, their durability exalts them to a higher 

 value than that of the most lovely flower that basks in the noon- 

 tide ray, or blooms in the shade. The snowdrop melts away al- 

 most as soon as the white mantle that covers its birth-place ; the 

 violet delights our eye in the morning, and is withered by sunset ; 

 the queen of flowers endures but for a brief period, and there are 

 few of her subjects hardy enough to bear the scorching glance of 

 a summer sun, and the chill breath of winter: but a diamond en- 

 dures for ages, and is brilliant and beautiful at all times and in all 

 seasons; the ruby outlives a thousand generations of roses; and 

 the holly and the laurel are ephemeral, compared with the eme- 

 4-ald.' 



Lady Mary was rather surprised at the unusual enthusiasm of 

 Penelope; without, however, waiting to make any remark upon 

 her cousin's poetical style of speaking, she placed her hand upon 

 Penelope's bracelet, and begged to interrupt her oration in favor 

 of the mineral world for a few moments, by ofTering a short plea 

 on behalf of the subjects of Flora. ' You must, I am sure,' said 

 she, ' however warmly you may be attached to your pet science, 

 allow that flowers have one great advantage over minerals;— the 



