The pic

ture of Azora.

hills before you,
you, you
you must go, to get to the
countries you mention.
you mention. We are an hundred
fouls in all that live here, and our mistress,
fuperior and head, is a young woman. Her
name is Azora. Yonder fhe comes, good-
nefs itself, and as it is now feven in the even-
ing, too late to proceed any farther in this
part of the world, you had better walk up to
her, and pay her your refpects. Great was
my surprise at what I heard. A little female
republic among those hills was news indeed :
and when I came near Azora, my astonish-
ment encreased.

She was attended by ten young women, ftraight, clean, handsome girls, and furpaffed them in tallness. Her countenance was mafculine, but not auftere: her fine blue eyes discovered an excellence of temper, while they fhewed the penetration of her mind. Her hair was brown, bright and charming; and nature had ftamped upon her cheeks a colour that exceeded the most beautiful red of the finest flower. It was continually as the maiden blush of a modeft innocence. She was dreft in a fine woollen ftuff, made in the manner fhepherdeffes are painted, and on her head had a band or fillet like what the ladies now wear, with a bunch of artificial flowers in her hair. She had a very small straw hat -In her hand, the held a long and pretty

on.

5

રે પ

pretty crook and as her coats were fhort,
her feet were feen, in black filk fhoes, and
the finest white stockings, and appeared vastly
pretty. She ftruck me greatly. She was a
charming, and uncommon figure. When I
came up to Azora, I could hardly forbear
addreffing her, as the fon of Ulyffes did the
fupernal, vous, qui que vous foiez,
mortelle ou deeffe (quoiqu'a vous voir on ne
puiffe vous prendre que pour une divinité)
feriez-vous infenfible au malheur d'un fils, qui
-Whoever you are, a mortal or a goddess,
though fure your afpect speaks you all divine,
can you, unmoved, behold a hapless fon, by
fate expelled, and urged by unrelenting rage,
to wander thro' the world, expofed to winds
and feas, and all the ftrokes of adverse for-
tune, till he arrived in this land of felicity
and peace?But on better thoughts, I
only faid, I am your most humble fervant,
Madam, and told her I believed I had loft
my way, and knew not where to go; -To
which the replied, you are welcome, Sir, to
our hamlet, and to the beft entertainment it
affords: only tell me, she added with a smile,
what could induce you to travel this unbeaten
road-and how did you pafs the precipices
and rivers you must have met with in the
way?
-Curiofity, Madam, (I answered)
was one caufe; that I might fee a country

no

no traveller had been in; and my next inducement, to find a valuable friend; who lives fomewhere upon the northern border of this county, or Yorkshire, or on the adjoining limits of Cumberland or Durham; but on which I know not; and as I came from Brugh under Stanemore, I judged it the fhortest way by a great many miles, and the likelieft to fucceed in my enquiry after my friend:then as to hills and waters, many dangerous ones I have gone over, and with great toil and fatigue have got thus far.

This (Azora faid) is a rational account of your journey, and as there are many difficulties ftill before you, you are welcome to rest with us till you are refreshed, and able to proceed.

By this time, we reached the grotto door, and upon entering the firft apartment, I saw another lady, dreft in the fame manner, and feemed to be of the fame age, that is, about fix-and-twenty, as I was told. This was Azora's companion and friend. She was a very pretty woman, tho' inferior to Azora in charms: but her mind was equally luminous and good. Neither the nor Azora were learned women, that is, they understood no other language than the English tongue, and in that they had but a fmall collection of the best books; but thofe few they had read well,

3

well, and they had capacities to think. In reafon, philofophy, and mathematics, they were excellent, and in the most agreeable manner, difcovered in converfation the finest conceptions of the most excellent things, Azora, of the two, was by much the best speaker, Her voice was delightful, and her pronunciation juft, ftrong, clear, and vari ous. With unspeakable pleasure did I liften to her, during three days that I happily paffed with her and her companion, and received from both many valuable informations. I thought I understood algebra very well, but I was their inferior, and they inftructed me; and on the fundamental points of religion, they not only out-talked me, but out-reasoned me. It is very strange, I confefs. It is very true, however.

Azora, in particular, had an amazing collection of the most rational philofophical ideas, and the delivered them in the moft pleafing drefs, with as much eafe as fhe breathed. She asked me, after I had feafted on an excellent fupper, how religion went on in the world; and what was the condition of that which came from fupernatural communication, as the phrafed it? and when I told her, that our excellent divines did all that was poffible for men to do, to turn the world from fuperftition of every kind to that express

exprefs revelation which reftores the dictates of uncorrupted reafon to their force and authority; which teaches the knowledge of one Supreme Spirit or God, and the nature of that worship which is due to a Being not confined to, or dependent upon, particular places, or circumstances; but always and every where prefent with us: fhe answered, that such clergymen are glorious, and cannot be enough admired; and great is the unreasonableness of the men who opposed them, and forced them into the field of difputation, from their holy labour of inftructing the people in penitential piety and fanctification: I mean the infidels and the bigots.

What can be more unjust and impious, (Azora continued) than for men to declaim against a revelation which difplays the paternal regard of God for his creatures, by doing inore than was strictly neceffary for their happiness, as they had his original law of reason before he gave them the gospel; and which enables us to extend our knowledge even as to those things which we are by nature capable of knowing; which awakens us to duty, and advises us how to walk in the ways of prudence and fafety. To reject fuch an extraordinary method of faving us, is fenfelefs and culpable indeed. Surely, when superstition and enthufiafm has led mankind into errors, we ought to adore the divine goodness

for