sessed his mind, prevailed with him to bestow on
the little Brunetta (though foreseeing it would make her miserable) the
fatal gift in its full extent. But one restriction it was out of his
power to take off, namely, that all wicked designs ever could and should
be rendered ineffectual by the virtue and perseverance of those against
whom they were intended, if they in a proper manner exerted that virtue.

'I was born in two years after Brunetta, and was called Sybella: but my
mother was so taken up with her darling Brunetta, that she gave herself
nut the least concern about me; and I was left wholly to the care of my
father. In order to make the gift she had extorted from her fond husband
as fatal as possible to her favourite child, she took care in her
education (by endeavouring to cultivate in her the spirit of revenge and
malice against those who had in the least degree offended her) to
turn her mind to all manner of mischief; by which means she lived in a
continual passion.

'My father, as soon as I was old enough to hearken to reason, told me
of the gift he had conferred on my sister; said he could not retract it;
and therefore, if she had any mischievous designs against me, they must
in some measure succeed; but she would endow me with a power superior to
this gift of my sister's, and likewise superior to any thing else that
he was able to bestow, which was strength and constancy of mind enough
to bear patiently any injuries I might receive; and this was a strength,
he said, which would not decay, but rather increase, by every new
exercise of it; and, to secure me in the possession of this gift, he
likewise gave me a perfect knowledge of the true value of everything
around me, by which means I might learn, whatever outward accidents
befell me, not to lose the greatest blessing in this world, namely, a
calm and contented mind. He taught me so well my duty, that I cheerfully
obeyed my mother in all things, though she seldom gave me a kind word,
or even a kind look; for my spiteful sister was always telling some lies
to make her angry with me. But my heart overflowed with gratitude to my
father, that he would give me leave to love him, whilst he instructed me
that it was my duty to pay him the most strict obedience.

'Brunetta was daily encouraged by her mother to use me ill, and chiefly
because my father loved me; and although she succeeded in all her
designs of revenge on me, yet was she very uneasy, because she c