Two of
them, a male and female, rather taller than the rest, were dignified
with a crown and sceptre. They took the kindest notice of me, smiled
upon me with great benignity, and seemed to assure me of their
protection. I was soothed and cheered by their presence, though after
all there was a sort of sinister and selfish expression in their
countenances which prevented my placing implicit confidence in them.
"Up to this time I had never doubted the real existence of these
phantoms, nor had I ever suspected that other people had not seen them
as distinctly as myself. I now, however, began to discover with no
little anxiety that my friends had little or no knowledge of the
aerial beings among whom I have spent my whole life; that my allusions
to them were not understood, and all complaints respecting them were
laughed at. I had never been disposed to say much about them, and this
discovery confirmed me in my silence. It did not, however, affect my
own belief, or lead me to suspect that my imaginations were not
realities.
"During the whole of this period I took great pleasure in walking out
alone, particularly in the evening. The most lonely fields, the woods,
and the banks of the river, and other places most completely secluded,
were my favorite resorts, for there I could enjoy the sight of
innumerable aerial beings of all sorts, without interruption. Every
object, even every shaking leaf, seemed to me to be animated by some
living soul, whose nature in some degree corresponded to its
habitation.
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