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  [Illustration: Page 5.
  {Husband and wife in bed looking at white mouse}]




            _NEW JUVENILE LIBRARY._


                      The

                     STORY

                     of the

                  WHITE MOUSE.


                Embellished With
          _Four Elegant Copperplates._
          A New and Correct Edition.


                    LONDON:
          Printed for the Booksellers.
                     1816.




  The
  STORY
  of the
  WHITE MOUSE.


In the kingdom of Bonbobbin, which, by the Chinese annals, appears
to have flourished twenty thousand years ago, there reigned a prince,
endowed with every accomplishment which generally distinguishes the sons
of kings. His beauty was brighter than the sun. The sun, to which he was
nearly related, would sometimes stop his course, in order to look down
and admire him.

His mind was not less perfect than his body; he knew all things without
having ever read; philosophers, poets, and historians, submitted their
works to his decision; and so penetrating was he, that he could tell the
merit of a book by looking on the cover. He made epic poems, tragedies,
and pastorals, with surprising facility; song, epigram, or rebus,
was all one to him; though, it is observed, he could never finish an
acrostick. In short, the fairy who presided at his birth had endowed him
with almost every perfection; or, what was just the same, his subjects
were ready to acknowledge he possessed them all; and, for his own
part, he knew nothing to the contrary. A prince so accomplished,
received a name suitable to his merit; and he was called
_Bonbenin-bonbobbin-bonbobbinet_, which signifies Enlightener
of the Sun.

As he was very powerful, and yet unmarried, all the neighbouring kings
earnestly sought his alliance. Each sent his daughter, dressed out in
the most magnificent manner, and with the most sumptuous retinue
imaginable, in order to allure the prince; so that, at one time, there
were seen at his court, not less than seven hundred foreign princesses,
of exquisite sentiment and beauty, each alone sufficient to make seven
hundred ordinary men happy.

Distracted in such a variety, the generous Bonbenin, had he not been
obliged by the laws of the empire to make choice of one, would very
willingly have married them all, for none understood gallantry better.
He spent numberless hours of solicitude, in endeavouring to determine
whom he should choose. One lady was possessed of every perfection, but
he disliked her eye-brows; another was brighter than the morning-star,
but he disapproved her fong-whang; a third did not lay enough of white
on her cheek; and a fourth did not sufficiently blacken her nails. At
last, after numberless disappointments on the one side and the other, he
made choice of the incomparable Nanhoa, queen of the Scarlet Dragons.

The preparations for the royal nuptials, or the envy of the disappointed
ladies, needs no description; both the one and the other were as great
as they could be. The beautiful princess was conducted, amidst admiring
multitudes, to the royal couch, where, after being divested of every
encumbering ornament, he came more chearful than the morning; and
printing on her lips a burning kiss, the attendants took this as a
proper signal to withdraw.

Perhaps I ought to have mentioned in the beginning, that, among several
other qualifications, the prince was fond of collecting and breeding
mice, which being an harmless pastime, none of his counsellors thought
proper to dissuade him from; he therefore kept a great variety of
these pretty little animals in the most beautiful cages, enriched with
diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and other precious stones. Thus he
innocently spent four hours each day in contemplating their innocent
little pastimes.

But, to proceed, the prince and princess now retired to repose; and
though night and secrecy had drawn the curtain, yet delicacy retarded
those enjoyments which passion presented to their view. The prince
happening to look towards the outside of the bed, perceived one of the
most beautiful animals in the world, a white mouse with green eyes,
playing about the floor, and performing an hundred pretty tricks. He was
already master of blue mice, red mice, and even white mice with yellow
eyes; but a white mouse with green eyes, was what he long endeavoured
to possess: whereupon, leaping from bed, with the utmost impatience and
agility, the youthful prince attempted to seize the little charmer; but
it was fled in a moment; for, alas! the mouse was sent by a discontented
princess, and was itself a fairy.

It is impossible to describe the agony of the prince upon this occasion.
He sought round and round every part of the room, even the bed where the
princess lay was not exempt from the inquiry; he turned the princess on
one side and the other, stripped her quite naked, but no mouse was to be
found; the princess herself was kind enough to assist, but still to no
purpose.

"Alas!" cried the young prince in an agony, "how unhappy am I to be thus
disappointed! never sure was so beautiful an animal seen; I would give
half my kingdom and my princess to him that would find it." The
princess, though not much pleased with the latter part of his offer,
endeavoured to comfort him as well as she could; she let him know he
had an hundred mice already, which ought to be at least sufficient to
satisfy any philosopher like him. Though none of them had green eyes,
yet he should learn to thank Heaven that they had eyes. She told him
(for she was a profound moralist,) that incurable evils must be borne,
and that useless lamentations were vain, and that man was born to
misfortunes; she even intreated him to return to bed, and she would
endeavour to lull him on her bosom to repose; but still the prince
continued inconsolable; and, regarding her with a stern air, for which
his family was remarkable, he vowed never to sleep in a royal palace,
or indulge himself in the innocent pleasures of matrimony, till he had
found the white mouse with green eyes.

When morning came, he published an edict, offering half his kingdom, and
his princess, to that person who should catch and bring him the white
mouse with green eyes.

The edict was scarce published, when all the traps in the kingdom were
baited with cheese; numberless mice were taken and destroyed, but still
the much-wished-for mouse was not among the number. The privy council
were assembled more than once to give their advice; but all their
deliberations came to nothing, even though there were two complete
vermin-killers, and three professed rat-catchers, of the number.
Frequent addresses, as is usual on extraordinary occasions, were sent
from all parts of the empire; but, though these promised well, though in
them he received an assurance that his faithful subjects would assist in
his search with their lives and fortunes, yet, with all their loyalty,
they failed, when the time came that the mouse was to be caught.

The prince, therefore, was resolved to go himself in search, determined
never to lie two nights in one place, till he had found what he sought
for. Thus, quitting his palace without attendants, he set out upon his
journey, and travelled through many a desert, and crossed many a river,
high over hills, and down along vales, still restless, still inquiring
wherever he came, but no white mouse was to be found.

  [Illustration: Page 10.
  {Man kneeling before young witch}]

As one day, fatigued with his journey, he was shading himself from the
heat of the mid-day sun, under the arching branches of a Banana tree,
meditating on the object of his pursuit, he perceived an old woman
hideously deformed approaching him; by her stoop, and the wrinkles
of her visage, she seemed at least five hundred years old; and the
spotted toad was not more freckled than was her skin. "Ah! Prince
Bonbenin-bonbobbin-bonbobbinet," cried the creature, "what has led you
so many thousand miles from your own kingdom? What is it you look for,
and what induces you to travel into the kingdom of the Emmets?" The
prince, who was excessively complaisant, told her the whole story three
times over, for she was hard of hearing. "Well," says the old fairy,
for such she was, "I promise to put you in possession of the white mouse
with green eyes, and that immediately too, upon one condition." "One
condition," replied the prince in a rapture, "name a thousand; I shall
undergo them all with pleasure." "Nay," interrupted the old fairy,
"I ask but one, and that not very mortifying neither; it is only that
you instantly consent to marry me."

It is impossible to express the prince's confusion at this demand; he
loved the mouse, but he detested the bride; he hesitated; he desired
time to think upon the proposal. He would have been glad to consult his
friends on such an occasion. "Nay, nay," cried the odious fairy, "if you
demur, I retract my promise; I do not desire to force my favours on any
man. Here, you my attendants, (cried she, stamping with her foot,) let
my machine be driven up; Barbacela, queen of Emmets, is not used to
contemptuous treatment." She had no sooner spoken than her fiery chariot
appeared in the air, drawn by two snails; and she was just going to step
in, when the prince reflected that now or never was the time to be in
possession of the white mouse; and, quite forgetting his lawful princess
Nanhoa, falling on his knees, he implored forgiveness for having rashly
rejected so much beauty. This well-timed compliment instantly appeased
the angry fairy. She affected an hideous leer of approbation, and taking
the young prince by the hand, conducted him to a neighbouring church,
where they were married together in a moment. As soon as the ceremony
was performed, the prince, who was to the last degree desirous of seeing
his favourite mouse, reminded the bride of her promise. "To confess a
truth, my prince," cried she, "I myself am that very white mouse you saw
on your wedding night in the royal apartment. I now therefore give you
your choice, whether you would have me a mouse by day, and a woman by
night, or a mouse by night, and a woman by day." Though the