ged; but,

"Where the silver fountains wander,
Where the golden streams meander,"

amid the sunny meads and flower-bestrewn paths of fancy and
taste--there will she beguile us. Do not then, pray do not, forsake
me.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] On aurait de la peine a se persuader qu'une pareille opinion eut
ete mise gravement en question dans un concile, et qu'on n'eut decide
en faveur des femmes qu'apres un assez long examen. Cependant le fait
est tres veritable, et ce fut dans le Concile de Macon.

Probleme sur les Femmes, ou l'on essaye de prouver que
les femmes ne sont point des creatures
humaines.--_Amsterdam, 1744._

[2] As, for instance, the ancient Germans, and their offshoots, the
Saxons, &c.

[3] Southey's Life; vol. ii.

CHAPTER II.

EARLY NEEDLEWORK.

"The use of sewing is exceeding old,
As in the sacred text it is enrold:
Our parents first in Paradise began."

John Taylor.

"The rose was in rich bloom on Sharon's plain,
When a young mother, with her first-born, thence
Went up to Sion; for the boy was vow'd
Unto the Temple service. By the hand
She led him; and her silent soul the while,
Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye
Met her sweet serious glance, rejoic'd to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers,
To bring before her God."

Hemans.

In speaking of the origin of needlework it will be necessary to define
accurately what we mean by the term "needlework;" or else, when we
assert that Eve was the first sempstress, we may be taken to task by
some critical antiquarian, because we may not be able precisely to
prove that the frail and beautiful mother of mankind made use of a
little weapon of polished steel, finely pointed at one end and bored
at the other, and "warranted not to cut in the eye." Assuredly we do
not mean to assert that she did use such an instrument; most
probably--we would _almost_ venture to say most _certainly_--she did
not. But then again the cynical critic would attack us:--"You say that
Eve was the first professor of _needle_work, and yet you disclaim the
use of a needle for her."

No, good sir, we do not. Like other profound investigators and
original commentators, we do not annihilate one hypothesis ere we are
prepared with another, "ready cut and dried," to rise, like any fabled
phoenix, on the ashes of its predecessor. It is not long since w