ied. A neighbour, whose numerous "olive
branches" caused her to have a full share of matronly employment,
hastened to possess herself of this domestic treasure, and gathered
round her the weekly accumulation of sewing, not doubting but that
with her new ally, the wonder-working needle, the unwieldy work-basket
would be cleared, "in no time," of its overflowing contents. But even
the all-powerful needle was of no avail without thread, and she
forthwith proceeded to invest it with a long one. But thread it she
could not; it resisted her most strenuous endeavours. In vain she
turned and re-turned the needle, the eye was plain enough to be seen;
in vain she cut and screwed the thread, she burnt it in the candle,
she nipped it with the scissars, she rolled it with her lips, she
twizled it between her finger and thumb: the pointed end was fine as
fine could be, but enter the eye of the needle it would not. At
length, determined not to relinquish her project whilst any hope
remained of its accomplishment, she borrowed a magnifying glass to
examine the "little weapon" more accurately. And there, "large as life
and twice as natural," a pearly gem, a translucent drop, a crystal
_tear_ stood right in the gap, and filled to overflowing the eye of
the needle. It was weeping for the death of its old mistress; it
refused consolation; it was never threaded again.

We give this incident on the testimony of a gallant naval officer; an
unquestionable authority, though we are fully aware that some of our
readers may be ungenerously sceptical, and perhaps even rude enough to
attempt some vile pun about the brave sailor's "drawing a long yarn."

If, however, Gammer Gurton's needle resembled the one we have just
referred to, and that, too, at a time when a needle, even not
supernaturally endowed, was not to be had of English manufacture, and
therefore could only be purchased probably at a high price, we cannot
wonder at the aggrieved feelings of her domestic circle when the
catastrophe occurred which is depicted as follows:--The parties
interested were the Dame Gammer Gurton herself; Hodge, her farming
man; Tib, her maid; Cocke, her boy; and Gib, her cat. The play from
which our quotation is taken is not without some pretensions to wit,
though of the coarsest kind: it is supposed to have been first
performed at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1566; and Warton observes
on it, that while Latimer's sermons were in vogue at court, Gammer
Gurton