is another employment, to which the attention of the fair has
been directed from the remotest times. Specimens of Egyptian network,
performed three thousand years since, are still in existence; and, from
that time, the art, in connection with that of spinning flax, was there
carried to its highest state of perfection. With these specimens, are
preserved some of the needles anciently used in netting. They are to be
found in one of the museums at Berlin. The Egyptian nets were made of
flax, and were so fine and delicate, that according to Pliny, "they
could pass through a small ring, and a single person could carry a
sufficient number of them to surround a whole wood. Julius Lupus, while
governor of Egypt, had some of these nets, each string of which
consisted of one hundred and fifty threads." But even this fineness was
far exceeded by the thread of a linen corslet, presented by Amasis, king
of Egypt, to the Rhodians, the threads of which, as we learn from the
same authority, were each composed of three hundred and sixty-five
fibres. Herodotus also mentions a corslet of a similar texture.

In connection with other elegant female accomplishments, netting has
continued to claim the attention of the ladies of Europe, in every
advanced state of civilization, and, in the present day, is cultivated
with considerable success. Netting was a favorite employment of the late
Queen Charlotte, during the latter years of her life.

[Illustration]

PLAIN NETTING.--Take the mesh in the left hand, (having previously made
a long loop with twine, and fixed it to any convenient support,) between
the two first fingers and the thumb. The netting needle must be threaded
with the material, and fastened by a knot to the long loop before spoken
of, and the mesh must be held up as close as possible to this knot
_under_ the twine. The silk is to be held in the right hand between the
fore finger and the thumb and must be passed under and around the left
hand, so that the material may be formed into a slack loop, passing over
all the fingers, except the little one. In this position, the silk must
be held between the upper side of the mesh and the left-hand thumb, and
the needle must be passed back, round the pin or mesh, allowing the
material to form a larger loop, so as to include the little finger. The
needle will thus be brought round, in front of the mesh, and must pass
under the first loop, between the mesh and the fingers, and thus through
th