length the assiduity of her friends and the consolations of religion had their due weight, and she gradually recovered her spirits and her peace of mind.

In 1773, Mrs. Chapone published her "Letters on the Improvement of the Mind," addressed to her favourite niece, the eldest daughter of the Rev. John Mulso. The work was most favourably received, and soon became extensively circulated. It is, indeed, "one of the best books that can be put into the hands of female youth; the style is easy and pure, the advice practical and sound, and the whole uniformly tends to promote the purest principles of morality and religion." In 1775, she published her "Miscellanies in Prose and Verse," in one volume. the poems of this volume, which were, for the most part, the productions of her early life, the best is the "Ode to Solitude," which we append. This was the last work she published. From this time she was called almost every year to mourn the loss of some near and dear friend. Towards the close of the century her faculties began to decay, and she died at Hadley, on the 25th of December, 1801.

ODE TO SOLITUDE.

Thou gentle nurse of pleasing woe,

To thee, from crowds, and noise, and show,
With eager haste I fly;

Thrice welcome, friendly Solitude,
O let no busy foot intrude,

Nor listening ear be nigh!

Soft, silent, melancholy maid,
With thee, to yon sequester'd shade,
My pensive steps I bend:
Still at the mild approach of night,
When Cynthia lends her sober light,
Do thou my walk attend!

To thee alone my conscious heart
Its tender sorrow dares impart,
And ease my lab'ring breast;
To thee I trust the rising sigh,
And bid the tear that swells my eye
No longer be supprest.

With thee among the haunted groves,
The lovely sorc'ress Fancy roves;
O let me find her here!
For she can time and speed control,
And swift transport my fleeting soul
To all it holds most dear.

Ah! no-ye vain delusions hence!
No more the hallow'd innocence
Of Solitude pervert!

Shall Fancy cheat the precious hour,
Sacred to Wisdom's awful power

And calm Reflection's part?

Of

O Wisdom! from the sea-beat skore,
Where listening to the solemn roar,
Thy loved Eliza* strays;
Vouchsafe to visit my retreat,
And teach my erring, trembling feet.
Thy heaven-protected ways!

O guide me to the humble cell
Where Resignation loves to dwell,
Contentment's bower in view!
Nor pining grief, with absence drear,
Nor sick suspense, nor anxious fear,
Shall there my steps pursue.
There let my soul to Him aspire,
Whom noue cre sought with vain desire,
Nor loved in sad despair;
There to his gracious will Divine,
My dearest, fondest hope resign,
And all my tenderest care.

Then peace shall heal this wounded breast,
That pants to see another blest,

From selfish passion pure;

Peace which, when human wishes rise,
Intense for aught beneath the skies,
Can never be secure.

GOOD OUT OF EVIL. We confess that until the other day we had always looked upon quarrelling, in all its shades and phases, as an unmitigated evil; but a country contemporary, who from "seeming evil still educes good," insists that altercation has its benefits and its uses; and on taking a sober second thought, we feel inclined to think he is half right. So long as there is fair weather between people, they rarely tell each other of their faults. Their intercourse is a series of mutual flatteries. Your indulgent friend throws over your misdoings the mantle of charity. He would not say anything to hurt your feelings for the world. He is

"To your faults a little blind, And to your virtues very kind." But give him cause of quarrel, and then you shall see what you shall see. He will swell and chafe for some time, perhaps in indignant silence under your petulance; but when the cork that restrained his bottled-up wrath is fairly forced out, look out for strong and wholesome truths in the torrent of invective that will follow it. Then, too, he will receive from you, as well as you from him, a good deal of very excellent counsel, which will be none the less salutary for being bitter and good. In short, each will show the other the dark side of his character.

Eliza Carter.

broderie Anglaise, each of the black parts being cut out, and the edges sewed closely round. The round holes are made with a stiletto. The border, which consists of a series of round and oblong holes, is to be worked entirely in the closest button-hole stitch, the work of which is so managed that the edging of one hole closely touches that of the preceding, and thus a border is formed without any extra line.

This design makes extremely handsome mandarin sleeves, three patterns being required for each sleeve.

CORAL-BORDERED HANDKERCHIEF.

Materials.-A square of French cambric, 2 skeins of Evans's Royal Embroidery cotton, No. 30, and six skeins of scarlet ditto. 1 piece of toile ciré.

THIS handkerchief is extremely easy to work, and is, at the same time, remark

THE TOILETTE FRIEND,*

3. THE HAIR AS AN ORNAMENT.

FROM the earliest period in man's history, the hair has been somewhat considered, in its character, as an ornament; and we now propose to trace the various changes that the mode of wearing it has undergone. The subject naturally suggests its divi

may therefore be traced from it, and repeated as often as may be required for the handkerchief. The scallop, and the centre part of the letters, is done in raised work, the former being overcast, and the latter in satin-stitch. Our friends have already learned from our instructions in embroidery in previous numbers, that this raised work is produced by running with soft cotton, backwards and forwards in the parts to be raised, until there is a sufficient thickness, which is then to be covered with close open stitches, either overcast, or simply sewed across the space. The work is always raised most in the widest parts. As this tracing is not at all seen, and it uses a considerable quantity of cotton, it is advisable to do it with the white, which is very much cheaper than the scarlet. All the work that is seen is to be done in scarlet. The

coral branches are done in simple chainstitch, as are the outlines of the initials. It is very rapidly done, and extremely

effective.

BENEFITS OF RETIREMENT.-He must

know little of the world, and still less of his own heart, who is not aware how difficult it is, amid the corrupting examples with which it abounds, to maintain the spirit of devotion unimpaired, or to preserve, in their due force and delicacy, those vivid noral impressions, that quick perception of good, and instinctive abhorrence of evil, which form the chief characteristie of a pure and elevated mind. These, like the morning dew, are easily brushed off in the collisions of worldly interest, or exhaled by the meridian sun. Hence the necessity of frequent intervals of retirement, when the mind may recover its scattered powers, and renew its strength by a devout application to the Fountain of

all grace.

hair of the scalp or head; and 2nd, that of the face, or the whiskers, beard, and moustache.

I. THE HAIR OF THE HEAD.

61. In the 5th verse of the 6th chapter of Numbers, we find permission given to man for the hair to grow long, in the following words, "and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow." This alludes to a custom among the Nazarites and Persians, to allow the hair to grow until the completion of a vow; and then, when the term of the vow expired, they shaved the head, or, as it afterwards mentions in the 18th verse of the same chapter, they took "the hair of the head

and put it in the fire, which is under

the sacrifice."

"It was a very ancient custom among the heathen nations to consecrate to the gods the hair when cut off, as well as when growing on the head. The hair was sometimes consumed on the altar, sometimes deposited in the temples, and often suspended upon trees. A famous instance of the consecration of hair is that of Bere

nice, the consort of Ptolemy Euergetes. When the king went on his expedition to Syria, she was anxious for his safety, and made a vow to consecrate her hair, which

was much admired for its fineness and

beauty, to Venus, if he returned safe. He in the temple at Cyprus. This consecrated hair, being afterwards missing, was fabled to have become a constellation in the heavens, which constellation is called Coma Berenices (the hair of Berenice), to this day. Another remarkable instance is that of Nero, who, according to Suetonius, cut off his first beard, put it in a casket of gold set with jewels, and consecrated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. In fact,

did return safe; and she offered her hair

* See pages 198, 318, Vol. II., New Series.