THE WORK-TABLE FRIEND.

AN EASTER OFFERING-A BASKET

OF EGGS.

Materials. 1 skein maize crochet silk; 4 skeins of green Berlin wool, all different shades; 1 skein white ditto; 2 yards each of four shades of green wire chenille; 1 skein fine green ditto; 1 ball silver twine; 14 yard crochet cord.

WITH the darkest green wool, work a chain of 12 stitches. Holding in the crochet cord, work on both sides of the chain, doing as many stitches as will completely cover the cord; at the ends of the chain several stitches must be done in one. Turn quite round the second, cover 4 stitches more, and join on the white.

1st Round.-5 white, 1 green, which comes just at the centre of a side, 5 white, 1 green, 5 white on 3, 1 green (at the centre of the end) 5 white on 3, 1 green, 5 white, 1 green (opposite green), 5 white, 1 green, 5 white on 3, 1 green (at the centre of end), 5 white on 3, 1 green on the last green before white.

on 1, 5 white on 5, 2 green on 1, 6 white on 5, 3 green on 1, 6 white on 5, 2 green on 1, + twice.

3rd Round.+6 white on 5, 3 green on 2, 6 white on 5, 3 green on 2, 8 white on 6, 4 green on 2, 8 white on 6, 3 green on 2, twice.

Do two rounds with maize silk on white, and the two succeeding shades of green on green, increasing in every part enough to keep the work flat. Instead of the last stitches of green, with the lightest shade do one stitch, then with maize silk do a long stitch to the centre of the 2 green in 2nd round, + 5 light green, maize, 5 more green, long stitch with maize on the centre of green in the 2nd round, + all round, doing a greater number of green at the ends of the oval, the long maize stitch always coming at the centre of a green stripe.

half an inch; continue to make and sew these loops all round.

With the second, third, and fourth shades, join on at the middle of a loop of the previous round; and, forming a similar, but always rather longer loop, sew to the middle of the next. The lightest shade is the last.

FOR THE HANDLE.-Cover two pieces of round satin wire, each half a yard long, with the maize silk, in crochet. Wind round one some of the fine chenille; sew it on at the middle of each side to the bottom of the basket, bending it into the form seen in the engraving. Bend the other so as to cross it at the top and sides. Wind the chenille round it, and round both where they join, and sew it down also.

FOR THE FLOWERS.-Light green wool, 7 Ch, close into a round. 1 Dc in 1 Ch, 1 Ch, miss none.

2nd Round. (Silver twine.) + 1 De under Ch, 2 Ch, miss Dc, + all round. Sew on in groups, as in the engraving. This basket sent post free for 9s.Materials, 5s.

CROCHET TOILET CUSHION.

Materials. a yard of purple satin; 3 reels of Messrs. W. Evans & Co.'s Boar's-head crochet cotton. No. 34, with Boulton & Son's crochethook, No. 2.

MAKE a chain of 156 stitches; close it into a round, and do one round of open square crochet. In all the following rounds the directions are to be repeated thirteen times within the crosses.

1st Round.+ 10 Dc, 3 Ch, miss 2, + 2nd Round.+ 11 De over 10, 3 Ch, miss 3, +.

3rd Round.+ 12 De over 11, 3 Ch, miss 3, +.

EMINENT FEMALE WRITERS.

HANNAH MORE.

THIS most excellent and accomplished woman was the daughter of Jacob More, a village schoolmaster at Stapleton, in Gloucestershire, where she was born in the year 1745. Soon after this, Mr. More removed to Bristol, where he was appointed to take charge of the parochial school of St. Mary Redcliff. The family, which numbered four other daughters, soon began to attract notice, as one in which there was an unusual degree of talent; and, shortly after removing to Bristol, they opened a boarding and dayschool for young ladies, which continued for many years the most flourishing establishment of the kind in the west of England. Hannah was, from early life, the most remarkable of the family. Her first literary efforts were some poetical pieces written for the edification of her pupils. Among these was the "Search after Happiness," a pastoral drama, which she wrote at eighteen, but did not publish till 1773. It met with a very flattering reception. She was thus induced to try her strength in the higher walks of dramatic poetry, and she successively brought forward for the stage her tragedies of the "Inflexible Captive," "Percy," and "The Fatal Falsehood:" of these, "Percy" was the most popular, having been acted fourteen nights successively. The reputation which she thus acquired introduced her into the best literary society of London-into the circle in which Johnson, and Burke, and Sir Joshua Reynolds moved. But her dramatic career closed with the production of these tragedies. Shortly after, her opinions upon the theatre underwent a decided change; and, as she has stated in the preface to her tragedies, she did not "consider the stage, in its present state, as becoming the appearance or the countenance of a Christian." * This great change in her spiritual views was followed by a corresponding change in her manner of life.

* While her mind was in this state of transition, she published, in 1782, a volume of "Sacred Dramas," to which was annexed a poem called "Sensibility;" all of which were received by the public with great favour.

Under a deep conviction that to live to the glory of God, and for the good of our fellow-creatures, is the great object of human existence, and the only one which can bring peace at the last, she quitted, in the prime of her days, the bright circles of fashion and literature, and, retiring into the neighbourhood of Bristol, devoted herself to a life of active Christian benevolence, and to the composition of various works, having for their object the moral and religious improvement of mankind. Her practical conduct thus beautifully exemplified the moral energy of her Christian principles.

She retired into the country in 1786, and in two years after published her first prose piece, Thoughts on the Manners of the Great," and a "Poem on the Slave Trade." These were followed, in 1791, by her "Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World." In 1795, she commenced at Bath, in monthly numbers, "The Cheap Repository," a series of most instructive and interesting tales, one of which is the world-renowned "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain." The success of this publication, so seasonable, at a time when the infidelity of France had too many admirers in England, was extraordinary and unprecedented; for it is said that in one year one million copies of the work were sold. In 1799, appeared her "Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education," which led to an intention warmly advocated by Porteus, the Bishop of London, of committing to her the education of Charlotte, Princess of Wales. This, however, was not effected, but it led to the publication of her "Hints towards forming the Character of a Young Princess," in 1805. Then came what has, perhaps, been her most popular work, "Celebs in Search of a Wife," published in 1809, and which passed through at least six editions in one year. It is a very entertaining and instructive novel, full of striking remarks on men and man

*"Hannah More's eminently useful life manifested itself in nothing more than in the effort she made to instruct the ignorant, through the medium of moral and religious tracts, and by the establishment of schools. These were made a blessing on a wide scale, whilst their good effects are continued to this time, and are likely to be perpetuated."-Cottle's Reminiscences of Southey and Coleridge.

ners, and pourtrays the kind of character which, in the estimation of our author, it is desirable that young ladies should

possess.

In 1811 and 1812, appeared her "Practical Piety," and "Christian Morals;" and, in 1815, her " Essay on the Character and Writings of St. Paul"-a far bolder undertaking than any in which she had previously been engaged, and which she has executed to the delight of every reader. Soon after the death of her sister Martha, in 1819, her literary career terminated with "Moral Sketches," and "Reflections on Prayer." She was now aged and infirm, but still continued to take a great interest in the welfare of charity-schools, Bible and missionary societies, and other benevolent and religious institutions. In 1828, she left Barley Wood, where she had resided from the beginning of the century, and took up her abode at Clifton, very near Bristol; at both of which places she had many valuable friends, though she had outlived every known relation on the earth. Here she spent her last days, supported in the afflictions of age by the consolations of that religion to the service of which she had devoted the vigour of her life, and expired, with the calmness and full faith of the Christian, on the 7th of September, 1833.

As a pleasing specimen of Mrs. Hannah More's verse, we append the following: THE TWO WEAVERS.

As at their work two weavers sat,
Beguiling time with friendly chat,
They touch'd upon the price of meat,
So high, a weaver scarce could eat.

*A cottage delightfully situated in the village of Wrington, in Somersetshire, a village renowned as the birthplace of John Locke. "Miss Hannah More lived with her four sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Martha, after they quitted their school in Park-street, Bristol, at a small neat cottage in Somersetshire, called Cowslip .Green. The Misses M., some years afterwards, built a better house, and called it Barley Wood, on the side of a hill about a mile from Wrington. Here they all lived in the highest degree respected and beloved, their house the scat of piety, cheerfulness, literature, and hospitality; and they themselves receiving the honour of more visits from bishops, nobles, and persons of distinction than, perhaps, any private family in the kingdom."-Cottle's Reminiscences of Southey and Coleridge.

"What with my brats and sickly wife," Quoth Dick, "I'm almost tired of life; So hard my work, so poor my fare, "Tis more than mortal man can bear. "How glorious is the rich man's state! His house so fine! his wealth so great! Heav'n is unjust, you must agree; Why all to him? Why none to me? "In spite of what the Scripture teaches, In spite of all the parson preaches, This world (indeed I've thought so long) Is ruled, methinks, extremely wrong. "Where'er I look, howe'er I range, "Tis all confused, and hard, and strange; The good are troubled and oppress'd, And all the wicked are the bless'd." Quoth John, "Our ignorance is the cause Why thus we blame our Maker's laws Parts of his ways alone we know; "Tis all that man can see below. "Seest thou that carpet, not half done, Which thou, dear Dick, hast well begun! Behold the wild confusion there,

So rude the mass it makes one stare! "A stranger ign'rant of the trade, Would say, no meaning's there convey'd ; For where's the middle, where's the border! Thy carpet now is all disorder."

Quoth Dick, "My work is yet in bits,
But still in ev'ry part it fits;
Besides, you reason like a lout-
Why, man, that carpet's inside out."

Says John, "Thou say'st the thing I mean,
And now I hope to cure thy spleen;
This world, which clouds thy soul with doubt,
Is but a carpet inside out.

As when we view these shreds and ends,
We know not what the whole intends;
So, when on earth things look but odd,
They're working still some scheme of God.
"No plan, no pattern, can we trace;

All wants proportion, truth, and grace; The motley mixture we deride, Nor see the beauteous upper side. "But when we reach that world of light, And view those works of GOD aright, Then shall we see the whole design, And own the workman is Divine. "What now seem random strokes, will there All order and design appear;

Then shall we praise what here we spurn'd, For then the carpet shall be turn'd.” "Thou'rt right," Quoth Dick; "no more I'll grumble,

That this sad world's so strange a jumble;
My impious doubts are put to flight,
For my own carpet sets me right."

We cannot omit the following, from the pen of Miss More: such admirable principles cannot be too often quoted:

THE PROPER EDUCATION FOR FEMALES.-Since, then, there is a season when the youthful must cease to be young and the beautiful to excite admiration; to learn how to grow old gracefully is, perhaps, one of the rarest and most valuable