filled your needle, lay the new end under the other, between the first finger and thumb of your left hand; then bring the other piece of the thread, round the thumb, behind its own end, and in front of the other end, which must be pulled through the loop (you formed round your thumb) and held there firmly, till the loop is tightly pulled close up to the knot of the last stitch.

To begin netting, or, as it is usually called, to make a foundation, is very troublesome; but the following plan will make it easier and more expeditious. Fill your netting-needle with silk or thread, fasten a piece of strong silk to a pincushion, that must be firmly screwed to the table. Net two loops on the silk, take out your pin, net two more into them, and so on till you have got a sufficient number of loops to form the foundation, (about from sixty or eighty will be enough for most purses,) cut off the two first loops that are fast to the silk, and run a narrow ribbon through them lengthways; you thus have your netting begun, and can go on without further trouble. The same foundation will do for various pieces of work; you had better therefore make it of strong dark coloured silk, and when you have done with it put it away carefully till you require it again.

To net round and round, you merely join

the two end loops. The purses in Plate VI. should be netted in plain, or shaded silks. No. 2, is netted round, till you come to the opening, when you must net backwards and forwards, until you have sufficient room for the fingers to enter the purse. This done, net the other end round and round, exactly the same as the first one, taking care to count the rows. Sew up both ends firmly with silk of the same colour; slip on the slides, and fasten on the tassels, which are made by winding some of the silk over a piece of card, cut the exact depth you wish your tassel to be. When sufficiently thick, pass a piece of silk under the loops, draw it very tight, so as to pull them all up together, knot it firmly, draw away the card, and wind the end of the silk several times evenly and tightly round the collection of loops, so as to form the head of the tassel, fasten it off so that it cannot give way; cut the other ends of the silk, and sew the tassel to the end of the purse.

No. 3, is netted round and round, and the clasps then sewn on.

No. 4, is very pretty, and makes a neat border. Net one row on a very large pin, then net fourteen stitches into each of the former ones, and, lastly, net two rows on a very small pin.

No. 5. Net six rows on a small pin, then take a large one, and net four stitches into every alternate loop; finish with two rows on the pin first used.

No. 6, the same as No. 5, with the addition of one large row to make the edge.

may

There are a great many other kinds of netting, which shall be spoken of in a future letter. I will now only add, that boys may employ themselves with it as well as girls; the latter do the finer work for purses, bags, &c. &c. in silk and gold thread; while the former can make landing-nets, fishing-nets, coverings for fruit-trees, and borders for flowerbeds in string or yarn, using very large needles and pins made of wood. The borders for flowerbeds are very useful, as besides having a light, elegant appearance, they keep off the attacks of hares and rabbits, and when stretched and painted they look exactly like wire.

And now, my young friends, adieu. If you like my letters, you shall soon hear again from,

AN OLD LADY.

MAGIC PICTURE.

TAKE two level pieces of glass, (plate-glass is the best) exactly the same size; lay one on the other, leaving a space between them by pasting a piece of card at each corner. Join these glasses together at the edges by a composition of white of egg mixed with lime slaked by exposure to the air. Cover all the edges with parchment or bladder, except at one end, which is to be left open to admit the following composition.

Dissolve, at a slow fire, six ounces of hog's lard with half an ounce of white wax, to which may be added one ounce of clear linseed oil. This must be poured, while liquid, between the glasses at the end that is open, which must then be closed up like the other sides; after this fasten with gum a picture or print, painted on very thin paper, with its face to one of the glasses. While the mixture between the glasses is cold, the picture will be quite concealed, but will become transparent when held to the fire.

The glasses may be fixed in a frame.

PRECIOUS STONES,

EMBLEMATIC OF THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR.

"WHAT are you reading, Nora?" said Teresa Neville to her cousin, Nora Germaine, on entering the drawing-room at Delamere Park: "is it a letter you have written, or received?"

"Oh, it is not a letter," replied Nora, "but the translation of those German definitions of precious stones, with their mottoes, for every month in the year. You know the original copy was given me by the Countess Irmengarde, of Eppenstein, and old Lady Bouverie has unfortunately taken a fancy to it; but, understanding neither German nor French, I have been obliged to translate it into our mother tongue: listen while I read it.”

"First of all," said Teresa, "let me understand what I am going to hear. Did not the Countess say it was customary in Germany to wear the stone belonging to the month in which you were born? So doing, the talisman imparted its good properties to the wearer ?—at least this was the impression in her country?"