"'Cet homme passe sa vie a forger des nouvelles,' me dit alors un gros Athenien qui etait assis aupres de moi. 'Il ne s'occupe que de choses qui ne le touchent point. Pour moi, mon interieur me suffit. J'ai une femme que j'aime beaucoup;' et il me fit l'eloge de sa femme. 'Hier je ne pus pas souper avec elle, j'etais prie chez un de mes amis;' et il me fit la description du repas. 'Je me retirai chez moi assez content. Mais j'ai fait cette nuit un reve qui m'inquiete;' et il me raconta son reve. Ensuite il me dit pesamment que la ville fourmillait d'etrangers; que les hommes d'aujourd'hui ne valaient pas ceux d'autrefois; que les denrees etaient a bas prix; qu'on pourrait esperer une bonne recolte, s'il venait a pleuvoir. Apres m'avoir demande le quantieme du mois, il se leva pour aller souper avec sa femme." CHAPTER V. NEEDLEWORK OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. "------Supreme Sits the virtuous housewife, The tender mother-- O'er the circle presiding, And prudently guiding; The girls gravely schooling, The boys wisely ruling; Her hands never ceasing From labours increasing; And doubling his gains With her orderly pains. With piles of rich treasure the storehouse she spreads, And winds round the loud-whirring spindle her threads: She winds--till the bright-polish'd presses are full Of the snow-white linen and glittering wool: Blends the brilliant and solid in constant endeavour, And resteth never." J. H. Merivale. It was an admitted opinion amongst the classical nations of antiquity, that no less a personage than Minerva herself, "a maiden affecting old fashions and formality," visited earth to teach her favourite nation the mysteries of those implements which are called "the arms of every virtuous woman;" viz. the distaff and spindle. In the use of these the Grecian dames were particularly skilled; in fact, spinning, weaving, needlework, and embroidery, formed the chief occupation of those whose rank exonerated them, even in more primitive days, from the menial drudgery of a household.