III.  That no one be actually married, till she hath the Child-bed
  Pillows, &c. ready Stitched, as likewise the Mantle for the Boy quite
  finished.

These Laws, if I mistake not, would effectually restore the decay’d Art of Needle-work, and make the Virgins of Great Britain exceedingly Nimble-finger’d in their Business.

There is a memorable Custom of the Grecian Ladies in this particular, preserv’d in Homer, which I hope will have a very good Effect with my Country-women.  A Widow in Ancient Times could not, without Indecency, receive a second Husband, till she had Woven a Shrowd for her deceased Lord, or the next of Kin to him.  Accordingly, the Chaste Penelope having, as she thought, lost Ulysses at Sea, she employed her time in preparing a Winding-sheet for Laertes, the Father of her Husband.  The Story of her Web being very Famous, and yet not sufficiently known in its several Circumstances, I shall give it to my Reader, as Homer makes one of her Wooers relate it.

  ’Sweet Hope she gave to every Youth apart,
  With well-taught Looks, and a deceitful Heart: 
  A Web she wove of many a slender Twine,
  Of curious Texture, and perplext Design;
  My Youths, she cry’d, my Lord but newly dead,
  Forbear a while to court my widow’d Bed,
  ’Till I have wov’n, as solemn Vows require,
  This Web, a Shrowd for poor_ Ulysses’ Sire. 
  His Limbs, when Fate the Hero’s Soul demands,
  Shall claim this Labour of his Daughter’s Hands: 
  Lest all the Dames of Greece my Name despise,
  While the great King without a Covering lies.

  Thus she.  Nor did my Friends mistrust the Guile. 
  All Day she sped the long laborious Toil: 
  But when the burning Lamps supply’d the Sun,
  Each Night unravell’d what the Day begun. 
  Three live-long Summers did the Fraud prevail. 
  The Fourth her Maidens told th’ amazing Tale. 
  These Eyes beheld, as close I took my Stand,
  The backward Labours of her faithless Hand: 
  ’Till watch’d at length, and press’d on every Side,
  Her Task she ended, and commenc’d a Bride.’

[Footnote 1:  Public Mourning for Q. Anne, who died Aug. 1, 1714.]

* * * * *

No. 607.  Friday, October 15, 1714.

  ’Dicite Ioe Paean, et Ioe bis dicite Paean: 
  Decidit in casses praeda petita meos.’

  Ovid.

  Mr. SPECTATOR,

’Having in your Paper of Monday last [1] published my Report on the Case of Mrs. Fanny Fickle, wherein I have taken Notice, that Love comes after Marriage; I hope your Readers are satisfied of this Truth, that as Love generally produces Matrimony, so it often happens that Matrimony produces Love.

  ’It perhaps requires more Virtues to make a good Husband or Wife, than
  what go the finishing any the most shining Character whatsoever.