It was on the occasion of this removal that
Jane, then just sixteen years old, presented to Mary Lloyd an
interesting specimen of her own needlework--still existing. It is a very
small bag, containing a yet smaller rolled-up housewife furnished with
minikin needles and fine thread. In the housewife is a tiny pocket, and
in the pocket is enclosed a slip of paper, on which, written as with a
crow-quill, are these lines:--

This little bag, I hope, will prove
To be not vainly made;
For should you thread and needles want,
It will afford you aid.

And, as we are about to part,
'Twill serve another end:
For, when you look upon this bag,
You'll recollect your friend. _January 1792._

It is made of a scrap of old-fashioned gingham, and, having been
carefully preserved, it is in as perfect a condition as when it was
first made a hundred and twenty years ago; and shows that the same hand
which painted so exquisitely with the pen could work as delicately with
the needle.[54]

Martha Lloyd also had her dedicatory poem. Some years later, when, it
seems, she wanted to go to Harrogate, and hoped in vain for the escort
of a Mr. Best, Jane presented her with a copy of doggerel--and probably
almost extemporaneous--verses:--

Oh! Mr. Best, you're very bad
And all the world shall know it;
Your base behaviour shall be sung
By me, a tuneful poet.

You used to go to Harrogate
Each summer as it came,
And why, I pray, should you refuse
To go this year the same?

The way's as plain, the road's as smooth,
The posting not increased,
You're scarcely stouter than you were,
Not younger, Sir, at least.
&c., &c.

We must mention one other intimate friendship--that which existed
between the Austens and the Lefroys of Ashe. Mr. Lefroy was Rector of
that parish; and his wife, known within it as 'Madam Lefroy,' was sister
to Sir Egerton Brydges to whom we are indebted for the very early notice
of Jane Austen as a girl which we have already given.

'Mrs. Lefroy was a remarkable person. Her rare endowments of goodness,
talents, graceful person, and engaging manners were sufficient to secure
her a prominent place in any society into which she was thrown; while
her enthusiastic eagerness of disposition ren