Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries Part 4

"Oh Mighty G.o.d that knows how inclinations lead Keep mine from straying lest my Heart should bleed.

Grant that I honour and succour my parents dear Lest I should offend him who can be most severe.

I implore ore me you'd have a watchful eye That I may share with you those blessings on high.

And if I should by a young youth be Tempted, Grant I his schemes defy and all He has invented."

_Elizabeth Bock_, 1764.

Samplers were so seldom worked by grown-up folk that one can hardly believe that the following verse records an actual catastrophe to the peace of mind of Eleanor Knot:--

ON DISINGENUITY

"With soothing wiles he won my easy heart He sigh'd and vow'd, but oh he feigned the smart; Sure of all friends the blackest we can find Are those ingrates who stab our peace of mind."

A not uncommon and much more agreeable verse sets forth the duties of man towards woman in so far as matrimony is concerned:--

"Adam alone in Paradise did grieve And thought Eden a desert without Eve, Until G.o.d pitying his lonesome state Crown'd all his wishes with a lovely mate.

Then why should men think mean, or slight her, That could not live in Paradise without her."

Samplers bearing the foregoing verse are usually decorated with a picture of our first parents and the Tree of Knowledge, supported by a demon and angel.

The parent or teacher sometimes spoke through the sampler, as thus, in Lucia York's, dated 1725:--

"Oh child most dear Incline thy ear And hearken to G.o.d's voice."

Or again:--

"Return the kindness that you do receive As far as your ability gives leave."

_Mary Lounds._

"Humility I'd recommend Good nature, too, with ease, Be generous, good, and kind to all, You'll never fail to please."

_Susanna Hayes._

Samplers Expatiating upon Virtue or Vice, Wealth or Poverty, Happiness or Misery

Amongst these may be noted:--

"Happy is he, the only man, Who out of choice does all he can Who business loves and others better makes By prudent industry and pains he takes.

G.o.d's blessing here he'll have and man's esteem, And when he dies his works will follow him."

Of those dealing with wealth or poverty none, perhaps, is more incisive than this:--

"The world's a city full of crooked streets, And Death's the market-place where all men meet; If life was merchandise that men could buy The rich would always live, the poor alone would die."

An American sampler has the following from Burns's "Grace before Meat":--

"Some men have meat who cannot eat And some have none who need it.

But we have meat and we can eat, And so the Lord be thanked."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VIII.--SAMPLER BY MARY POSTLE. DATED 1747. _Mrs C. J.

Longman._

An early specimen of a bordered Sampler, dated 1747, the rows being relegated to a small s.p.a.ce in the centre, where they are altogether an insignificant feature in comparison with the border. Some of the ornament to which we have been accustomed in the rows survives, as for instance the pinks, but a new one is introduced, namely, the strawberry. Here are also the Noah's Ark animals, trees, etc., which henceforward become common objects and soon transform the face of the Sampler. The border itself is in evident imitation of the worsted flower work with which curtains, quilts, and other articles were freely adorned in the early eighteenth century.]

Inscriptions having an Interest owing to their Quaintness

The following dates from 1740, and has as appendix the line, "G.o.d prosper the war":--

"The sick man fasts because he cannot eat The poor man fasts because he hath no meat The miser fasts to increase his store The glutton fasts because he can eat no more The hypocrite fasts because he'd be condemned The just man fasts cause he hath offended."

An American version of this ends with:--

"Praise G.o.d from whom all blessings flow We have meat enow."

That self-conceit was not always considered a failing, is evident from the following verses:--

"This needlework of mine may tell That when a child I learned well And by my elders I was taught Not to spend my time for nought,"

which is concentrated and intensified in one of Frances Johnson, worked in 1797:--

"In reading this if any faults you see Mend them yourself and find no fault in me."

In a much humbler strain is this from an old sampler in Mrs Longman's collection:--

"When I was young I little thought That wit must be so dearly bought But now experience tells me how If I must thrive, then I must bowe And bend unto another will, That I might learn both arte & skill."

Owing to the portrayal of an insect, which was not infrequently met with in days gone by, upon the face of the sampler which bears the following lines, it has been suggested that they were presumably written by that creature:--

"Dear Debby I love you sincerely My heart retains a grateful sense of your past kindness When will the hours of our Separation be at an end?

Preserve in your bosom the remembrance of your affectionate Deborah Jane Berkin."

The following, coming about the date when the abolition of the slave trade was imminent, may have reference to it:--

"THERE'S mercy in each ray of light, that mortal eye e'er saw, There's mercy in each breath of air, that mortal lips can draw, There's mercy both for bird, and beast, in G.o.d's indulgent plan, There's mercy for each creeping thing--But man has none for man."

_Elizabeth Jane Gates Aged 12 years_, 1829.

Riddle samplers, such as that of Ann Witty, do not often occur:--

"I had both and a by both I set great store I lent my Money to my Friend and took his word therefor I asked my of my and nought but words I got I lost my and my for sue him, I would not."

Here, too, is an "Acrostick," the first letters of whose lines spell the name of the young lady who "ended" it "Anno Dom. 1749."

"A virgin that's Industrious Merits Praise, Nature she Imitates in Various Ways, Now forms the Pink, now gives the Rose its blaze.

Young Buds, she folds, in tender Leaves of green, Omits no shade to beautify her Scene, Upon the Canvas, see, the Letters rise, Neatly they s.h.i.+ne with intermingled dies, Glide into Words, and strike us with Surprize."

_E. W._