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Transcriber's Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Superscripted characters are enclosed by curly brackets
(example: March 27{th}).
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represented as [Diamond] in this text version.
SAMPLERS AND TAPESTRY EMBROIDERIES
_Tho our Countrie everywhere is fil'd
With ladies and with gentlewomen skil'd
In this rare art, yet here they may discerne
Some things to teach them if they list to learne
And as this booke some cunning workes doth teach
Too high for meane capacities to reache
So for weake learners other workes here be
As plaine and easie as an A B C._
--THE NEEDLE'S EXCELLENCY.
[Illustration: PLATE I.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. HENRY VIII., EDWARD VI.,
MARY, AND ELIZABETH. _The Corporation of Maidstone._
(FRONTISPIECE.)
The very unusual piece of Embroidery reproduced as our Frontispiece may
date from the Accession of Queen Elizabeth, in which case it is the
earliest specimen of an embroidery picture that we have seen. It would
appear to be the creation of some exultant Protestant rejoicing at the
restoration of his religion, which to him is "Good tidings of great joy";
for his Queen holds the Bible open at this verse, and is ready to defend
it with her sword. Edward VI. also upholds the Bible in his upraised hand,
whilst Henry VIII. has one foot on the downtrodden Pope, and the other on
his crown, which he has kicked from his head. Popery is portrayed in Mary
with her Rosary and Papal-crowned Dragon. The presence of the Thistle
raises a doubt as to its being of the Elizabethan age, but although this
flower consorts with the Rose it also does so with a pansy, which deprives
it of its value as an emblem of Scotland. The piece belongs to the
Corporation of Maidstone.]
SAMPLERS & TAPESTRY EMBROIDERIES
by
MARCUS B. HUISH, LL.B.
Author of "Japan and its Art," "Greek Terra Cotta Statuettes"
"The American Pilgrim's Way," &c.
SECOND EDITION
With 24 Coloured Plates and 77 Illustrations in the Text
Longmans, Green, and Co.
39 Paternoster Row, London
New York, Bombay, and Calcutta
1913
All rights reserved
Preface to the Second Edition
_I have explained, in the chapter upon English Needlework with which this
volume opens, the reasons which prompted me to take up the subject of
Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries, and I have here only to thank the many
who, since its first issue, have expressed their acknowledgment of the
pleasure they have derived from it, and to record my gratification that it
has induced some of them to start the study and collection of these
interesting objects._
_In the present edition several American Samplers of considerable
interest, kindly furnished by correspondents in that country, are noted
and illustrated._
_I am indebted to the publishers for putting the present volume on the
market at a more popular price than the expense of the first edition
permitted._
Contents
PAGES
ENGLISH NEEDLEWORK.--ITS PRACTICE IN PAST TIMES.--ITS PLACE
AMONGST THE MINOR ARTS.--MR RUSKIN'S VIEWS AS TO NEEDLEWORK
IN A MUSEUM.--LACK OF A HISTORY.--EXHIBITION OF SAMPLERS.--
RANGE OF THIS VOLUME 1-5
PART I.--SAMPLERS.--THE NEED OF.--THE AGE OF.--INSCRIPTIONS
ON.--ALPHABETS AND NUMERALS ON.--SIGNATURES ON.--INSCRIPTIONS
ON.--DESIGN, ORNAMENT, AND COLOURING OF, INCLUDING: THE HUMAN
FIGURE; ANIMALS; FLOWERS.--FURTHER INSCRIPTIONS ON.--VERSES
WHICH COMMEMORATE RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS; WHICH TAKE THE FORM OF
PRAYERS AND DEDICATIONS; WHICH REFER TO LIFE AND DEATH; WHICH
INCULCATE DUTIES TO PARENTS AND PRECEPTORS; WHICH HAVE
REFERENCE TO VIRTUE OR VICE, WEALTH OR POVERTY.--QUAINT
INSCRIPTIONS; CROWNS; CORONETS; HEARTS; BORDERS.--MISCELLANEA
RESPECTING SAMPLERS, NAMELY:--THE AGE AND SEX OF THE WORKERS;
THE PLACE OF ORIGIN OF SAMPLERS; SAMPLERS AS RECORDS OF
NATIONAL EVENTS; MAP SAMPLERS; AMERICAN SAMPLERS; FOREIGN
SAMPLERS; SAMPLER LITERATURE; THE LAST OF THE SAMPLERS 7-122
PART II.--EMBROIDERIES IN THE MANNER OF TAPESTRY PICTURES.--
LARGE NUMBERS EXHIBITED AT FINE ART SOCIETY'S.--OPPORTUNITY
FOR THEIR EXAMINATION, AND FOR MAKING RECORD OF THEIR
HISTORY.--DIFFICULTIES SURROUNDING INVESTIGATION OF ORIGIN OF
INDUSTRY.--NO APPARENT INFANCY.--NO SPECIMENS DISCOVERABLE
EARLIER THAN ELIZABETHAN ERA.--THEORY AS TO FASHION
ORIGINATING WITH INTRODUCTION OF TAPESTRY MANUFACTURE TO
ENGLAND.--PARTICULARS OF THAT MANUFACTURE.--THREE-FOLD
INTEREST OF PICTURE EMBROIDERIES: (1) SUBJECTS DEPICTED
THEREON; (2) HISTORICAL MATERIAL AS TO FASHIONS; (3) AS
SPECIMENS OF NEEDLEWORK.--PARTICULARS RESPECTING SUBJECTS,
FASHIONS OF DRESS, HORTICULTURE, ETC. 123-141
PART III.--(1) STITCHERY OF EMBROIDERIES IN IMITATION OF
TAPESTRY AND THE LIKE.--BACKGROUND STITCHES.--FIGURES IN
RAISED NEEDLEWORK.--KNOT STITCHES.--PLUSH STITCH.--EMBROIDERY
IN PURL AND METALLIC THREADS.--BEAD EMBROIDERY.--FIRST STAGE
OF EMBROIDERED PICTURE 143-160
(2) THE STITCHERY OF SAMPLERS, WITH A NOTE ON THEIR
MATERIALS.--CUT AND DRAWN WORK.--BACK STITCH.--ALPHABET
STITCHES.--DARNING STITCHES.--TENT AND CROSS STITCHES.--
VARIOUS STITCHES.--MATERIALS 161-171
INDEX 173
List of Colour Plates
PLATE _To face page_
I. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. HENRY VIII., EDWARD VI., MARY,
AND ELIZABETH _Frontispiece_
II. SAMPLER, BY M. C. 16TH-17TH CENTURY 9
III. PORTION OF LONG SAMPLER, BY A. S. DATED 1648 16
IV. SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH CALTHORPE. DATED 1656 20
V. PORTION OF SAMPLER, BY MARY HALL. DATED 1662 24
VI. PORTION OF SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH CREASEY. DATED 1686 36
VII. SAMPLER, BY HANNAH DAWE. 17TH CENTURY 42
VIII. SAMPLER, BY MARY POSTLE. DATED 1747 48
IX. SAMPLER, BY E. PHILIPS. DATED 1761 56
X. SAMPLER, BY CATHERINE TWEEDALL. DATED 1775 66
XI. SAMPLER, BY ANN CHAPMAN. DATED 1779 78
XII. SAMPLER, BY ANN MARIA WIGGINS. 19TH CENTURY 90
XIII. AMERICAN SAMPLER, BY MARTHA C. BARTON. DATED 1825 100
XIV. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY: CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE, STONING OF
MARTYRS, ETC. ABOUT 1625 123
XV. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. THE STORY OF HAGAR AND ISHMAEL.
ABOUT 1630 124
XVI. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. CHARLES I. AND HIS QUEEN. ABOUT 1630 126
XVII. LID OF A CASKET. THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS. ABOUT 1630 130
XVIII. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. THE STORY OF QUEEN ESTHER. ABOUT 1630 132
XIX. LID OF A CASKET. ABOUT 1660 143
XX. BACK OF CASKET IN TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. SIGNED A. K., 1657 144
XXI. BEADWORK EMBROIDERY. CHARLES II. AND HIS QUEEN, ETC. 150
XXII. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. DATED 1735 158
XXIII. PURL EMBROIDERY. 16TH AND 17TH CENTURY 161
XXIV. DARNING SAMPLER. DATED 1788 164
Illustrations in Text
FIG. PAGE
1. THE VISIT TO THE BOARDING SCHOOL, BY GEORGE MORLAND xiv
2. BOTTOM OF SAMPLER, IN KNOTTED YELLOW SILK, BY MARY CANEY, 1710 1
3. UPPER PORTION OF SAMPLER, BY PUPIL IN ORPHAN SCHOOL,
CALCUTTA, 1797 9
4. SAMPLER OF CUT AND EMBROIDERED WORK. EARLY 17TH CENTURY 16
5. PORTION OF SAMPLER. 17TH CENTURY 17
6. PORTION OF SAMPLER OF CUT AND EMBROIDERED WORK. 17TH CENTURY 18
7. SAMPLERS IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM. DATED 1643,
1667, 1696 19
8. LONG SAMPLER, SIGNED ANN TURNER. 1686 24
9. SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH BAKER. 1739 25
10. SAMPLER, BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË. 1829 29
11. SAMPLER, BY EMILY JANE BRONTË. 1829 31
12. SAMPLER, BY ANNE BRONTË. 1830 33
13. EASTER SAMPLER, BY KITTY HARISON. 1770 37
14. SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH STOCKWELL. 1832 43
15. SAMPLER, BY SARAH YOUNG. _c._ 1750 53
16. DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER, BY S. I. D. 1649 59
17. SAMPLER, BY JEAN PORTER. 1709-10 61
18. SAMPLER. NAME ILLEGIBLE. DATE, 1742 63
19. SAMPLER, BY MARY ANDERSON. 1831 67
20. SAMPLER (? SCOTTISH). 18TH CENTURY 69
21. SMALL SCOTTISH SAMPLER, BY J. H. [JANE HEATH]. 1728 71
22. SAMPLER, BY MARY BYWATER. 1751 72
23. HEART-SHAPED SAMPLER, BY MARY IVES. 1796 73
24. DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER, BY S. W. 1700 76
25. BORDER OF MARY LOUNDS'S SAMPLER. 1726 77
26. BORDER OF MARY HEAVISIDE'S SAMPLER. 1735 77
27. BORDER OF ELIZABETH GREENSMITH'S SAMPLER. 1737 77
28. BORDER OF MARGARET KNOWLES'S SAMPLER. 1738 78
29. BORDER TO SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH TURNER. 1771 78
30. BORDER TO SAMPLER, BY SARAH CARR. 1809 79
31. BORDER TO SAMPLER, BY SUSANNA HAYES. 1813 79
32. SMALL SAMPLER, BY MARTHA HAYNES. 1704 81
33. SAMPLER, BY SARAH PELHAM, AGED 6 83
34. SCOTTISH SAMPLER, BY ROBERT HENDERSON. 1762 85
35. TWO SMALL SAMPLERS, BY MAY JOHNSON. 1785-6 87
36. TWO SMALL SAMPLERS, BY LYDIA JOHNSON. 1784 87
37. SCOTTISH SAMPLER, BY MARY BAYLAND. 1779 89
38. SAMPLER, BY MARY MINSHULL. 1694 90
39. MAP OF NORTH AMERICA, BY M. A. K. 1788 93
40. MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES, BY ANN BROWN 94
41. MAP OF AFRICA. 1784 95
42. SAMPLER, BY ANNE GOWER 98
43. SAMPLER, BY LOARA STANDISH 99
44. SAMPLER, BY MILES AND ABIGAIL FLEETWOOD 99
45. SAMPLER, BY ABIGAIL RIDGWAY. 1795 100
46. SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH EASTON. 1795 101
47. SAMPLER, BY MARIA E. SPALDING. 1815 102
48. SAMPLER, BY MARTHA C. HOOTON. 1827 103
49. SAMPLER, BY THE LAMBORN FAMILY. 1822 105
50. SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH M. FORD 106
51. SAMPLER, BY LYDIA J. COTTON. 1819 107
52. SAMPLER, BY HELEN PRICE 114
53. BEADWORK SAMPLER, BY JANE MILLS 119
54. SAMPLER, BY ELIZABETH CLARKSON. 1881 121
55. EMBROIDERED GLOVE. EARLY 17TH CENTURY 123
56. THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS. ABOUT 1630 129
57. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY: THE FINDING OF MOSES. ABOUT 1640 134
58. PORTION OF A BOOK COVER. 16TH CENTURY 136
59. PURL AND APPLIED EMBROIDERY. ABOUT 1630 137
60. EMBROIDERY PICTURE. CHARLES II. AND HIS QUEEN. 1663 141
61. HOLLIE POINT LACE, FROM TOP OF CHRISTENING CAP. 1774 143
62. CUSHION-STITCH BACKGROUND: EMBROIDERED BOOK COVER, DATED 1703 145
63. EYELET-HOLE-STITCH: FROM A SAMPLER DATED 1811 146
64. TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. ABOUT 1640 147
65. FACE WORKED IN SPLIT-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM EMBROIDERY
REPRODUCED IN FIG. 63 150
66. FACE WORKED IN SPLIT-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM LOWER PORTION
OF FIG. 63 (NOT REPRODUCED) 151
67. KNOTTED-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM EMBROIDERY REPRODUCED IN
FIG. 63 152
68. EMBROIDERY PICTURE: A SQUIRE AND HIS LADY. DATED 1657 155
69. HAIR OF UNRAVELLED SILK: ENLARGEMENT OF PORTION OF
EMBROIDERY REPRODUCED IN PLATE 157
70. GROUNDWORK TRACING FOR EMBROIDERED PICTURE. 17TH CENTURY 159
71. MOULDS FOR KNOTTED, OR LACE-WORK, WITH SILK SPOOLS AND CASE 160
72. DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER. 17TH CENTURY 162
73. CUT AND DRAWN-WORK: ENLARGEMENT FROM 17TH CENTURY SAMPLER 163
74. SATIN-STITCH AND COMBINATION OF TYPES OF OPEN-WORK:
ENLARGED FROM THE SAMPLER REPRODUCED IN FIG. 4. 17TH CENTURY 164
75. BACK-STITCH: ENLARGEMENT OF PORTION OF SAMPLER IN FIG. 5.
17TH CENTURY. TWICE ACTUAL SIZE 165
76. DARNING SAMPLER. SIGNED M. M., T. B., J. J. 1802 167
77. ENLARGED PORTION OF A DARNING SAMPLER. DATED 1785 169
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE VISIT TO THE BOARDING SCHOOL. BY GEORGE
MORLAND. _Wallace Collection._]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--BOTTOM OF SAMPLER, IN KNITTED YELLOW SILK, BY MARY
CANEY, 1710. _Mrs C. J. Longman._]
English Needlework
Amongst all the Minor Arts practised by our ancestresses, there was
certainly no one which was so much the fashion, or in which a higher grade
of proficiency was attained, as that of needlework. It was in vogue in the
castle and the cottage, in the ladies' seminary and the dame's school, and
a girl's education began and ended with endeavours to attain perfection in
it. Amongst the earliest objects to be shown to a mother visiting her
daughter at school was, as is seen in the charming picture by Morland in
the Wallace Collection (Fig. 1), the sampler which the young pupil had
worked.[1] These early tasks were, very certainly in the majority of
instances, little cared for by the schoolgirls who produced them, but
being cherished by fond parents they came in after years to be looked upon
with an affectionate eye by those who had made them, and to be preserved
and even handed down as heirlooms in the family.
For some reason, not readily apparent, no authority on needlework has
considered this by-product of the Art to be worthy of notice. In the many
volumes which have been penned the writers have almost exclusively
confined their attention to the more ambitious and, perhaps, more artistic
performances of foreign nations. To such an extent has this omission
extended that in a leading treatise on "Needlework as Art," samplers are
dismissed in a single line, and in a more recent volume they are not even
mentioned. It follows that the illustrations for such books are almost
without exception culled from foreign sources, to the entire exclusion of
British specimens.
It may be contended that the phase of needlework to which special
attention is drawn in this volume cannot be classed amongst even the Minor
Arts, and therefore is not worthy of the notoriety which such a work as
this gives to it. Such a contention can fortunately be met by the
authority of one whose word can hardly be challenged on such a question,
namely, Mr Ruskin. Some years ago, upon a controversy arising in the press
as to what objects should, and what should not, find a place in a museum,
the author, in his capacity of editor of _The Art Journal_, induced Mr
Ruskin to furnish that magazine with a series of letters containing his
views on the matter. In these, after dealing with the planning of the
building and its fitting up with the specialties which the industry of
each particular district called for, he set aside six chambers for the due
exposition of the six queenly and music-taught Arts of _Needlework_,
Writing, Pottery, Sculpture, Architecture, and Painting, and in these the
absolute best in each Art, so far as attainable by the municipal pocket,
was to be exhibited, the rise and fall (if fallen) of each Art being duly
and properly set forth.
Mr Ruskin did not, however, content himself with claiming for needlework a
prominent position. Had he only done this, his dictum might have availed
us but little as regards admission of the branch of it to which we shall
devote most of this volume. With the thoroughness which was so
characteristic of him, he gave chapter and verse for the faith that was in
him, clenching it with one of his usual felicitous instances, which, in
this case, took as its text the indifferent stitching of the gloves which
he used when engaged in forestry.
Proceeding to show what the needlework chamber should contain, he
designated first the structure of wool and cotton, hemp, flax, and silk,
then the phases of its dyeing and spinning, and the mystery of weaving.
"Finally the accomplished phase of needlework, all the acicular Art of
Nations--savage and civilised--from Lapland boot, letting in no snow
water, to Turkey cushion bossed with pearl; to valance of Venice gold in
needlework; to the counterpanes and _Samplers_ of our own lovely
ancestresses."
It might appear to be by an accident that he specifically included the
"Samplers of our own lovely ancestresses," but this was not so. Fine
needlework was an accomplishment which was carried to an exceptional pitch
of excellence by his mother, and her son was proud of her achievements,
for this proficiency had descended from his grandmother, whose sampler
(reproduced on Plate IX.) was probably present to Mr Ruskin's mind when he
penned the sentence to which we have given prominence.
Having, then, such an authority for assigning to English needlework a
foremost place in any well organised museum, it may reasonably be claimed
that our literature should contain some record of the sampler's evolution
and history, and that our museums should arrange any materials they may
possess in an order which will enable a would-be student, or any one
interested, to gain information concerning the rise and fall (for such it
has been) of the industry.
It may be said that such information is not called for, but this can
hardly be asserted in face of the fact that the first edition of this
work, published at the considerable price of two guineas, was quickly
exhausted, and demands have for some time been made for its reissue. The
publication in question was the outcome of an exhibition held at The Fine
Art Society, London, in 1900, at which some three hundred and fifty
samplers, covering every decade since 1640, were shown. The interest taken
in the display was remarkable, the reason probably being that almost every
visitor possessed some specimen of the craft, but few had any idea that
his or her possession was the descendant of such an ancestry, or had any
claim to recognition beyond a purely personal one. Everyone then garnered
information with little trouble and with unmistakable pleasure from the
surprising and unexpected array, and the many requests that the collection
should not be dispersed without an endeavour being made to perpetuate the
information derived from an assemblage of so many selected examples led to
the compilation of the present work.
When The Fine Art Society's Exhibition was first planned the intention was
to confine it to samplers, which, in themselves, formed a class
sufficiently large to occupy all the space which experience showed should
be allotted to them in any display with which it was not desired to weary
the visitor. But it was speedily found that their evolution and _raison
d'être_ could not be satisfactorily nor interestingly illustrated without
recourse being had to the embroidered pictures alongside of which they
originated, and which they subsequently supplanted, and to other articles
for the decoration or identification of which samplers came into being.
Consequently the collection was enlarged so as to include three sections:
first the embroidered pieces which range themselves under the heading of
"Pictures in imitation of Tapestry"; then samplers; and lastly the
miscellaneous articles, such as books, dresses, coats, waistcoats, gloves,
shoes, caskets, cases, purses, etc., which were broidered by those who had
learned the art from sampler making, or from the use of samplers as
guides.
It would, without doubt, have added interest and variety to this volume
could all these classes have been considered in it, but to include the
last-named would have necessitated enlarging its bulk beyond practicable
limits, and, besides, it would then have covered ground, much of which has
already been very satisfactorily and completely dealt with.
The work has consequently followed the lines of the Exhibition in so far
as it includes "Samplers" and "Embroideries in the manner of Tapestry,"
which are dealt with in successive sections, and are followed by one upon
the "stitchery" employed, written by Mrs Head, who has unfortunately died
since the publication of the first edition.
The author much regrets having given currency on page 5 to the report of
Mrs. Head's death, which he is glad to learn is incorrect.
PART I
Samplers
[Illustration: PLATE II.--SAMPLER BY M. C. 16TH-17TH CENTURY. _This early
pattern Sampler is described at p. 16._]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--UPPER PORTION OF SAMPLER BY PUPIL IN ORPHAN
SCHOOL, CALCUTTA, 1797. _Author's Collection._]
PART I
Samplers
The sampler as a pattern, or example, from which to learn varieties of
needlework, whether of design or stitches, must have existed almost as
long as the Art of Embroidery, which we know dates back into as distant a
past as any of the Arts. But when we set about the investigation of its
evolution, we did not propose to trouble our readers with the history of
an infancy which would have been invested with little interest and less
Art; we did, however, hope to be able to extend our illustrated record
backwards to a date which would be limited only by the ravages which time
had worked upon the material of which the sampler was composed--a date
which would probably take us back to an epoch when the Art displayed upon
it was of an unformed but still of an interesting character.
We must at the outset admit that we have been altogether disappointed in
our quest. For some two hundred and fifty years, which most will admit to
be a fair stretch of time, we can easily compile a record of genuinely
dated and well-preserved specimens, filling not only every decade, but
almost every year. The Art displayed, whether it be in design or dexterity
with the needle, improves as we proceed backwards, until, in the exact
centre of the seventeenth century, we arrive at a moment when little is
left to be desired. We then have before us a series of samplers wherein
the design is admirable, the stitches are of great variety, and the
materials of which they are composed are, in an astonishing number of
instances, as fresh and well preserved as those of to-day. But at that
moment, to our astonishment, the stream is arrested, and the supply fails,
for no, at present, discoverable reason. This sudden arrest can in no way
be explained. It would appear as if, with the downfall of the monarchy
under Charles I., with which it almost exactly corresponds, a holocaust
had been made of every sampler that existed. It is most exasperating, for
it is as if one had studied the life of a notable character backwards
through its senility, old age, and manhood, to lose all trace of its youth
and infancy. Nor is there any apparent reason for this failure of the
output. As we shall show later on, needlework for a century previously was
in the heyday of its fashion. Every article of dress and furniture was
decked out with it. As an instance, the small branch of needlework which
we discuss in our second part was mainly in vogue in the first half of the
seventeenth century, when we are searching in vain for specimens of
samplers. Samplers, too, for generations previously are recorded in the
literature of the time as common objects of household furniture. The
specimens even of our earliest recorded decade cover no less than five
years, 1651 (three), 1649, 1648 (three), 1644, 1643, and yet beyond the
last-named date we encounter an entire blank.
This cannot be the limit of dated specimens. Earlier ones must exist, but
the publicity of a very well advertised exhibition, which brought
notifications of samplers by the thousand, did not produce them. Neither
have the public museums, nor indefatigable collectors of many years'
standing, been able to obtain them, save two of the earliest years, 1643
and 1644, which have been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and
of which that of 1643 is reproduced in Fig. 7. Our study of the sampler
must therefore be based upon the materials at our disposal, and from these
we shall analyse it with reference to its _raison d'être_, age, decorative
qualities, characteristics, and the persons by whom it was worked.
The Need of Samplers
In these days of sober personal attire, in which the adornment of our
houses is almost entirely confined to the products of the loom, the
absorbing interest which needlework possessed, and the almost entire
possession which, in the Middle Ages, it took of the manual efforts of
womankind, is apt to be lost sight of. In 1583, Stubbes, in his "Anatomy
of Abuses," wrote that the men were "decked out in fineries even to their
shirts, which are wrought throughout with needlework of silke, curiously
stitched with open seams and many other knacks besides," and that it was
impossible to tell who was a gentleman "because all persons dress
indiscriminately in silks, velvets, satins, damasks, taffeties, and such
like." So, too, as regards the fair sex it was the same, from the Queen,
who had no less than 2,000 dresses in her wardrobe, downwards. In France,
almost at the same moment (in 1586), a petition was presented to
Catherine de Medicis on "The Extreme Dearness of Living," setting forth
that "mills, lands, pastures, woods, and all the revenues are wasted on
embroideries, insertions, trimmings, tassels, fringes, hangings, gimps,
needleworks, small chain stitchings, quiltings, back stitchings, etc., new
diversities of which are invented daily." Everyone worked with the needle.
We read that the lady just named gathered round her her daughters, their
cousins, and sometimes the exiled Marie Stuart, and passed a great portion
of the time after dinner in needlework. A little later Madame de Maintenon
worked at embroidery, not only in her apartments, but even when riding or
driving she was "hardly fairly ensconced in her carriage than she pulled
her needlework out of the bag she carried with her."
The use of embroidery was not confined to personal adornment, but was
employed in the decoration of the various objects which then went to make
up the furniture of a house, such as curtains, bed-hangings, tablecloths,
chair coverings, cushions, caskets, books, purses, and even pictures.
The luxury of the dwelling and the household had also of late increased to
an extent that called for the possession of numbers of each article,
whether it were clothing, table, or bed napery. Identification by marking
and numbering became necessary, and as, probably, the very limited library
of the house seldom contained books of ornamental lettering and numerals,
samplers were made to furnish them. The evolution of the sampler is thus
easily traceable. First of all consisting of decorative patterns thrown
here and there without care upon the surface of a piece of canvas (see
Plate II.); then of designs placed in more orderly rows, and making in
themselves a harmonious whole; then added thereto alphabets and figures
for the use of those who marked the linen, and as an off-shoot imitation
of tapestry pictures by the additions of figures, houses, etc. Finally it
was adopted as an educational task in the schools, as a specimen of
phenomenal achievement at an early age, and as a means whereby moral
precept might be prominently advertised.
As we have said, the samplers which have come down to us, and the age of
which is certified by their bearing a date, do not extend beyond two
hundred and seventy years, but those even of that age are writ all over
with evidence that the sampler was then a fully developed growth, and must
have been the descendant of a long line of progenitors. That they were in
vogue long before this is proved by the references to them in literature
as articles the use of which was a common one. Before proceeding further
it may be well to cite some of these.
The earliest record which we have met with is one by the poet Skelton
(1469-1529), who speaks of "the sampler to sowe on, the laces to
embroide."
The next is an inventory of Edward VI. (1552), which notes a parchment
book containing--
"_Item_: Sampler or set of patterns worked on Normandy canvas, with
green and black silks."
To Shakespeare we naturally turn, and are not disappointed, for we find
that in his "Midsummer Night's Dream," Act iii. scene 2, Helena addresses
Hermia as follows:--
"O, is all forgot?
All schooldays' friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both working of one song, both in one key,
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds
Had been incorporate."
And in "Titus Andronicus," Act ii. scene 4, Marcus speaks of Philomel as
follows:--
"Fair Philomel, she but lost her tongue,
And in a tedious sampler sewed her mind."
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), in his "Arcadia," introduces a sampler as
follows:--
"And then, O Love, why dost thou in thy beautiful sampler set such a
work for my desire to take out?"
And Milton in "Comus" (1634):--
"And checks of sorry grain will serve to ply
The sampler, and to tear the housewife's wool."
In "The Crown Garland of Golden Roses," 1612, is "A short and sweet sonnet
made by one of the Maides of Honor upon the death of Queene Elizabeth,
which she sowed upon a sampler, in red silk, to a new tune of 'Phillida
Flouts Me'"; beginning
"Gone is Elizabeth whom we have lov'd so dear."
In the sixteenth century samplers were deemed worthy of mention as
bequests; thus Margaret Tomson, of Freston in Holland, Lincolnshire, by
her will proved at Boston, 25th May 1546, gave to "Alys Pynchbeck, my
systers doughter, my sampler with semes."
In Lady Marian Cust's work on embroidery, mention is made of a sampler of
the reign of Henry VIII., and a rough illustration is given of it; we have
endeavoured to trace this piece, but have been unable to find it either in
the possession of Viscount Middleton or of Lord Midleton, although both of
them are the owners of other remarkable specimens of needlework.
It is evident from these extracts that samplers were common objects at
least as early as the sixteenth century.
* * * * *
The sampler in its latest fashion differed very materially both in form
and design from its progenitors. Consisting originally of odds and ends
of decorative designs, both for embroidery and lacework, scattered without
any order over the surface of a coarse piece of canvas, its first
completed form was one of considerable length and narrow breadth, the
length being often as much as a yard, and the breadth not more than a
quarter. The reason for this may well have been the necessity of using a
breadth of material which the looms then produced, for the canvas is
utilised to its full extent, and is seldom cut or hemmed at the sides. Be
that as it may, the shape was not an inconvenient one, for whilst its
width was sufficient to display the design, its height enabled a quantity
of patterns to follow one another from top to bottom. These consisted at
first of designs only, in embroidery and lace, to which were subsequently
added numerals and alphabets. Later followed texts, and then verses,
which, with the commencement of the eighteenth century, practically
supplanted ornaments. The sampler thereupon ceased to be a text-book for
the latter, and became only a chart on which are set out varieties of
lettering and alphabets. Still later it was transformed into a medium for
the display of the author's ability in stitching, the alphabet even
disappearing, and the ornament (if such it can be called) being merely a
border in which to frame a pretty verse, and a means whereby empty spaces
could be filled, Art at that epoch not having learnt that an empty space
could be of any value to a composition. How these changes came about, with
their approximate dates, may now be considered.
The Age of a Sampler
The approximate date of any sampler, which is not more than two hundred
and fifty years old, should, from the illustrations given in this volume,
be capable of being arrived at without much difficulty, and it is,
therefore, only those undated specimens which, from their appearance, may
be older than that period that call for consideration here. They are but
few in number, and a comparison of one or two of them may be of service as
indicating the kind of examination to which old specimens should be
subjected.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--SAMPLER OF CUT AND EMBROIDERED WORK. EARLY 17TH
CENTURY. _The late Canon Bliss._]
[Illustration: PLATE III.--PORTION OF LONG SAMPLER BY A. S. DATED 1648.
_Author's Collection._
Owing to its great length this Sampler is not shown in its entirety. A
portion of the upper part, which consists of various unconnected designs,
and figures of birds, beetles, flies, and crayfish, has been omitted. In
the portion illustrated is a man with a staff followed by a stag bearing a
leaf in its mouth, a unicorn and lion, and the initials "A.S.," with date
1648. The bands of ornaments which follow are in several instances those
which find a place nearly two centuries later as the borders of Samplers
still. The lower portion is interesting for the changes which are rung
upon the oak leaf and acorn. The silks of which it is made are in three
colours only--blue, pink, and a yellowish green--which are worked upon a
coarsish linen. Size, 34-3/4 × 8-1/2. It is in the author's collection. A
somewhat similar Sampler, dated 1666, is in the Victoria and Albert
Museum.]
The earliest samplers present but little of the regularity of design which
marks the dated ones. They were made for use and not for ornament, a
combination which was probably always aimed at in those where regularity
and order marked the whole. They would resemble that illustrated in Plate
II., which bears evidence that it was nothing more or less than an
example, whence a variety of patterns could be worked, for in almost every
instance the design is shown in both an early and complete condition. It
is somewhat difficult to assign a date to it, but the employment of silver
and gold wirework to a greater or lesser extent in almost every
part,[2] the coarse canvas upon which it is worked, and the colours, point
to its being of the Elizabethan or early Jacobean period, the linked S's
in Fig. 5 perhaps denoting the Stuart period. One of the two specimens of
1648 (Plate III.) continues in its upper portion this dropping of the
decoration in a haphazard way on the canvas, although the greater part of
it is strictly confined to rows of regular form. At first sight Fig. 4
should for the same reason be assigned to an earlier date than 1648, for
the greater, and not the lesser, portion of it is embroidered without any
apparent design. But more careful consideration discloses the fact that
the sampler was evidently begun at the top with thorough regularity, and
it was only at a later stage that the worker probably tired, and decided
to amuse herself with more variety and less formality. Nor can an earlier
date be assigned to Fig. 5 on account of the irregularity and
incompleteness of the lines, which have evidently been carried out no
further than to show the pattern.[3]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--PORTION OF SAMPLER. 17TH CENTURY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--PORTION OF SAMPLER OF CUT AND EMBROIDERED WORK.
17TH CENTURY. _The late Mrs Head._]
The forms which the lettering takes will probably be found to be one of
the best guides to the age of the early samplers, and on this ground Fig.
6, with its peculiar G and its reversed P for a Q, may be earlier than
1650, although the stags and the pear-shaped ornament beneath them
are closely allied to those in Plate III., dated 1648.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--SAMPLERS IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM. DATED
1643, 1667, AND 1696.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV.--SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH CALTHORPE. DATED 1656. _Mrs
Charles Longman._
This small Sampler (it measures only 17 × 7) is a remarkable testimony to
the goodness of the materials used by our ancestors, and the care that has
been taken in certain instances to preserve these early documents of
family history. For it is over two hundred and sixty years since Elizabeth
Calthorpe's very deft fingers produced what even now appears to be a very
skilled performance, and every thread of silk and of the canvas groundwork
is as fresh as the day that it emerged from the dyer's hands. The design
is one of the unusual pictorial and ornamental combinations, the pictorial
representing the Sacrifice of Isaac in two scenes.]
Texts and mottoes also furnish a clue to age, for they extend backwards
beyond 1686 on but one known sampler, namely that of Martha Salter in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, dated 1651, which has the maxim, "The feare of
God is an excellent gift," although on such articles as purses and the
like they are to be found much earlier, and the "Sonnet to Queen
Elizabeth," to which we have referred, shows that they were in vogue in
1612.
Age may also be approximated by the ornament and by the material of which
the sampler is made, which differs as time goes on. The following table
has been formed from many specimens that have come under my inspection; it
shows the earliest date at which various forms of ornament appear on dated
samplers so far as I have been able to trace them.
Adam and Eve, figure of 1709
Alphabet 1643
Border enclosing sampler 1726
Border of flowing naturalistic flowers 1730
Boxers (and until 1758) 1648
Crown 1691
Eyelet form of lettering (? Anne Gover's, _circ._ 1610) 1672
_Fleur-de-Lys_ (see, however, Plate III.) 1742
Flower in vase 1742
Heart 1751
House 1765
Inscription 1662
Motto or text 1651
Mustard-coloured canvas 1728
Name of maker (? Anne Gover's, _circ._ 1610) 1648
Numerals 1655
Rows of ornament (latest 1741) 1648
Stag (but only common between 1758 and 1826) 1648
The Spies to Canaan 1804
Verse (? Lora Standish, _circ._ 1635) 1696
Lettering on Samplers
It is from this, rather than from any other feature, that we trace the
evolution of the sampler. Originally a pattern sheet of devices and
ornaments, there were added to it in time alphabets and numerals of
various kinds, which the increased luxury of the house called for as aids
to the marking of the linen and clothes. Later on the monotony of
alphabets and numerals was varied by the addition of the maker's name, the
year, an old saw or two, and ultimately flights into moral or religious
verse.
Alphabets and Numerals
Although a sampler without either alphabets or numerals would seem to be
lacking in the very essence of its being, it is almost certain that the
earliest forms did not contain either, but (like that in Plate II.) were
merely sheets of decorative designs. For the need of pattern-books of
designs would as certainly precede that of copy-books of alphabets and
numerals, as the pleasure of embroidering designs upon garments preceded
that of marking their ownership by names, and their quantity by figures. A
sampler would seldom, if ever, be used as a text-book for children to
learn letters or figures from, except with the needle, and the need for
lettering and figuring upon them would, therefore, as we have said, only
arise when garments or napery became sufficiently common and numerous to
need marking. This period had clearly been reached when our earliest dated
samplers were made, for, out of dated specimens of the seventeenth century
that I have examined, two-thirds carry the alphabet upon them, and the
majority have the numerals. It is rare to find later samplers without
them, those of the eighteenth century containing assortments of every
variety of lettering, Scottish ones especially laying themselves out for
elaborately designed and florid alphabets. With the advent of the
nineteenth century, however, the sampler began to lose its _raison
d'être_, and quite one-half of those then made omit either the alphabet,
or numerals, or both.
Signatures
Initials, which are followed by signatures, occur upon samplers of the
earliest date. It is true that one or two of the undated samplers, which
probably are earlier than any of the dated ones, carry neither, but as a
rule initials, or names, are found upon all the early specimens. Thus the
early one in Plate II. has the initials "M. C.," and the two dated in 1648
are marked respectively "A. S." and "Rebekah Fisher," and that of 1649,
"S. I. D." In later times unsigned samplers are the exception.
Inscriptions
The earliest inscriptions are practically only signatures, thus: "Mary
Hall is my name and when I was thirteen years of age I ended this in
1662"; or, somewhat amplified: "Ann Wattel is my name with my needle and
thred I ded this sam and if it hath en beter I wold----" (Remainder
illegible.)[4]
The earliest inscriptions, other than a signature such as the foregoing,
that I have met with are Lora Standish's (Fig. 43) and Miles Fletwood's
referred to under "American Samplers," dated 1654 (Fig. 44), and which has
the rhyme, "In prosperity friends will be plenty but in adversity not one
in twenty." The next, dated 1686, has a saw which is singularly
appropriate to a piece of needlework: "Apparell thy self with ivstice and
cloth thy self with chastitie so shall thov bee happi and thy works
prosper. Ann Tvrner" (Fig. 8). It is dated 1686.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--LONG SAMPLER, SIGNED ANN TURNER, 1686. _The late
Mr A. Tuer._]
In Plate VI., on a sampler of the same year, we have wording which is not
infrequently met with in the cycles which follow, as, for instance, in Mrs
Longman's sampler, dated 1696, and in one of 1701. It runs thus:--
"Look well to that thoo takest in Hand Its better worth then house or
Land. When Land is gone and Money is spent Then learning is most
Excelent Let vertue be Thy guide and it will keep the out of pride
Elizabeth Creasey Her Work done in the year 1686."
Dated in 1693-94 are the set of samplers recording national events, to
which reference will be made elsewhere. In the last-named year (1694) a
sampler bears the verse:
"Love thou thee Lord and he will be a tender father unto thee."
And one of 1698, "Be not wise in thy own eyes."--_Sarah Chamberlain._
[Illustration: PLATE V.--PORTION OF SAMPLER BY MARY HALL. DATED 1662.
This plate only shows the upper half of a remarkably preserved Sampler.
Like its fellow (_Plate VI._) it is distinguished by its admirable
decorative qualities of colour and design. The lower portion, not
reproduced, consists of three rows of designs in white thread, and four
rows of drawn work. The inscription, which is in the centre, and is
reproduced in part, runs thus:
"MaRy HaLL IS My NaMe AnD WHen I WaS THIRTeen
yeaRS OF AGE I ENDED THIS In 1662."
Size, 34 x 8-1/2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--SAMPLER BY ELIZ. BAKER. DATED 1739.]
A preference for saws rather than rhymes continues until the eighteenth
century is well advanced. The following are instances:--
"If you know Christ you need know little more if not Alls lost that
you have LaRnt before."--_Elisabeth Bayles_, 1703.
"The Life of Truth buteafieth Youth and maketh it lovely to behold
Blessed are they that maketh it there staey and pryes it more than
gold it shall be to them a ryoul diadem transending all earthly
joy."--_Elisabeth Chester_, 1712.
"Keep a strict guard over thy tongue, thine ear and thine eye, lest
they betray thee to talk things vain and unlawful. Be sparing of thy
words, and talk not impertinently or in passion. Keep the parts of thy
body in a just decorum, and avoid immoderate laughter and levity of
behaviour."--_Sarah Grimes_, 1730.
"Favour is deceitful And beauty is vain But a woman that feareth the
Lord She shall be praised."--_Mary Gardner, aged 9_, 1740.
Another undated one of the period is:--
"Awake, arise behold thou Hast thy Life ALIFe ThY Breath ABLASt at
night LY Down Prepare to have thy Sleep thy Death thy Bed Thy Grave."
One with leisure might search out the authors of the doggerel religious
and moral verses which adorned samplers. The majority are probably due to
the advent of Methodism, for we only find them occurring in any numbers in
the years which followed that event. It may be noted that "Divine and
Moral Songs for Children," by Isaac Watts, was first published in 1720,
that Wesley's Hymns appeared in 1736, and Dr Doddridge's in 1738.
We may here draw attention to the eighteenth-century fashion of setting
out the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments (Fig. 9), and other
lengthy manuscripts from the Old Testament in tablets similar to those
painted and hung in the churches of the time. The tablets in the samplers
are flanked on either side by full length figures of Christ and Moses, or
supported by the chubby winged cherubs of the period which are the common
adornments of the Georgian gravestones. In the exhibition at The Fine Art
Society's were specimens dated 1715, 1735, 1740, 1757, and 1762, the
Belief taking, in three instances, the place of the Commandments. On
occasions the pupil showed her proficiency in modern languages as well as
with the needle, by setting out the Lord's Prayer in French, or even in
Hebrew.
Contemporaneously with such lengthy tasks in lettering as the Tables of
the Law, came other feats of compassing within the confines of a sampler
whole chapters of the Bible, such as the 37th Chapter of Ezekiel, worked
by Margaret Knowles in 1738; the 134th Psalm (a favourite one), by
Elizabeth Greensmith in 1737, and of later dates the three by members of
the Brontë family.
The last-named samplers (Figs. 10, 11, and 12) by three sisters of the
Brontë family which, through the kindness of their owner, Mr Clement
Shorter, I am able to include here, have, it will be seen, little except a
personal interest attaching to them. In comparison with those which
accompany them they show a strange lack of ornament, and a monotony of
colour (they are worked in black silk on rough canvas) which deprive them
of all attractiveness in themselves. But when it is remembered who made
them, and their surroundings, these appear singularly befitting and
characteristic. For, as the dates upon them show, they were produced in
the interval which was passed by the sisters at home between leaving one
ill-fated school, which caused the deaths of two sisters, and their
passing to another. It was a mournful, straitened home in which they
lived, one in which it needed the ardent Protestantism that is breathed in
the texts broidered on the samplers to uphold them from a despair that can
almost be read between the lines. It was also, for one at least of
them, a time of ceaseless activity of mind and body, and we can well
understand that the child Charlotte, who penned, between the April in
which her sampler was completed and the following August, the manuscript
of twenty-two volumes, each sixty closely written pages, of a catalogue,
did not take long to work the sampler which bears her name. The ages of
the three girls when they completed these samplers were: Charlotte, 13;
Emily Jane, 11; and Anne, 10.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--SAMPLER BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË. DATED 1829. _Mr
Clement Shorter._]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--SAMPLER BY EMILY JANE BRONTË. DATED 1829. _Mr
Clement Shorter._]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--SAMPLER BY ANNE BRONTË. DATED 1830. _Mr Clement
Shorter._]
But the lengthiest task of all was set to six poor little mortals in the
Orphans' School, near Calcutta, in Bengal, East Indies. These wrought six
samplers "by the direction of Mistress Parker," dividing between them the
longest chapter in the Bible, namely, the 119th Psalm. It was evidently a
race against time, for on each is recorded the date of its commencement
and finish, being accomplished by them between the 14th of February and
the 23rd of June 1797. At the top of each is a view of a different portion
of the school; one of these is reproduced in Fig. 3.
Returning to the chronological aspect of sampler inscriptions. As the
eighteenth century advances we find verses coming more and more into
fashion, although at first they are hardly distinguishable from prose, as,
for instance, in the following of 1718:--
"You ask me why I love, go ask the glorius son, why it throw the world
doth run, ask time and fat [fate?] the reason why it flow, ask dammask
rosees why so full they blow, and all things elce suckets fesh which
forceeth me to love. By this you see what car my parents toock of me.
Elizabeth Matrom is my name, and with my nedell I rought the same, and
if my judgment had beene better, I would have mended every letter. And
she that is wise, her time will pris (e), she that will eat her
breakfast in her bed, and spend all the morning in dressing of her
head, and sat at deaner like a maiden bride, God in His mercy may do
much to save her, but what a cas is he in that must have her.
Elizabeth Matrom. The sun sets, the shadows fleys, the good consume,
and the man he deis."
More than one proposal has been made, in all seriousness, during the
compilation of this volume, that it would add enormously to its interest
and value if every inscription that could be found upon samplers were
herein set out at length. It is needless to say that it has been
altogether impossible to entertain such a task. It is true that the
feature of samplers which, perhaps, interests and amuses persons most is
the quaint and incongruous legends that so many of them bear, but I shall,
I believe, have quite sufficiently illustrated this aspect of the subject
if I divide it into various groups, and give a few appropriate examples of
each. These may be classified under various headings.
Verses commemorating Religious Festivals
These are, perhaps, more frequent than any others. Especially is this the
case with those referring to Easter, which is again and again the subject
of one or other of the following verses:--
"The holy feast of Easter was injoined
To bring Christ's Resurrection to our Mind,
Rise then from Sin as he did from the Grave,
That by his Merits he your Souls may save.
"White robes were worn in ancient Times they say,
And gave Denomination to this Day
But inward Purity is required most
To make fit Temples for the Holy Ghost."
_Mary Wilmot_, 1761.
Or the following:--
"See how the lilies flourish wite and faire,
See how the ravens fed from heaven are;
Never distrust thy God for cloth and bread
While lilies flourish and the Raven's fed."
_Mary Heaviside_, 1735.
Or the variation set out on Fig. 19.
[Illustration: PLATE VI.--PORTION OF SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH CREASEY. DATED
1686. _The Late Mr A. Tuer._
This Sampler, of which only the upper half is reproduced, is remarkable
not only for the decorative qualities of its design but for its perfect
state of preservation. It consists, besides the four rows which are seen,
of one other in which the drawn work is subservient in quantity to the
embroidery, and of seven rows in which the reverse is the case. The
inscription, which is set out below, alternates in rows with those of the
design. The butter colour of the linen ground is well reproduced in the
plate. The original measures 32×8.
INSCRIPTION.
"Look Well to that thou takest in
Hand Its Better Worth Then house
Or Land When Land is gone and
Money is spent Then learn
ing is most Excelent
Let vertue Be Thy guide and it will kee
p the out of pride Elizabeth Creasey
Her work Done in the year 1686."]
As also in that by Kitty Harison, in our illustration, Fig. 13.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--EASTER SAMPLER BY KITTY HARISON. DATED 1770.]
The Christmas verse is usually:--
"Glory to God in the Highest";
but an unusual one is that in Margaret Fiddes's sampler, 1773:--
"The Night soon past, it ran so fast. The Day
Came on Amain. Our Sorrows Ceast Our Hopes
Encreast once more to Meet again A Star appears
Expells all Fears Angels give Kings to
Know A Babe was sent With that intent to
Conquer Death below."
Ascension Day is marked by:--
"The heavens do now retain our Lord
Until he come again,
And for the safety of our souls
He there doth still remain.
And quickly shall our King appear
And take us by the hand
And lead us fully to enjoy
The promised Holy Land."
_Sarah Smith_, 1794.
Whilst Passion Week is recognisable in:--
"Behold the patient Lamb, before his shearer stands," etc.
The Crucifixion itself, although it is portrayed frequently in German
samplers (examples in The Fine Art Society's Exhibition were dated 1674,
1724, and 1776), is seldom, if ever, found in English ones, but for Good
Friday we have the lines:--
"Alas and did my Saviour bleed
For such a worm as I?"
Verses taking the Form of Prayers, Dedications, Etc.
Amongst all the verses that adorn samplers there were none which
apparently commended themselves so much as those that dedicated the work
to Christ. The lines usually employed are so familiar as hardly to need
setting out, but they have frequent varieties. The most usual is:--
"Jesus permit thy gracious name to stand
As the first Effort of young Phoebe's hand
And while her fingers on this canvas move
Engage her tender Heart to seek thy Love
With thy dear Children let her Share a Part
And write thy name thyself upon her Heart."
_Harriot Phoebe Burch, aged 7 years_, 1822.
A variation of this appears in the much earlier piece of Lora Standish
(Fig. 43).
Another, less common, but which again links the sampler with a religious
aspiration, runs:--
"Better by Far for Me
Than all the Simpsters Art
That God's commandments be
Embroider'd on my Heart."
_Mary Cole_, 1759.
Verses to be used upon rising in the morning or at bedtime are not
unfrequent; the following is the modest prayer of Jane Grace Marks
(1807).
"If I am right, oh teach my heart
Still in the right to stay,
If I am wrong, thy grace impart
To find that better way."
But one in my possession loses, by its ludicrousness, all the
impressiveness which was intended:--
"Oh may thy powerful word
Inspire a breathing worm
To rush into thy kingdom Lord
To take it as by storm.
Oh may we all improve
Thy grace already given
To seize the crown of love
And scale the mount of heaven."
_Sarah Beckett_, 1798.
Lastly, a prayer for the teacher:--
"Oh smile on those whose liberal care
Provides for our instruction here;
And let our conduct ever prove
We're grateful for their generous love."
_Emma Day_, 1837.
Verses Referring to Life and Death
The fact that "Religion never was designed to make our pleasures less"
appears seldom or never to have entered into the minds of those who set
the verses for young sampler workers. From the earliest days when they
plied their needle their thoughts were directed to the shortness of life
and the length of eternity, and many a healthy and sweet disposition must
have run much chance of being soured by the morbid view which it was
forced to take of the pleasures of life. For instance, a child of seven
had the task of broidering the following lines:--
"And now my soul another year
Of thy short life is past
I cannot long continue here
And this may be my last."
And one, no older, is made to declare that:--
"Thus sinners trifle, young and old,
Until their dying day,
Then would they give a world of gold
To have an hour to pray."
Or:--
"Our father ate forbidden Fruit,
And from his glory fell;
And we his children thus were brought
To death, and near to hell."
Or again:--
"There's not a sin that we commit
Nor wicked word we say
But in thy dreadful book is writ
Against the judgment day."
A child was not even allowed to wish for length of days. Poor little
Elizabeth Raymond, who finished her sampler in 1789, in her eighth year,
had to ask:--
"Lord give me wisdom to direct my ways
I beg not riches nor yet length of days
My life is a flower, the time it hath to last
Is mixed with frost and shook with every blast."
A similar idea runs through the following:--
"Gay dainty flowers go simply to decay,
Poor wretched life's short portion flies away;
We eat, we drink, we sleep, but lo anon
Old age steals on us never thought upon."
Not less lugubrious is Esther Tabor's sampler, who, in 1771, amidst
charming surroundings of pots of roses and carnations, intersperses the
lines:--
"Our days, alas, our mortal days
Are short and wretched too
Evil and few the patriarch says
And well the patriarch knew."
A very common verse, breathing the same strain, is:--
"Fragrant the rose, but it fades in time
The violet sweet, but quickly past the Prime
White lilies hang their head and soon decay
And whiter snow in minutes melts away
Such and so with'ring are our early joys
Which time or sickness speedily destroys."
And the melancholy which pervades the verse on the sampler of Elizabeth
Stockwell (Fig. 14) is hardly atoned for by the brilliant hues in which
the house is portrayed.
[Illustration: PLATE VII.--SAMPLER BY HANNAH DAWE. 17TH CENTURY. _Formerly
in the Author's Collection._
This is a much smaller specimen than we are wont to find in "long"
Samplers, for it measures only 18 × 7-1/4. It differs also from its
fellows in that the petals of the roses in the second and third of the
important bands are in relief and superimposed. The rest of the
decoration, on the other hand, partakes much more of an outline character
than is usual. As a specimen of a seventeenth-century Sampler it leaves
little to be desired. It is signed Hannah Dawe.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH STOCKWELL. 1832. _The late
Mr A. Tuer._]
The gruesomeness of the grave is forcibly brought to notice in a sampler
dated 1736:--
"When this you see, remember me,
And keep me in your mind;
And be not like the weathercock
That turn att every wind.
When I am dead, and laid in grave,
And all my bones are rotten,
By this may I remembered be
When I should be forgotten."
Ann French put the same sentiment more tersely in the lines:--
"This handy work my friends may have
When I am dead and laid in grav." 1766.
It is a relief to turn to the quainter and more genuine style of Marg't
Burnell's verse taken from Quarles's "Emblems," and dated 1720:--
"Our life is nothing but a winters day,
Some only breake their fast, & so away,
Others stay dinner, & depart full fed,
The deeper age but sups and goes to bed.
Hee's most in debt, that lingers out the day,
Who dyes betimes, has lesse and lesse to pay."
This verse has crossed the Atlantic, and figures on American samplers.
But the height of despair was not reached until the early years of the
nineteenth century, when "Odes to Passing Bells," and such like, brought
death and the grave into constant view before the young and hardened
sinner thus:--
ODE TO A PASSING BELL
"Hark my gay friend that solemn toll
Speaks the departure of a soul
'Tis gone, that's all we know not where,
Or how the embody'd soul may fare
Only this frail & fleeting breath
Preserves me from the jaws of death
Soon as it fails at once I'm gone
And plung'd into a world not known."
_Ann Gould Seller, Hawkchurch_, 1821.
Samplers oftentimes fulfilled the rôle of funeral cards, as, for instance,
this worked in black:--
"In memory of my beloved Father
John Twaites who died April 11 1829.
Life how short--Eternity how long.
Also of James Twaites
My grandfather who died Dec. 31, 1814.
How loved, how valu'd once, avails thee not
To whom related, or by whom begot,
A heap of dust alone remains of thee,
'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be."
Curiously enough, whilst compiling this chapter the writer came across an
artillery non-commissioned officer in the Okehampton Camp who, in the
intervals of attending to the telephone, worked upon an elaborate Berlin
woolwork sampler, ornamented with urns, and dedicated "To the Memory of my
dear father," etc.
Duties to Parents and Preceptors
That the young person who wrought the sampler had very much choice in the
selection of the saws and rhymes which inculcate obedience to parents and
teachers is hardly probable, and it is not difficult to picture the
households or schools where such doctrines as the following were set out
for infant hands to copy:--
"All youth set right at first, with Ease go on,
And each new Task is with new Pleasure done,
But if neglected till they grow in years
And each fond Mother her dear Darling spares,
Error becomes habitual and you'll find
'Tis then hard labour to reform the Mind."
The foregoing is taken from the otherwise delightful sampler worked by a
child with the euphonious name of Ann Maria Wiggins, in her seventh year,
that is reproduced in Plate XII.
Preceptors also appear to have thought it well to early impress upon
pliable minds the dangers which beset a child inclined to thoughts of
love:--
"Oh Mighty God 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 God 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 God'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.
God'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."
[Illustration: 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 space 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, "God 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 God 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 God'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 shine with intermingled dies,
Glide into Words, and strike us with Surprize."
_E. W._
As illustrations of tales the sampler of Sarah Young (Fig. 15) is an
unusual example. It deals with Sir Richard Steele's story of the loves of
Inkle and Yarico. Inkle, represented as a strapping big sailor, was cast
away in the Spanish Main, where he met and loved Yarico, an Indian girl,
but showed his baseness by selling her for a slave when he reached
Barbadoes in a vessel which rescued him. The story evidently had a
considerable, if fleeting, popularity, for it was dramatised.
The Design, Ornament and Colouring of Samplers
Whilst important clues to the age of a sampler may be gathered from its
form and legend, its design and colouring are factors from which almost as
much may be learnt.
Design can be more easily learned from considering in detail the
illustrations, which have been mainly chosen for their typifying one or
other form of it, but certain general features are so usually present that
they may be summarised here.
No one with any knowledge of design can look through the specimens of
samplers selected for this volume without noting, first, that it is, in
the earlier specimens, appropriate to the subject, decorative in
treatment, and lends itself to a variety of treatment with the needle.
Secondly, that the decoration is not English in origin, but is usually
derived from foreign sources. Indeed, if we are to believe an old writer
of the Jacobean time, the designs were
"Collected with much praise and industrie,
From scorching Spaine and freezing Muscovie,
From fertile France and pleasant Italie,
From Poland, Sweden, Denmarke, Germanie,
And some of these rare patternes have been set
Beyond the boundes of faithlesse Mahomet,
From spacious China and those Kingdomes East
And from great Mexico, the Indies West.
Thus are these workes farre fetch't and dearly bought,
And consequently good for ladyes thought."
Thirdly, that after maintaining a remarkable uniformity until the end of
the seventeenth century, design falls away, and with rare exceptions
continuously declines until it reaches a mediocrity to which the term can
hardly be applied.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--SAMPLER BY SARAH YOUNG. ABOUT 1750. _Mrs Head._]
The same features are noticeable in the colouring. The samplers of the
Caroline period are in the main marked by a softness and delicacy, with a
preference for tender and harmonious shades of pinks, greens, and blues,
but these quickly pass out of the schemes of colouring until their revival
a few years ago through the influence of Japan and the perspicuity, of Sir
Lazenby Liberty. This delicacy is not, as some suppose, due to time
having softened the colours, for examination shows that fading has seldom
taken place, in fact one of the most remarkable traits of the earlier
samplers is the wonderful condition of their colouring (see Mrs Longman's
sampler of 1656, Plate IV., as an example). Towards the end of the
seventeenth century the adoption of a groundwork of roughish
close-textured canvas of a canary hue also militated against this ensemble
of the colour scheme, which is now and again too vivid, especially in the
reds, a fact which may, in part, be due to their retaining their original
tint with a persistency that has not endured with the other dyes.
During the early Georgian era sampler workers seem to have passed through
a stage of affection for deep reds, blues, and greens, with which they
worked almost all their lettering. The same colours are met with in the
large embroidered curtains of the time; it is probably due to the
influence of the tapestries and the Chinese embroideries then so much in
vogue.
In the opening years of the eighteenth century a pride in lettering gave
rise to a series of samplers of little interest or artistic value,
consisting, as they did, of nothing else than long sentences, not readily
readable, and worked in silks in colours of every imaginable hue used
indiscriminately, even in a single word, without any thought bestowed on
harmony or effect of colouring.
Later on, towards the middle of the century, more sober schemes of colour
set in, consisting in the abandonment of reds and the employment of little
else than blues, greens, yellows, and blacks (see Plate IX.), which are
attractive through their quietness and unity. Subsequently but little
praise can be bestowed upon samplers so far as their design is concerned.
Occasionally, as in that of Mr Ruskin's ancestress (Plate X.), a result
which is satisfactory, both in colour and design, is arrived at, but this
is generally due to individual taste rather than to tuition or example. In
this respect samplers only follow in the wake of all the other
arts--furniture and silversmiths' work, perhaps, excepted, as regards both
of which the taste displayed was also individual rather than national.
An evil which cankered later sampler ornamentation was a desire for
novelty and variety. The earliest samplers exhibit few signs of attempts
at invention in design. A comparison of any number of them shows ideas
repeated again and again with the slightest variation. The same floral
motives are adapted in almost every instance, and one and all may well
have been employed since the days when they arrived from the Far East,
brought, it may be, by the Crusaders. But it is in no derogatory spirit
that I call attention to this lack of originality. A craftsman is doing a
worthier thing in assimilating designs which have shown their fitness by
centuries of use, patterns which are examples of fine decorative ornament
that really beautifies the object to which it is applied, than in
inventing weak and imperfect originals. No architect is accused of
plagiarism if he introduces the pointed arch, and the great designs of the
past are free and out of copyright. The Greek fret, or the Persian rose,
is as much the property of anyone as the daisy or the snowdrop, and it was
far better to make sound decorative pieces of embroidery on the lines of
these than to attempt, as was done later on, feeble originals, which have
nothing ornamental or decorative in their composition. The workers of the
East, when perfection was arrived at in a design, did not hesitate to
reproduce it again and again for centuries.
[Illustration: PLATE IX.--SAMPLER BY E. PHILIPS. DATED 1761. _Author's
Collection._
Were it not that this Sampler was produced by little Miss Philips at the
tender age of seven, there would be a probability that it was unique
through its containing a portrait of the producer. For in no other example
have we so many evidences pointing to its being a record of actual facts.
For instance, there is clearly shown a gentleman pointing to his wife (in
a hooped costume), and having round him his five girls of various ages,
the youngest in the care of a nurse. In the upper left corner is his son
in charge of a tutor, whilst on the right are two maid-servants, one being
a woman of colour. This fashion for black servants is further emphasised
by the negro boy with the dog. That these should be present in this family
is not remarkable, for by the lower illustration it is evident that Mr
Philips was a traveller who had crossed the seas in his ship to where
alligators, black swans and other rare birds abounded. The work was
executed in 1761, the second year of George the Third, whose monogram and
crown are supported by two soldiers in the costume of the period. It has
been most dexterously carried out by the young lady, and it is conceived
in a delicate harmony of greens and blues which was not uncommon at that
time. Size, 19 × 12-1/2. An adaptation of this Sampler has been utilised
as the drop scene to the play of "Peter Pan."]
But the mistress of a ladies' improving school would hardly like her
pupils to copy time after time the same designs--designs which perhaps
resembled those of a rival establishment. Such a one would be oblivious to
the fact that an ornamentalist is born not made, that the best design is
traditional, and that pupils would be far more worthily employed in
perpetuating ornamentation which had been invented by races intuitively
gifted for such a purpose, than in attempting feeble products of her
own brain. So, too, results show that she was, as a rule, unaware that
good design is better displayed in simplicity than in pretentiousness. As
that authority on design, the late Lewis Day, wrote in his volume on
Embroidery, "The combination of a good designer and worker in the same
person is an ideal very occasionally to be met with, and any attempt to
realise it generally fails."
Samplers show in increasing numbers as the end approaches that their
designers were ignorant of most of the elementary rules of ornamentation
in needlework, such, for instance, as that the pictorial is not a suitable
subject for reproduction, nor the delineation of the human figure, nor
that the floral and vegetable kingdom, whilst lending itself better than
aught else, should be treated from the decorative, and not the realistic
point of view.
We will now pass on to consider generally the forms of decoration most
usually met with.
Sampler Design: the Human Figure