diff options
Diffstat (limited to '41717.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 41717.txt | 5026 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 5026 deletions
diff --git a/41717.txt b/41717.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 614bfcf..0000000 --- a/41717.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5026 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries, by Marcus -Bourne Huish - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries - Second Edition - - -Author: Marcus Bourne Huish - - - -Release Date: December 27, 2012 [eBook #41717] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMPLERS AND TAPESTRY -EMBROIDERIES*** - - -E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations - (24 plates in color and 77 other illustrations). - See 41717-h.htm or 41717-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41717/41717-h/41717-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41717/41717-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - http://archive.org/details/samplerstapestry00huisrich - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - Superscripted characters are enclosed by curly brackets - (example: March 27{th}). - - The original text includes a diamond symbol that is - 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 BRONTE. 1829 29 - - 11. SAMPLER, BY EMILY JANE BRONTE. 1829 31 - - 12. SAMPLER, BY ANNE BRONTE. 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'etre_ 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'etre_, 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 x 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 x 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'etre_, 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 Bronte family. - -The last-named samplers (Figs. 10, 11, and 12) by three sisters of the -Bronte 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 BRONTE. DATED 1829. _Mr -Clement Shorter._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 11.--SAMPLER BY EMILY JANE BRONTE. DATED 1829. _Mr -Clement Shorter._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 12.--SAMPLER BY ANNE BRONTE. 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 32x8. - -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 x 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 role 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 x 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 - -Whilst embroideries in imitation of tapestries deal almost entirely with -the portrayal of the human figure, samplers of the same period, and that -the best, for the most part avoid it. This is somewhat remarkable, for the -design of the Renaissance, which was universally practised at the time -upon which we are dwelling, was almost entirely given up to weaving it -into other forms, and the volumes which treat of embroidery show how -frequently it occurs in foreign pieces of needlework. The omission is a -curious one, but the reason for it is, apparently, not far to seek. If we -examine the earlier pieces we shall see that practically one type of -figure only presents itself. Save in exceptional pieces, such as Mrs -Longman's early piece (Plate IV.), where the figures are clearly copied -from one of the small tapestry pieces so in vogue at that date (1656), or -Mrs Millett's piece (Fig. 16), the figures which appear upon samplers are -all cast in one mould, and in no way improve but rather mar the -composition. - -This last-named drawn-work sampler is a specimen altogether apart for -beauty of design and workmanship. Doubts have been expressed as to its -English origin, but portions of the ornament, such as the acorn, and the -Stuart S in the lowest row, are thoroughly English; besides, as we have -seen, design in almost every one of the seventeenth-century samplers is -infected with foreign motives. The uppermost panel is supposed to -represent Abraham, Sarah, and the Angel. To the left is the tent, with the -folds worked in relief, in a stitch so fine as to defy ordinary eyesight. -Sarah, who holds up a hand in astonishment at the angel's announcement, -has her head-dress, collar, and skirt in relief, the latter being sewn -with microscopic fleurs-de-lis. The winged angel to the left of Abraham -has a skirt composed of tiny scallops, which may represent feathers. A -rabbit browses in front of the tent. The centre of the second row is -occupied by a veiled mermaid, her tail covered with scalloped scale in -relief. She holds in either hand a cup and a mask. The lettering in the -two flanking panels is "S.I.D. 1649 A.I." The decorative motive of the -outer panels is peapods in relief, some open and disclosing peas. Roses -and tulips fill the larger square below, and these are followed by a row -(reversed) of tulips and acorns. Four other rows complete the sampler, -which only measures 18-1/2 x 6-3/4. In order to give it a larger size the -lowest row is not reproduced. I have seen another drawn-work sampler which -antedates that just described by a year. It is of somewhat coarse texture -but is good in design, and bears in a panel at the side initials and the -date. The Victoria and Albert Museum has also two somewhat similar -drawn-work samplers--one by Elizabeth Wood, dated 1666, which contains -the Stuart S's; the other (undated) has the arms of James I. - -[Illustration: FIG. 16.--DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER BY S. I. D. DATED 1649. _Mrs -C. F. Millett._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 17.--SAMPLER BY JEAN PORTER. 1709-10.] - -A type of figure prevalent in early samplers has puzzled collectors who -possess specimens containing it. It wears a close-fitting costume and has -arms extended, and has received the name of a "Boxer," presumably from its -attitude and costume. It and a companion are continuously depicted for -nearly a century, finally disappearing about 1742, but maintaining their -attitude with less variation than any other form of ornament, the only -alteration being in the form of the trophy which they hold in one hand. It -is this trophy, if we may use such a term, that negatives the idea of -their being combatant figures, and it almost with certainty places them in -the category of the Greek Erotes, the Roman Amores, or the Cupids of the -Renaissance. It is difficult to give a name to the trophy in most of the -samplers, and the worker was clearly often in doubt as to its structure. -In some it resembles a small vase with a lid, in others a spray with -branches or leaves on either side. In one of 1673 it takes the form of a -four-petalled flower, and in one of 1679 that of an acorn, which is -repeated in samplers of 1684, 1693, and 1694, this repetition being -probably due to the acorn being a very favourite subject for design under -the Stuarts. In a sampler of 1693 acorns are held in either hand. In one -of 1742 (Fig. 18), the object held is a kind of candelabra. The little -figures themselves preserve a singular uniformity of costume, which again -points to their being the nude Erotes, clothed, to suit the times, in a -tight-fitting jerkin and drawers. These are always of gayest colours. On -occasions (as in a sampler dated 1693) they don a coat, and have long -wigs, bringing them into line with the prevailing fashion. - -When these figures disappear their place is taken by those of our first -parents in the Garden of Eden, the incongruity of which is well depicted -in the sampler illustrated in Fig. 17. This piece of work, which took -nearly a year to complete--it was begun on 14th May 1709, and finished on -6th April 1710--is unlike any other that I have seen of that period, for -it antedates, by nearly half a century, the scenes from real life which -afterwards became part and parcel of every sampler. Adam and Eve became -quite common objects on samplers after 1760.[5] - -Mention need only be made here of the dressed figures which occur in -samplers dated during the reign of George the Third. They are sometimes -quaint (as in Plates IX. and XI.), but they hardly come into any scheme -of decoration. The squareness of the stitch used in later samplers renders -any imitation of painting such as was attempted altogether a failure. - -[Illustration: FIG. 18.--SAMPLER. NAME ILLEGIBLE. DATE 1742. _Formerly in -the Author's Collection._] - - -Sampler Design: Animals - -Animals in any true decorative sense hardly came into sampler ornament. -Whilst the tapestry pictures teem with them, so that one wanting in a lion -or stag is a rarity, in samplers, probably, the difficulty of obtaining -rounded forms with the stitch used in the large grained canvas was a -deterrent. The lion only being found on the Fletwood sampler of 1654 (Fig. -44) and the stag, which in tapestry pictures usurps the place of the -unicorn, appears but rarely on samplers before the middle of the -eighteenth century, when it came into fashion, and afterwards occurs with -uninterrupted regularity so long as samplers were made. - -This neglect of animals is hardly to be deplored, for when they do occur -they are little else than caricatures (see, for instance, those in Plate -III.). Birds, which lend themselves to needlework, appear in the later -samplers (Plate XI. and Fig. 18), but hardly as part of any decorative -scheme. - - -Sampler Design: Flowers - -With the practically insignificant exceptions which we have just noticed, -the ornamentation of the sampler was confined to floral and geometrical -motives, and whilst the latter were for the most part used in drawn-work -samplers, the former constituted the stock whence the greater part of the -decoration employed in the older examples was derived. - -Amongst the floral and vegetable kingdom the selection was a wide one, but -a few favourites came in for recognition in almost every sampler, partly -because of their decorative qualities, and partly from their being -national badges. With few exceptions they were those which were to be met -with in English seventeenth-century gardens, and undoubtedly, in some -instances, may have been adapted by the makers from living specimens. -Chief among the flowers was the rose, white and red, single and double, -the emblem for centuries previously of two great parties in the State, a -badge of the Tudor kings, a part of the insignia of the realm, and -occupying a foremost place upon its coinage. In sampler ornamentation it -is seldom used either in profile or in bud, but generally full face, and -more often as a single than as a double flower. As a form of decoration it -may have been derived from foreign sources, but it clearly owed its -popularity to the national significance that attached to it. - -The decorative value of the pink or carnation has been recognised from the -earliest times, and a piece of Persian ornament is hardly complete without -it. It is not surprising, therefore, that the old sampler workers utilised -it to the full, and in fact it appears oftener than the rose in -seventeenth-century specimens. Ten of the thirteen exhibits of that -century at The Fine Art Society's Exhibition in 1900 contained it as -against seven where the rose was figured. It maintains this position -throughout, and the most successful of the borders of bordered samplers -are those where it is utilised. Specimens will be found in Plates III., -IV., and VI. - -The decorative value of the honeysuckle was hardly appreciated, and it -only appeared on samplers of the date of 1648 (Plate III.), 1662 (Plate -V.), 1668, 1701, and 1711, in the Exhibition, and the undated one -reproduced in Fig. 4. - -[Illustration: PLATE X.--SAMPLER BY CATHERINE TWEEDALL. DATED 1775. _Mrs -Arthur Severn._ - -The Sampler is noteworthy not only on account of its harmonious colour -scheme, its symmetry of parts, and the excellence of its needlework, but -as having been wrought by a young lady who afterwards became Mrs Ruskin, -and the grandmother of John Ruskin. Her name, Cathrine Tweedall, is worked -in the lower circle, and is illegible in the otherwise admirable -reproduction, owing to its being in a faded shade of the fairest pink. The -verse was probably often read by her renowned grandson, and may perchance -have spurred his determination to strive in the race in which he won so -"high a reward." Mrs Arthur Severn, to whom the Sampler belongs, notes -that the Jean Ross whose name also appears upon it was the sister of the -great Arctic explorer. The date of the Sampler is 1775.] - -Sampler workers were very faithful to the strawberry, which, after -appearing in almost every one of the seventeenth-century long samplers, -was a favourite object for the later borders, and it may be seen -almost unaltered in specimens separated in date by a century at least. We -give in Fig. 31 a very usual version of it. (See also Plate XIII.) - -[Illustration: FIG. 19.--SAMPLER BY MARY ANDERSON. 1831. _Lady -Sherborne._] - -Other fruits and flowers which now and again find a place are the fig, -which will be seen in Plate III.; the pineapple, the thistle (Fig. 21), -and the tulip in samplers dated 1662, 1694, 1760, and 1825 (Plate XIII.). - -Although the oak tree acquired political significance after the flight of -Charles II., that fact can in no way account for such prominence being -attached to its fruit and its foliage as, for instance, is the case in -samplers dated 1644 and 1648 (Plate III.), where varieties of these are -utilised in a most decorative fashion in several of the rows of ornament, -or in another of the following years (Fig. 16). But, curiously enough, -after appearing in almost every seventeenth-century sampler, it -disappeared entirely at the commencement of the eighteenth century. - - -Sampler Design: Crowns, Coronets, Etc. - -The crown seems to have been suddenly seized upon by sampler makers as a -form of decoration, and for half a century it was used with a tiresome -reiteration. It had, of course, been largely used in Tudor decoration, and -on the restoration of the monarchy it would be given prominence. But it -probably was also in vogue because it lent itself to filling up spaces -caused by alphabets not completing a line, and also because it allowed of -variation through the coronets used by different ranks of nobility. We -have seen in the sampler, Fig. 20, that the coronet of each order was used -with a letter beneath, indicating duke, earl, etc. On occasions crowns -were also used with some effect as a border. It is possible that the -fashion for coronets was derived from foreign samplers, where this form -of decoration was frequently used about the end of the seventeenth -century, doubtless owing to the abundance of ennobled personages; they may -well have come over with many other fancies which followed in the train of -the House of Hanover. The earliest sampler in the Exhibition before -referred to which bore a crown was one of 1693; but the coronet was there -placed in conjunction with the initials M. D., and might be that of a -titled lady who worked it. After that it appeared in one dated 1705 (where -it was clearly a royal one connected with "Her Majesti Queen Anne"), and -in samplers dated 1718, 1726, 1728 (1740, in which there were at least -fifty varieties), and so on almost yearly up to 1767, after which it -gradually disappeared, two only out of seventy subsequent samplers -containing it. These were dated 1798 and 1804. In countries where almost -every family bore a rank which warranted the use of a coronet, there would -be a reason for their appearance as part of what would have to be -embroidered on table linen, etc. - -[Illustration: FIG. 20.--SAMPLER. SCOTTISH (?). 18TH CENTURY. _Formerly in -the Author's Collection._ - -NOTE.--The bright colouring, coarse canvas, and ornate lettering of this -piece suggest a Scottish origin. It dates from about 1730, and is one of -the earliest of the bordered samplers, the border being at present an -altogether insignificant addition. It is also one of the first specimens -of decoration with crowns and coronets, the initials underneath standing -for king, duke, marquis, earl, viscount, lord, count, and baron.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 21.--SAMPLER BY J. H. [JANE HEATH]. A.D. 1725. _Mr -Ashby Sterry._] - -The tiny sampler with crown illustrated in Fig. 21 was one of four -contributed to the Exhibition by Mr Ashby Sterry, each of them -representing a generation in his family. It is unfinished, the background -only having been completed in the lower half; its crown and thistle denote -its Scottish origin. - -[Illustration: FIG. 22.--SAMPLER BY MARY BYWATER. 1751. _Formerly in the -Author's Collection._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 23.--HEART-SHAPED SAMPLER BY MARY IVES. DATED 1796. -_Miss Haldane._ - -NOTE.--This delightful little sampler is reproduced in its full size, and -is most delicately adorned with a pink frilled ribbon edging. We do not -know which of the three ladies whose names it bears worked it, or to which -of them the lines, "Be unto me kind and true as I be unto you," were -addressed. The date, it will be seen, is 1796, and it shows that at the -end of the century there was still an affection for the little flying -Cupids so usual upon eighteenth-century gravestones. We have remarked upon -the absence of the cross in samplers: even here we do not find it, -although we have the heart and anchor.] - - -Sampler Design: Hearts - -This emblem, which one would have imagined to be a much more favourite -device with impressionable little ladies than the crown, is more seldom -met with. In fact, it only figured on four of the hundreds of samplers -which composed the Exhibition, and in three of these cases it was in -conjunction with a crown. When it is remembered how common the heart used -to be as an ornament to be worn, and how it is associated with the crown -in foreign religious Art, its infrequency is remarkable. The unusually -designed small sampler (the reproduction being almost the size of the -original), Fig. 22, dated 1751, simply worked in pale blue silk, on a fine -khaki-coloured ground, has a device of crowns within a large heart. Fig. -23 shows a sampler in the form of a heart, and has, in conjunction with -this symbol, anchors. It is dated 1796. - - -The Borders to Samplers - -The sampler with a border was the direct and natural outcome of the -sampler in "rows." A case, for instance, probably occurred, as in Fig. -24,[6] where a piece of decoration had a vacant space at its sides, and -resort was at once had to a portion of a row, in this case actually the -top one. From this it would follow as a matter of course that the -advantage, from a decorative point of view, of an ornamental framework was -seen and promptly followed. The earliest border I have seen is that -reproduced in Fig. 25, from a sampler dated 1726, but it is certain that -many must exist between that date and 1700, the date upon the sampler in -Fig. 24 just referred to. The 1726 border consists of a pattern of -trefoils, worked in alternating red and yellow silks, connected by a -running stem of a stiff angular character; the device being somewhat akin -to the earlier semi-border in Fig. 24. - -[Illustration: FIG. 24.--DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER BY S. W. A.D. 1700. _Mrs C. J. -Longman._] - -It is astonishing with what persistency the samplerists followed the -designs which they had had handed to them in the "row" samplers, confining -their attentions to a few favourites, and repeating them again and again -for a hundred and fifty years, and losing, naturally, with each repetition -somewhat of the feeling of the original. We give a few examples which -show this persistency of certain ideas. - -[Illustration: FIG. 25.--BORDER OF MARY LOUNDS'S SAMPLER. A.D. 1726.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 26.--BORDER OF MARY HEAVISIDE'S SAMPLER. A.D. 1735.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 27.--BORDER OF ELIZABETH GREENSMITH'S SAMPLER. AGED -10. JULY YE 26, 1737.] - -The border in Fig. 26 is dated 1735, and presents but little advance from -a decorative point of view. It is the production of Mary Heaviside, and is -upon an Easter sampler, which bears, besides the verse to the Holy Feast -of Easter, the Lord's Prayer and the Belief. The border may possibly -typify the Cross and the Tree of Life. - -Elizabeth Greensmith's sampler (Fig. 27), worked two years later, in 1737, -is more pretentious in form, the body of the work being taken up with a -spreading tree, beneath which repose a lion and a leopard. The border -consists of an ill-composed and ill-drawn design of yellow tulips, -blue-bells, and red roses. The stem, which runs through this and almost -every subsequent design, is here very feebly arranged; it is, however, -only fair to say that the work is that of a girl in her tenth year. - -[Illustration: FIG. 28.--BORDER OF MARGARET KNOWLES'S SAMPLER. AGED 9. -A.D. 1738.] - -Margaret Knowles's sampler (Fig. 28), made in the next year--A.D. 1738--is -the earliest example I know of the use on a border of that universal -favourite the pink, which is oftentimes hardly distinguishable from the -corn blue-bottle. In the present instance it is, however, flattened almost -out of recognition, whilst the design is spoilt by the colossal -proportions of the connecting stem. In the second row of the sampler, Fig. -24, it is seen in a much simpler form, and it will also be found in Plate -VI. - -[Illustration: FIG. 29.--BORDER TO SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH TURNER. A.D. -1771.] - -[Illustration: PLATE XI.--SAMPLER BY ANN CHAPMAN. DATED 1779. _Mrs C. J. -Longman._ - -Incongruity between the ornament and the lettering of a Sampler could -hardly be carried to a more ludicrous extreme than in Ann Chapman's, which -is here reproduced in colour. The two points of Agur's prayer, which fills -the panel, are that before he dies vanity shall be removed far from him, -and that he shall have neither poverty nor riches. Yet as surroundings and -supporters to this appeal we have two figures posing as mock shepherd and -shepherdess, and decked out in all the vanities of the time. Agur's prayer -was apparently often selected, for we see it again in the Sampler of Emily -Jane Bronte (Fig. 10), but there it has the quietest of ornament to -surround it, and it is worked in black silk; whereas in the present case -there is no Sampler in the collection where the whole sheaf of colours has -been more drawn upon.] - -The remaining illustrations of borders are selected as being those -where the design is well carried out, and as showing how the types -continue. The first (Fig. 29), worked by Elizabeth Turner in 1771, -represents a conventional rose in two aspects; the second, by Sarah Carr -(Fig. 30), in 1809, is founded on the honeysuckle; whilst the third (Fig. -31) is a delightfully simple one of wild strawberries that is frequently -found in samplers from the earliest (in Plate II.) onwards. In that from -which this example is taken, worked by Susanna Hayes in 1813, it is most -effective with its pink fruit and green stalks and band. It will be -noticed that it even crossed the Atlantic, for it reappears in Mr -Pennell's American sampler, Plate XIII. - -[Illustration: FIG. 30.--BORDER TO SAMPLER BY SARAH CARR. A.D. 1809.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 31.--BORDER TO SAMPLER BY SUSANNA HAYES. A.D. 1813.] - -How even the border degenerated as the nineteenth century advanced may be -seen in the monotonous Greek fret used in the three samplers of the -Brontes (Figs. 10, 11, 12), and in that of Mary Anderson (Fig. 19). - - -Miscellanea respecting Samplers - -Under this heading we group what remains to be said concerning samplers, -namely:-- - - -The Age and Sex of Sampler Workers - -In modern times samplers have been almost universally the product of -children's hands; but the earliest ones exhibit so much more proficiency -that it would seem to have been hardly possible that they could have been -worked by those who were not yet in their teens. This supposition is in a -way supported by an examination of samplers. Of those prior to the year -1700, I have seen but one in which the age of the maker is mentioned. It -reads thus, "Mary Hall is my name and when I was thirteen years of age I -ended this in 1662." On the other hand, the rhyme which we quoted at page -50, attached to one in Mrs Longman's possession, which, although undated, -is certainly of the seventeenth century, points to it being the work of a -grown-up and possibly a married lady. - -It is not until we reach the year 1704 that I have found a sampler (Fig. -32) which was the product of a child under ten, namely, that bearing the -inscription "Martha Haynes ended her sampler in the 9th year of her age, -1704." - -This is quickly followed by one by "Anne Michel, the daughter of John and -Sarah Michel ended Nov. the 21 being 11 years of age and in the 3 year of -Her Majesti Queen Anne and in the year of ovr Lord 1705." - -1740 is the next date upon one worked by Mary Gardner, aged 9 (page 27). - -[Illustration: FIG. 32.--SMALL SAMPLER BY MARTHA HAYNES. DATED 1704. _Late -in the Author's Collection._] - -From 1750 onwards the majority of samplers are endorsed with the age of -the child, and the main interest in the endorsements lies in the -remarkable proficiency which many of them exhibit, considering the youth -of the worker, and in the tender age at which they were wrought. Almost -one half of the tiny workers have not reached the space when their years -are marked with two figures, and we even have one mite of six producing -the piece of needlework reproduced in Fig. 33, and talking of herself as -in her prime in the verse set out upon it. - -[Illustration: FIG. 33.--SAMPLER BY SARAH PELHAM, AGED 6.] - -But perhaps the most remarkable achievement is the "goldfinch" sampler -illustrated in Plate XII., which was worked by Ann Maria Wiggins at the -age of seven. - -It is not unreasonable to suppose that samplers were on occasions worked -by children of both sexes. One's own recollection carries back to canvas -and Berlin wool-work having been one way of passing the tedious hours of a -wet day. But specimens where the Christian name of a male appears are few -and far between, and more often than not they are worked in conjunction -with others, which would seem to indicate that they are only there as part -and parcel of a list (which is not unusual) of the family. In the sampler -illustrated in Fig. 34 the boy's name, Robert Henderson, is in black silk, -differing from any of the rest of the lettering, which is perhaps -testimony to his having produced it. This sampler shows the perpetuation -until 1762 of the form in which rows are the predominant feature. A -sampler, formerly in the author's collection, was more clearly that of a -boy, being signed Lindsay Duncan, Cuper [_sic_], 1788. Another Scottish -one bears the name or names Alex. Peter Isobel Dunbar, whilst a third of -the same kind is signed "Mathew was born on April 16, 1764, and sewed this -in August, 1774." - - -The Size of Samplers - -The ravages of time and the little value attached to them have probably -reduced to very small numbers the tiny samplers such as those which are -seen in Figs. 35 and 36, and which must have usually been very infantine -efforts. Those illustrated, however, show the progress made by two -sisters, Mary and Lydia Johnson, in two years. Presumably Lydia was the -elder, and worked the sampler which bears her name and the date 1784. This -was copied by her sister Mary in the following year, but in a manner which -showed her to be but a tyro with the needle; nor much advanced in -stitchery in the following year, in which she attempted the larger -sampler which bears her name. Lydia, on the other hand, in the undated -sampler, but which was probably made in the year 1786, showed progress in -everything except the power of adapting the well-known design of a pink to -the small sampler on which she was engaged, as to which she clearly could -not manage the joining of the pattern at the corners. The originals of -these samplers measure from four to six inches in their largest -dimensions. - -[Illustration: FIG. 34.--SCOTTISH SAMPLER BY ROBERT HENDERSON. DATED -1762.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 35.--SMALL SAMPLERS BY MARY JOHNSON. 1785-6. _Author's -Collection._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 36.--SMALL SAMPLERS BY LYDIA JOHNSON. 1784. _Author's -Collection._] - - -The Place of Origin of Samplers - -Collectors, in discussing samplers among themselves, have wondered whether -it would be possible to assign differences in construction and material to -their having been produced in localities where the characteristic forms -and patterns had not permeated. But those specimens which the author has -examined, and which by a superscription gave a clue as to their place of -origin, certainly afford insufficient foundation for such assumptions. In -the first place, samplers so marked are certainly not sufficiently -numerous to warrant any opinion being formed on the subject, and, as to -those not so marked, the places where they have been found cannot be taken -into account as being their birthplaces, as families to whom they have for -long belonged may naturally have removed from quite different parts of the -kingdom since the samplers were made. - -It is surprising how seldom the workers of samplers deemed it necessary to -place upon them the name of the district which they inhabited. There are -few who followed the example of the girl who describes herself on a -sampler dated 1766, thus:-- - - "Ann Stanfer is my name - And England is my nation - Blackwall is my dwelling place - And Christ is my salvation." - -[Illustration: FIG. 37.--SCOTTISH SAMPLER BY MARY BAYLAND. 1779.] - -The only names of places in England recorded on samplers in The Fine Art -Society's Exhibition were Chipping Norton, Sudbury, Hawkchurch, and -Tottenham, and certain orphan schools or hospitals, such as Cheltenham and -Ashby. Curiously enough, the Scottish lassies were more particular in -adding their dwelling-place, thus, in the sampler reproduced in Fig. 37, -and which is interesting as a survival as late as 1779 of a long sampler, -Mary Bayland gives her residence as Perth, and others have been noted at -Cupar, Dunbar, and elsewhere in Scotland. It might be expected that these -Scottish ones would differ materially from those made far away in the -southern parts of the kingdom, but whilst those in Figs. 32 and 34 have a -certain resemblance and difference from others in the decoration of their -lettering, that in Fig. 36 might well have been worked in England, showing -that there were no local peculiarities such as we might expect. - -It will be seen that two of the American samplers figured here have their -localities indicated, namely Miss Damon's school at Boston (Fig. 50) and -Brooklyn (Fig. 47). - - -Samplers as Records of National Events - -[Illustration: FIG. 38.--SAMPLER BY MARY MINSHULL. DATED JUNE 29, 1694.] - -A largely added interest might have been given to samplers had a fashion -arisen of lettering them with some historical occurrence which was then -stirring the locality, but unfortunately their makers very rarely rose to -so much originality. Three rare instances were to be seen in The Fine Art -Society's Exhibition. These, curiously enough, came together from -different parts of the country--one from Nottingham, a second from -Hockwold, Norfolk, and the third from the author's collection in -London--but they were worked by two persons only, one by Mary Minshull, -and two by Martha Wright. They are all unusual in their form of decoration -(as will be seen by that illustrated in Fig. 38), and were practically -similar in design, colour, and execution, each having a set of single -pinks worked in high relief in the centre of the sampler. Their presence -together was certainly a testimony to the all-embracing character of -the Exhibition. The inscriptions upon them were as follows:-- - - (1) "The Prince of Orang landed in the West of England on the 5th of - November 1688, and on the 11th April 1689 was crowned King of England, - and in the year 1692 the French came to invade England, and a fleet of - ships sent by King William drove them from the English seas, and took, - sunk, and burned twenty-one of their ships."--Signed "_Martha Wright, - March 26th, 1693_." - - (2) "There was an earthquake on the 8th September 1692 in the City of - London, but no hurt tho it caused most part of England to - tremble."--Signed "_Mary Minshull_." - -[Illustration: PLATE XII.--SAMPLER BY ANN MARIA WIGGINS. 19TH CENTURY. -_Mrs C. J. Longman._ - -This "Goldfinch" Sampler was one of the most elaborate Samplers in the -Bond Street Exhibition, and is really a wonderful production for a child -of seven years of age. It was probably made early in the nineteenth -century.] - -The third was a combination of the two inscriptions. - -Nothing of a similar character in work of the eighteenth century has come -under my notice, but the Peace of 1802 produced the following lines on a -sampler:-- - - "Past is the storm and o'er the azure sky serenely shines the sun - With every breeze the waving branches nod their kind assent." - - ON PEACE - - "Hail England's favor'd Monarch: round thy head - Shall Freedom's hand Perennial laurels spread. - Fenc'd by whose sacred leaves the royal brow - Mock'd the vain lightnings aim'd by Gallic foe - Alike in arts and arms illustrious found - Proudly Britannia sits with laurel crown'd - Invasion haunts her rescued Plains no more - And hostile inroads flies her dangerous shore - Where'er her armies march her ensigns Play - Fame points the course and glory leads the way. - - * * * * * - - O Britain with the gifts of Peace thou'rt blest - May thou hereafter have Perpetual rest - And may the blessing still with you remain - Nor cruel war disturb our land again. - - "The Definitive Treaty of Peace was signed March 27{th} 1802 - proclaimed in London April the 29{th} 1802--Thanksgiving June the 1st - 1802. - - _Mary Ann Crouzet - Dec{br} 17 1802._" - -Later samplers gave expression to the universal sympathy elicited by the -death of Queen Charlotte. - - -Map Samplers - -Needlework maps may very properly be classed under the head of samplers, -for they originated in exactly the same way, namely, as specimens of -schoolgirl proficiency, which when taken home were very lasting memorials -of the excellence of that teaching termed "the use of the globes." - -Maps were only the product of the latter half of the eighteenth century; -at least, none that I have seen go back beyond that time, the earliest -being dated 1777. Their interest for the most part is no more than that of -a map of a contemporary date; for instance, the North America reproduced -in Fig. 39 has nothing whatever in the way of needlework to recommend it, -but it shows what any map would, namely, how little was known at that date -of the Western States or Canada. - -A map of Europe in the Exhibition, dated 1809, was a marvellous specimen -of patient proficiency in lettering, every place of note being wonderfully -and minutely sewn in silk. The executant was Fanny le Gay, of Rouen. - -[Illustration: FIG. 39.--MAP OF NORTH AMERICA BY M.A.K. 1738.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 40.--MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES BY ANN BROWN.] - -A map printed on satin or other material was sometimes worked over, not -always as regards all the lettering, but as to the markings of the -degrees of latitude and longitude,[7] and some of the principal names. -These have naturally less interest and value as specimens of needlework -than those which are entirely hand worked, although for the purposes of -geographical reference they were at all events reliable, which is more -than can be said for some of the original efforts; as, for instance, that -of little Ann Brown, whose map of England and Wales is reproduced (Fig. -40). Starting bravely, her delineation of Northumberland takes her well -down the canvas, so that by the time she has reached Newcastle she has -carried it abreast of Dumfries in Scotland, and Cork in Ireland! Yorkshire -is so expansive that it grows downward beyond Exeter and Lundy Island, -which last-named places have, however, by some mishap, crept up to the -northward of Manchester and Leeds. It is a puzzle to think where the -little lassie lived who could consort London with Wainfleet, the River -Thames with the Isle of Wight, Lichfield with Portland, or join France to -England. Although one would imagine that the dwelling-place of the -sempstress would usually be made notable in the map either by large -lettering or by more florid colouring, we have not found this to be the -case. - -[Illustration: FIG. 41.--MAP OF AFRICA. DATED 1784.] - -The map of Africa (Fig 41), which is surrounded by a delightful border of -spangles, and which seems to have been used as a fire-screen, is -interesting now that so much more is known of the continent, for many of -the descriptions have undergone considerable change, such as the Grain -Coast, Tooth Coast, and Slave Coast, which border on the Gulf of Guinea. -The sampler is also noteworthy as having been done at Mrs Arnold's, which -was presumably a school in Fetherstone Buildings, High Holborn, hardly the -place where one would expect to find a ladies' seminary nowadays. - - -American Samplers - -Tapestry pictures have such a Royalist air about them that it is hardly -probable that they found favour with the Puritan damsels of the Stuart -reigns, and, consequently, it may be doubted whether the fashion for -making them crossed the Atlantic to the New World with the Pilgrim -Fathers, or those who followed in their train. Samplers, on the other -hand, with their moralities and their seriousness, would seem to be quite -akin to the old-fashioned homes of the New Englanders, and doubtless -there must be many specimens hanging in the houses of New England and -elsewhere which were produced from designs brought from the Old Country, -but over which a breath of native art has passed which imparts to them a -distinctive interest and value. Three notable ones, we know, crossed the -Atlantic with the early settlers. One, that of Anne Gower (spelled Gover -on the sampler), first wife of Governor Endicott (Fig. 42), is now a -cherished possession of the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. As -Governor Endicott's wife arrived at Salem in 1628, and died the following -year, we have in her sampler the earliest authentic one on record. The -inscription of very well-designed and elaborately-worked letters, -difficult to distinguish in the photograph, is:-- - - ANNE [Diamond] GOVER - - S T V W X Y Z - J K L M N O P Q R - A a B C d E F G H - -[Illustration: FIG. 42.--DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER BY ANNE GOVER, FIRST WIFE OF -GOVR. J. ENDICOTT.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 43.--SAMPLER OF LOARA STANDISH, DAUGHTER OF THE -PILGRIM FATHER, MILES STANDISH, NOW IN PILGRIM HALL, PLYMOUTH, U.S.A.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 44.--SAMPLER BEARING NAMES OF MILES AND ABIGAIL -FLEETWOOD. DATED 1654. _Property of Mrs Frank Boxer._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 45.--SAMPLER BY ABIGAIL RIDGWAY. 1795. _Mr A. D. -Drake's Collection._] - -[Illustration: PLATE XIII.--AMERICAN SAMPLER BY MARTHA C. BARTON. DATED -1825. _Mr Joseph Pennell._ - -Mr Joseph Pennell's Sampler, which finds a place here as a specimen of -American work, has little to distinguish it from its fellows that were -produced in England in the reign of George IV. The border, it is true, -only preserves its uniformity on two of the four sides, but where it does -it is designed on an old English pattern, that of the wild strawberry. So, -too, we find the ubiquitous stag and coach dogs, Noahs, ash trees, birds, -and flower baskets.] - -The sampler itself is a beautiful specimen of drawn work, and the -lettering is the same colour as the linen. If, as must probably be the -case, it was worked by her as a child, it was made in England, and its -date may be the end of the first decade of the seventeenth century. The -second, by Lora Standish, is now in the Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth (Fig. 43). -Lora was the daughter of Miles Standish, the Pilgrim Father, who went to -Boston in February 1621, and it bears the inscription:-- - - "Loara Standish is My Name - Lord Guide My Heart that I may do Thy Will - And fill my hands with such convenient Skill - As will conduce to Virtue void of Shame - And I will give the Glory to Thy Name." - -[Illustration: FIG. 46.--SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH EASTON. 1795. _Mr A. W. -Drake's Collection._] - -The earliest dated sampler in America of which I have cognisance, and one -which may have been worked in that country, is that bearing the names of -Miles and Abigail Fletwood (Fleetwood?) (Fig. 44). It is dated 1654, and -has been owned by the descendants of Mrs Henry Quincy since 1750, and is -now in the possession of Mrs Frank Boxer of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who -has kindly furnished me with particulars concerning it. It bears the -following inscription:-- - - "In prosperity friends will be plenty, - But in adversity not one in twenty," - -which, it is thought, may possibly have reference to the reverses of Miles -Fletwood and his relationship to Cromwell. It is somewhat remarkable for a -sampler to bear the names of husband and wife for it necessarily -presupposes its having been worked after marriage. - -[Illustration: FIG. 47.--SAMPLER BY MARIA E. SPALDING. 1815. _Dr J. W. -Walker's Collection._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 48.--SAMPLER BY MARTHA C. HOOTON. 1827. _Mr A. W. -Drake's Collection._] - -If one may judge from the photographs which collectors in America have -sent me, and for which I have to thank Dr James W. Walker of Chicago and -Mr A. W. Drake of New York, and those noted in an article on the subject -in the _Century Magazine_,[8] specimens between the period just named, -that is the middle of the seventeenth century and the end of the -eighteenth century, are rare. We have but two such figured, each dated -1795, and, as will be seen by the illustrations (Figs. 45 and 46), they -are entirely British in character. I am glad, however, to add several -interesting specimens of later date from the collections of these -gentlemen. Unfortunately, not having the originals, I can only give them -in monochrome. Plate XIII., however, represents in colour an American -sampler. It belongs to Mr Pennell, the well-known artist and author, and -was worked by an ancestress, Martha C. Barton, in 1825. From Mrs Longman's -collection I also give (Fig. 51) one, worked in silk on a curious loose -canvas, which was obtained by her in Massachusetts, and has the following -inscription:-- - - "Persevere. Be not weary in well doing. - Youth in society are like flowers - Blown in their native bed, 'tis there alone - Their faculties expand in full bloom - Shine out, there only reach their proper use. - - "Wrought by Lydia J. Cotton. Aged 9 years. August 27. 1819. Love - learning and improve." - - -Foreign Samplers - -It has been my endeavour in this volume to confine the survey of samplers -and embroideries entirely to the production of the English-speaking race, -in part because other authors have drawn almost all their material from -foreign sources, and the subject is sufficiently ample and interesting -without having recourse to them, and also because the collections -containing foreign samplers or embroideries are very few, and although -they, perhaps, surpass the efforts of our own countrywomen in the variety -of their stitches and the proficiency with which they are executed, they -take a less important place where interest of subject is the main -recommendation. - -[Illustration: FIG.--49. AMERICAN SAMPLER OF THE LAMBORN FAMILY. 1827. _Mr -A. W. Drake's Collection._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 50.--AMERICAN SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH M. FORD. _Dr Jas. -W. Walker's Collection._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 51.--AMERICAN SAMPLER BY LYDIA J. COTTON. DATED 1819. -_Mrs C. J. Longman._] - -Nevertheless as the acquisition of them may add an interest to those who -never fail on their travels to inspect the contents of every curiosity -shop they come across, the following description of them which Mrs C. J. -Longman, who possesses a most important collection, has been good enough -to furnish, may not be out of place. - -"My collection of foreign samplers includes specimens from the following -countries: Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, -Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, but by far the largest number of -my foreign samplers come from Germany, and, next to English ones, the -German seem more easy to obtain than those of any other country. In Spain -and Portugal there are also a fair number in the market. - -"The dated samplers abroad seem to begin at about the same period as in -England, namely, the middle of the seventeenth century. The earliest -specimens that I possess from these several countries are as follows: -Germany, 1674; Switzerland, 1675; Italy, seventeenth century (undated); -Spain, early eighteenth century (undated); Belgium, 1724; Holland, 1726; -Denmark, 1742; France, 1745; Portugal, early nineteenth century (undated). - -"There are a few marked characteristics which seem to belong to the -different countries, which it is interesting to note. - -"In the German samplers, the initials of the worker and the date are -almost always given, enclosed together, in a little garland or frame; but -I have never seen the name signed in full. I have only once seen a German -sampler with an inscription on it; in that case 'Fur uns geoffert' is -worked above a representation of the Crucifixion. - -"The seventeenth-century German samplers are rather small, and much -squarer in shape than English ones of the same date. With the eighteenth -century long, narrow ones came in, a quite common size being 44 in. long, -by about 10 in. broad, the usual width of the linen; the selvage is left -at the top and bottom. - -"There is seldom much arrangement in the earlier German samplers. They -usually have one alphabet, and various conventional flowers, birds, and -other designs scattered over them. - -"With the long shape of sampler a more methodical arrangement came in. A -typical one is as follows: Lines of alphabets and numerals across the top, -some large subjects in the centre, and designs for borders arranged in -lines across the bottom. - -"The central subjects very often include a representation of the -Crucifixion and emblems of the Passion, namely, the crown of thorns, -scourge, ladder, nails, hammer, tweezers, sponge, hour-glass, dice, cock. -Adam and Eve under the Tree of Knowledge is another favourite subject, and -animals such as lions, deer, or parrots frequently occur. One does not -often find houses or domestic scenes. One sampler, dated 1771, has a -christening depicted on it, which I imagine to be very unusual. - -"The borders are very various. In them trefoils, grapes, conventional -pinks, roses, pears, and lilies and occasionally deer and birds are worked -in; but I have never seen the 'Boxers' or other figures that one finds in -the English borders, and I have only one specimen with acorns. - -"The earliest German samplers seem to be worked entirely in cross-stitch, -beautifully fine, and the same on both sides of the material; the -back-stitching so often found on early English ones I have never seen. In -the eighteenth century other stitches were sometimes used, and I have one -German sampler, dated 1719, which is almost entirely worked in knots. On -others some elaborate stitches are shown, which are mostly worked in -square patches, and are not made use of for improving the design of the -samplers. - -"The earliest examples of darned samplers that I have seen come from -Germany, and I think that one may give the Germans the credit of inventing -them; for, whereas, in England they do not appear much before the end of -the eighteenth century, I have a German one dated 1725, and several others -from the middle of the same century. The darns on these samplers show -every kind of ordinary and damask darning, the material being usually cut -away from underneath and the hole entirely filled in. I have never seen -German darning worked into designs of flowers, birds and so on, as we see -on English darned samplers. - -"As in all countries, the colours of the earlier German samplers are the -best, but they are in no case striking. - -"Dutch samplers seem quite distinct in character from German ones. All -those that I have seen are broader than they are long, and they are worked -across the material, the selvage coming at the sides, instead of at the -top and bottom. They are usually dated, and signed with initials. One of -their main characteristics is to have elaborate alphabets worked in two or -more colours. The second colour is very often worked round an ordinary -letter as a sort of frame or outer edge, and gives it a clumsy, rather -grotesque appearance. The Dutch samplers might, as a rule, be described as -patchy. Without any obvious arrangement they have houses, ships, people, -animals, etc., scattered over them. The stitch used is mainly -cross-stitch; but back-stitch, an open kind of satin-stitch, and -bird's-eye-stitch are also often seen. - -"Belgian samplers, as far as I have seen, approach more nearly to the -German in style. I have one, however, dated 1798, which is quite distinct -in character. It is 64 in. in length, with a large, bold alphabet of -letters over 2 in. long worked on it, such as might be used for marking -blankets. - -"I have only three specimens of Danish samplers, but they are all -remarkable for the great variety of stitches introduced. I have a Danish -sampler, and also a Swedish one of about 1800 worked on fine white muslin, -both giving patterns of stitches for the 'Tondu' muslin drawn work. These -patterns imitate both needlepoint and pillow laces, threads are drawn out -one way of the material, the remaining ones being drawn together with a -great variety of stitches, so as to follow the intricacies of lace -patterns. This work was much used for adorning elbow ruffles, fichues, -etc., and it is very like some Indian muslin work, though the stitches are -slightly different. - -"French samplers, as far as I have seen, are also remarkable for the -fineness of the stitches. They are usually dated and signed in full, and -often have inscriptions worked on them. One large French map of Europe in -my collection has 414 names worked on it in fine cross-stitch, many of -them being worked on a single thread of material, which is a fine muslin. - -"Swiss samplers show fine work, but a great lack of effect. One dated 1675 -has several borders on it, worked in the back-stitch so much used in -England at that date. - -"From Italy I have no important coloured samplers, but several point-coupe -ones. They are undated but belong to the seventeenth century. These -samplers show a beauty of design which is rather in contrast to that of -English ones of the same kind and date, there being a grace and meaning -about the Italian patterns that one seldom finds in English specimens of -drawn work, fine as these are. A typical coloured Italian sampler of about -1800 is as follows: The sampler is nearly square, and is divided into -three parts. In the upper division a Latin cross is worked at the side, -and the rest of the space is filled with two alphabets, numerals, and the -name of the worker, but no date. In the second division a cross is worked, -and fourteen emblems of the Passion. In the third division are various -trees, figures, animals, etc., some local colour being given by an orange -and a lemon tree in pots. - -"Spain is well represented in my collection. For beauty of colouring and -designs I think that it stands far ahead of any other country. Spanish -samplers are generally large; they are sometimes square, sometimes long in -shape. They are as a rule entirely covered with border patterns, which in -the square shape are worked along the four sides parallel to the edge; and -which in the long shape runs in lines across the sampler, with a break in -the middle, where the border changes to another pattern, thus giving the -impression that the sampler is joined up the centre. The patterns of the -borders vary a great deal; I have counted thirty different ones on one -sampler. They are mostly geometric, and not based on any natural objects, -but the designs are so skilfully handled and elaborately worked out as to -take away any appearance of stiffness; and in them the prim acorn, bird, -or trefoil of the English and German border patterns are never seen. I -have one Spanish sampler, dated 1738, of a quite different type to all my -others. It is divided into three panels. The top panel is filled with -floral designs, the centre with a gorgeous coat of arms, and the lower -panel contains a representation of St George and the Dragon. - -"The colours used in Spanish samplers are very striking, and their -blending in the different borders is very happy and effective. Most of the -early specimens are worked almost entirely in satin-stitch, although -cross-stitch and back-stitch are also sometimes introduced. The samplers -are usually hem-stitched round the edge, and occasionally contain some -drawn work. I have one early specimen in which the drawn part is worked -over in coloured silks. - -"The Spanish samplers that I have seen seldom have the alphabet worked on -them, and are rarely dated. On the other hand, they often have the name of -the worker signed in full. - -"Portugal is only represented in my collection by samplers worked in the -nineteenth century; it is therefore hardly fair to compare these specimens -with the earlier ones of other countries, for everywhere samplers began -to deteriorate in that century. The Portuguese samplers that I possess are -eminently commonplace and can well be described as 'Early Victorian.' - -"It must be remembered that my remarks on foreign samplers are based on -specimens belonging to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. With few -exceptions I have not tried to collect modern ones, which approximate much -more to each other in the different countries. - -"Looking back over this brief survey, and comparing foreign samplers with -English, one or two differences at once stand out. The foreign samplers -are seldom worked in a pictorial form. They hardly ever, except in France, -have verses or texts worked on them. The age of the worker is never given. -This is much to be regretted, as in these three things lies much of the -personal interest of the English sampler. - -"On the other hand, from a practical point of view, if one goes to one's -samplers as to pattern-books for good stitches, designs and effects of -colour, England no longer takes the first place, and one would turn for -these to the samplers of Germany, Scandinavia, Spain, and Italy." - - -Indian Samplers - -Many of the Anglo-Indian mothers who reared and brought up families in the -East Indies in the days when the young ones had to pass all their youth in -that country, regardless of climatic stress, must have trained their girls -in the cult of sampler-making, and the same schooling went on in the -seminaries at Calcutta and elsewhere, as we have seen in the specimen -illustrated in Fig. 2. I am able to give another illustration (Fig. 52), -which is not otherwise remarkable except for the fact that it was worked -by a child at Kirkee, and shows how insensibly the European ornament -becomes orientalised as it passes under Eastern influence. It is the only -sampler in which there is any use made of plain spaces, and even here it -is probably only accidental. - -[Illustration: FIG. 52.--SAMPLER BY HELEN PRICE. MADE AT KIRKEE, EAST -INDIES. DATED 18--. _Late in the Author's Collection._] - - -Sampler Literature - -Although, undoubtedly, much of the ornament upon samplers consists of -designs that have been handed down from generation to generation by means -of the articles themselves, pattern-books have not been altogether lacking -even from early days. They have not, however, rivalled either in quantity -or quality those which treat of the sister Art of lace-making, for, so far -as is known, early English treatises on the subject are limited to some -half a dozen, and these occupy themselves as much with lacework as with -embroidery. - -The first English book that is known is in reality a foreign one; it is -entitled, "New and Singular Patternes and Workes of Linnen Serving for -Patternes to make all sorts of Lace Edginges and Cut Workes. Newly -invented for the profite and contentment of Ladies, Gentilwomen and others -that are desireous of this Art. By Vincentio. Printed by John Wolfe 1591." -We have not been able to find a copy, and therefore can do no more than -chronicle its existence. - -A volume upon which needleworkers of the seventeenth century must have -relied much more largely for their ideas was published in its early years -under the title of "The Needle's Excellency. A New Booke wherein are -divers admirable workes wrought with the needle. Newly invented and cut in -copper for the pleasure and profit of the industrious. Printed for James -Boler, and are to be sold at the Syne of the Marigold in Paules -Churchyard." This treatise went to twelve editions at least, but, -nevertheless, is very rare. The twelfth, "enlarged with divers newe -workes, needleworkes, purles, and others never before printed. 1640," is -to be found in the British Museum Library, but even that copy has suffered -considerably from usage, for many plates are missing, and few are in -consecutive order. The title-page consists of an elaborate copper plate, -in which are to be seen Wisdom, Industrie, and Follie; Industrie, seated -in the middle under a tree with a formal garden behind her, is showing -Follie, who is decked out in gorgeous Elizabethan costume, her work, and -Follie is lifting her hands in astonishment at it. Following the -title-page comes a lengthy poem by Taylor, the Water Poet, upon the -subject of needlework. So far as one can judge from the samplers of the -period, the designs for needlework in the book, which consist of formal -borders, have been very seldom copied, but some for drawn work undoubtedly -have a close resemblance to those which we see in existing pieces. Another -book, which I have been unable to find in the Museum, is described as -"Patternes of Cut Workes newly invented and never published before: Also -Sundry Sorts of Spots, as Flowers, Birdes, and Fishes, etc., which will -fitly serve to be wrought, some with gould, some with silke, and some with -creuell in coullers; or otherwise, at your pleasure." - -From "The Needle's Excellency" we have many clues as to needlework in the -early seventeenth century. First of all, as to the articles for which -samplers would be required, the following are mentioned: "handkerchiefs, -table cloathes for parloures or for halls, sheetes, towels, napkins, -pillow beares." Then as to the objects which were delineated on -embroideries, it states that:-- - - "In clothes of Arras I have often seene - Men's figured counterfeits so like have beene - That if the parties selfe had been in place - Yet Art would vie with nature for the grace." - -Again, - - "Flowers, Plants and Fishes, - Beasts, Birds, Flyes and Bees, - Hills, Dales, Plains, Pastures, - Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees, - There's nothing ne'er at hand or farthest sought - But with the needle may be shap'd and wrought." - -It would seem from the foregoing that the volumes would be of more profit -to the worker of embroidered pictures than to sampler-makers, and this was -no doubt the case; for when the former went out of fashion, the books -dealing with the subject disappeared too, and nothing further of any note -was published, except in the beginning of the last century, when the -National Schools were furnished with manuals which dealt more with plain -sewing than with decorative needlework. - - -The Last of the Samplers - -I can hardly close my remarks upon the entertaining subject, the -elucidation of and material for which has filled many spare hours, without -a word of regret at having to pen the elegy of the sampler. - -It may be said that even so long ago as the era of the _Spectator_ there -were those who sounded its death knell, and who considered that the days -when a lady crowded a thousand graces on to the surface of a garter were -gone for ever. For did it not go to the heart of one of Mr Spectator's -correspondents to see a couple of idle flirts sipping their tea for a -whole afternoon, in a room hung round with the industry of their -great-grandmothers, and did he not implore that potentate to take the -laudable mystery of embroidery into his serious consideration? - -But even then there were matrons who upheld the craft, and of whom an -epitaph could be written that "she wrought the whole Bible in tapestry, -and died in a good old age after having covered three hundred yards of -wall in the Mansion House." Besides, the samplers themselves show that the -industry, if not the Art, continued all through that century and for at -least half of the nineteenth. - -The decadence of the sampler has never been more tenderly or pathetically -dealt with than in the description given of the dame's school in the -sketch entitled "Lucy," in Miss Mitford's "Our Village."[9] - - ... There are seven girls now in the school working samplers to be - framed. "Such a waste of silk, and time, and trouble!" I said to Mrs - Smith, and Mrs Smith said to me. Then she recounted the whole battle - of the samplers, and her defeat; and then she sent for one which, in - spite of her declaration that her girls never finished anything, was - quite completed (probably with a good deal of her assistance), and of - which, notwithstanding her rational objection to its uselessness, Lucy - was not a little proud. She held it up with great delight, pointed out - all the beauties, selected her own favourite parts, especially a - certain square rosebud, and the landscape at the bottom; and finally - pinned it against the wall, to show the effect that it would have when - framed. Really, that sampler was a superb thing in its way. First came - a plain pink border; then a green border, zig-zag; then a crimson, - wavy; then a brown, of a different and more complicated zig-zag; then - the alphabet, great and small, in every colour of the rainbow, - followed by a row of figures, flanked on one side by a flower, name - unknown, tulip, poppy, lily--something orange or scarlet, or - orange-scarlet; on the other by the famous rosebud, then divers - sentences, religious and moral;--Lucy was quite provoked with me for - not being able to read them; I daresay she thought in her heart that I - was as stupid as any of her scholars; but never was MS. so illegible, - not even my own, as the print-work of that sampler;--then last and - finest, the landscape, in all its glory. It occupied the whole narrow - line at the bottom, and was composed with great regularity. In the - centre was a house of a bright scarlet, with yellow windows, a green - door, and a blue roof: on one side, a man with a dog; on the other, a - woman with a cat--this is Lucy's information; I should never have - guessed that there was any difference, except in colour, between the - man and the woman, the dog and the cat; they were in form, height, and - size, alike to a thread, the man grey, the woman pink, his attendant - white, and hers black. Next to these figures, on either side, rose two - fir-trees from two red flower-pots, nice little round bushes of a - bright green or intermixed with brown stitches, which Lucy explained, - not to me--"Don't you see the fir-cones, sir? Don't you remember how - fond she used to be of picking them up in her little basket at the - dear old place? Poor thing, I thought of her all the time that I was - working them! Don't you like the fir-cones?"--After this, I looked at - the landscape almost as lovingly as Lucy herself. - -[Illustration: FIG. 53.--BEADWORK SAMPLER BY JANE MILLS. 19TH CENTURY. -_Late in the Author's Collection._ - -NOTE.--The only modern sampler in The Fine Art Society's Exhibition in -which beadwork was employed. This is the more remarkable as it apparently -dates from about the period when beadwork was so much in fashion for -purses, etc. As we shall see in our illustrations of pictures in imitation -of tapestry (Plate XXI.), beadwork was very common in the seventeenth -century, but we have not seen a single specimen of this material dated in -the eighteenth century, unless it be this one, which we place at the end -of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century.] - -It has been prophesied that:-- - - "Untill the world be quite dissolv'd and past - So long at least the needles use shall last." - -I trow not, if for "use" the word "Art" may be substituted. - -It is true that recent International Exhibitions have included some -marvellous specimens of adroitness in needlework, such, for instance, as -the wonders from Japan; but these _tours de force_, and even the skilled -productions from English schools, as, for instance, "The Royal School of -Art Needlework," and which endeavour fitfully to stir up the dying embers -of what was once so congenial an employment to womankind, are no -indications of any possibility of needlework regaining its hold on either -the classes or the masses. - -Samplers can never again be a necessity whereby to teach the young idea, -and every year that passes will relegate them more and more into the -category of interesting examples of a bygone and forgotten industry. - -[Illustration: FIG. 54.--SAMPLER BY ELIZABETH CLARKSON. 1881. _Author's -Collection._] - -One sampler dated within the last half century finds a place in this book, -but it is indeed a degraded object, and is included here to show to what -the fashion had come in the Victorian era, an era notable for huge sums -being expended on Art schools, and over a million children receiving Art -instruction at the nation's expense. The sampler is dated 1881, and was -the work of a lady of seventeen years of age. The groundwork is a common -handkerchief, the young needlewoman evidently considering that its -puce-coloured printed border was a better design than any she could -invent. It was produced at a school, for there are broidered upon it the -names of thirty-five other girls, besides seven bearing her own -patronymic. As will be seen by the reproduction (Fig. 54), it is adorned -with no less than nine alphabets, not one of which contains an artistic -form of lettering. As to the ornament, the cross and anchor hustle the -pawnbroker's golden balls, and formless leaves surround the single word -"Love," all that the maker's invention could supply of sentimentality. -This is apparently the best that the deft fingers of Art-taught girlhood -could then produce. The flash in the pan that, round about the date of its -creation, was leading to the production of the "chairback" in crewels, -collapsed before machine-made imitations, and well it might when even a -knowledge of how to stitch an initial is unnecessary, as we can obtain by -return of post from Coventry, at the price of a shilling or so a hundred, -a roll of our names in red, machine-worked, lettering. Truly it seems as -if any use for needlework in the future will be relegated to an occasional -spasmodic effort, such as when war confronts us and our soldiers are -supposed to be in need of a hundred thousand nightcaps or mufflers. - -The decay of needlework amongst the children of the middle classes may -perhaps be counterbalanced by other useful employments, but undoubtedly -with those of a lower stratum of society the lack of it has simply -resulted in their filling the blank with the perusal of a cheap -literature, productive of nothing that is beneficial either to mind or -body. - -[Illustration: PLATE XIV.--EMBROIDERED PICTURE: CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE, -STONING OF MARTYRS, ETC. ABOUT 1625. _Formerly in the Author's -Collection._ - -One of the quaintest of the Embroidery pictures. Differing as it does from -the majority of its fellows in the costume of its figures, and valuable as -it is as a record of the dress of the first years of the seventeenth -century, the piquancy and variety of the subjects depicted combine with -these to give it an unusual interest. As regards the dress, it denotes a -period towards the close of the reign of James I. The ruff is still worn -by the doctors, but the boots of the gentleman who walks with a lady are -very close to the fashion of Charles I. The subjects combine religious and -mundane. The former comprise Christ in the Temple instructing the doctors, -Susannah and the Elders, and a remarkable scene of Martyrs at the stake, -one of the latter being in the uncomfortable position of having a stone -protruding from his forehead. The latter show the squire and his lady -beside their residence, young ladies out for an airing, and others about -to enter a Pergola. Its maker has not only been happy through the vitality -imparted to the human puppets, but has succeeded equally well with animal -life; witness the rabbit and squirrel beneath the apple tree and the -greyhound and hare in the lower corner. The water in which Susannah laves -her legs is worked in imitation of ripples, and looks fresher than the -rest owing to the recent removal of the talc with which it was covered. -The clouds in the upper part of the moss, etc., in the lower portion come -dark in the reproduction as they are made of purl, which has tarnished. It -will be noted that those of the pictures in which the surface is not -entirely covered with embroidery are usually worked upon white satin. This -was a fashion of the time, and supplanted velvet, the material hitherto -used, owing, it is assumed, to its being an easier material to work upon, -but also probably to its beautiful surface resembling a background of -parchment, and to the magnificent quality which was then made.] - - - - -[Illustration: FIG. 55.--EMBROIDERED GLOVE. EARLY 17TH CENTURY. _Formerly -in the Author's Collection._] - - -PART II - -Embroideries in the Manner of Tapestry Pictures - - -The Exhibition at The Fine Art Society's included, besides samplers, a -gallery containing embroideries, the like of which had not previously been -seen together, and as to the history of which text-books were altogether -silent. Exhibited collectively, they not only formed a most interesting -and unusual whole, but they were clearly the result of a widespread -fashion. Specimens were forthcoming in considerable numbers, and were -regarded by their owners with a proper appreciation of their archaeological -value, but with a diffidence as to their history and origin which was not -surprising. Under these circumstances it seemed that the occasion of -their being brought together should not be lost, and that some -illustration of representative specimens, some setting down of any -deductions which might be arrived at from their examination and -comparison, and some collation of the information which was supplied by -their owners should be taken in hand. - -It was, however, at the outset a matter of no little trouble to find a -title which, while it identified and included them, yet excluded those -that it was felt necessary to omit. Had a shortened phrase, such as -"Embroidered Pictures," been selected, readers would reasonably have -expected to find a survey of that large class of embroideries, now -somewhat in vogue, which imitate the coloured engravings of the late -eighteenth century, and, perhaps, even of the Berlin wool-work travesties -of Landseer and his contemporaries. "Stuart Embroidered Pictures," or -"Seventeenth-Century Embroidered Pictures," would have better served the -purpose were it not that some of the examples precede, and some follow, -the period covered by either. Besides, some pieces are not pictures, -whilst others, though pictorial in subject, are covers to caskets, etc. - -The majority, however, have this in common, that they represent a phase of -embroidery which, curiously enough, originated contemporaneously with the -introduction of the manufacture of tapestry into this country, became -popular concurrently with it, and passed out of favour when the production -of that textile ceased in England for lack of support. It was this -relationship, which I shall shortly proceed to establish, that decided the -title which is found at the heading of this part. - -In endeavouring to trace the origin of these embroideries I have been, -curiously enough, confronted with exactly the same difficulties that I -encountered in dealing with samplers, namely:-- - -1. The industry has no apparent infancy, all the pieces having the same -matured appearance. - -2. No specimen earlier than the reign of Elizabeth has come under my -notice. This does not arise from the decay inseparable from the life of a -fairly perishable article, for amongst the earliest specimens may be -counted the best preserved; besides, similar work, as, for instance, the -embroidery of book covers which was subjected to harder usage, extends for -centuries further back. - -[Illustration: PLATE XV.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. THE STORY OF HAGAR AND -ISHMAEL. ABOUT 1630. - -The common subject amongst Tapestry workers of Hagar and Ishmael is told -somewhat fully here in three scenes. In the first we have Sarah and Isaac -at the tent door, in the second Abraham dismissing Hagar, and in the third -the angel visiting Ishmael in the desert. - -The embroidery is one of those where flat and raised work are conjoined. -The sky might be woven, so fine are the stitches, the landscape is made up -of a variety of open stitches which are used in lace, but in this instance -have been worked on the canvas, the faces are modelled in cotton wool and -covered with silk, and the animals (lion and stag) are similarly modelled. -The piece is the property of Miss Taintor, of Hartford, U.S.A. Size, -14-1/2 x 19-1/2.] - -It is for these reasons that I am disposed to attach importance to the -theory that the fashion originated with the introduction into England of -tapestry, that, like tapestry, it quickly sprang into vogue, and like that -article as quickly died out, having for some half a century been an -agreeable occupation for deft hands to busy themselves about. - -If we glance for a moment at the history of tapestry in this country, it -will be seen how entirely it mirrors that of the embroideries under -notice. Tapestry, as an English manufacture, and tapestry of sufficient -amount to afford opportunities to any but a few to imitate it, can hardly -be said to have existed in this country prior to the seventeenth century. -In the king's palaces, and in those of his wealthy ministers and nobles, -this form of decoration was undoubtedly in use in remote times, perhaps as -early as in those of other nations, but small interest was taken in its -production in comparison with that by foreign countries, even those so -contiguous as France and the Netherlands. In fact, until the close of the -sixteenth century, but one manufactory is known to have existed in -England, namely, that of Burcheston, founded towards the end of the reign -of Henry VIII. by William Sheldon, styled "The only author and beginner of -tapestry, within this realm." It was not until the year 1620 that James -I., stimulated by the example of Henri IV., enlisted in his service a -number of Flemish workmen and established at Mortlake the factory which -quickly attained to a success which was only rivalled by that of the -Gobelins. The industry on the banks of the Thames developed rapidly, and -secured European recognition, thanks to the extreme interest taken in it -by James I., and still more so by Charles I., aided, as he was, by the -invaluable co-operation of Rubens and Vandyck. Tapestry made under royal -patronage quickly became the fashion and hobby, and although under the -Commonwealth its continuance was threatened, it received fresh favours and -subventions under Charles II., at the end of whose reign, however, it not -only declined, but practically ceased to exist. - -It can readily be understood that the prevalence of such a fashion, -coinciding with a period when every lady in the land was an adept with her -needle, would stimulate many to imitate on a smaller scale the famed -productions of the loom, for nothing would better accord with the -tapestry-covered walls, than cushions for the oaken chairs, or pictures or -mirrors for panelled walls, worked in the same materials. Hence it is -probable that all the earlier embroideries were in imitation of tapestry, -and worked only in stitches which resembled those of the loom, and that -the pieces where we find varieties of stitches introduced, as well as -figures, dresses, and animals in relief, are subsequent variations and -fancied improvements on the original idea.[10] This is borne out by an -examination of dated pieces, none of those bearing these additions being -contemporaneous with the introduction of the tapestry industry, whilst -only those having a plain surface are found amongst the earliest -specimens.[11] - -[Illustration: Plate XVI.--Tapestry Embroidery. Charles I. and his Queen. -About 1630. - -None of the Embroideries reproduced in this volume approach this in their -imitation of Tapestry, it being a facsimile on a small scale in needlework -of a large panel. Its resemblance is increased by the border, which adds -considerably to its interest and value. Both Sovereigns are crowned, the -King wearing a cloak, a vest and breeches which would appear to be all in -one (the latter garnished at the knees with many points), boots with huge -tops, and big spurs. On either side of the royal pair stand a chamberlain -and a lady of honour. The house in the background points to the Tapestry -having been designed by a Netherlander.] - -Embroidery probably reached the zenith of its popularity in the late -sixteenth century. It was then of so much importance that Queen Elizabeth -granted a charter of incorporation to an Embroiderers' Company who had a -hall in Gutter Lane. In order to encourage the pursuit foreign -embroideries were in this and the following reigns considered to be -contraband, but this protection, instead of improving, practically rang -the death knell of the Art. - -It will be seen from the foregoing that these little embroideries have an -abiding interest of a threefold nature. First that arising out of the -subjects that are depicted thereon, and which, though limited in range, -present considerable differences when compared one with another, quite -sufficient to make them individual in character. Next they afford, upon -examination, a large amount of historical material, some of it of a -valuable kind, concerning the fashions and cranks of the time, material -which has not hitherto met with recognition such as it deserves. Lastly, -they are admirable specimens of needlework, and in this are quite as -noteworthy as samplers, a single piece often containing as many varieties -of clever stitches as may be found in a dozen samplers. All that concerns -them on this last-named account will be found in the section devoted to -"Stitchery." I will, therefore, proceed to examine them collectively from -the two first points of view, leaving any remarks which they may -separately call for to the notes which accompany the reproductions. - - -The Subjects of Tapestry Embroideries - -These are, as we have noted, somewhat limited as regards range, and -somewhat limited within that range. This is, perhaps, even more so than in -the case of the parent tapestries, for whilst they frequently travel into -the realms of mythology, the reverse is the case with the embroidered -pictures. In the royal palaces of Henry VIII. we find the Tales of Thebes -and Troy, the Life and Adventures of Hercules, and of Jupiter and Juno, -depicted in tapestry more often, perhaps, than sacred subjects, but this -is not so with our little pictures. For instance, there were but two -profane subjects in the Embroidery Exhibition, "Orpheus charming the -animals with his lute," and the "Judgment of Paris" (Fig. 56); whereas -there were at least half a dozen of "Esther and Ahasuerus," and more than -one "Susannah and the Elders," "Adam and Eve," "Abraham and Hagar," -"Joseph and Potiphar," "David and Abigail," "Queen of Sheba," and "Jehu -and Jezebel." - -Our first parents naturally afforded one of the earliest Biblical subjects -for tapestry. Thus a description of a manor house in King John's time -states that in the corner of a certain apartment stood a bed, the tapestry -of which was enwrought with gaudy colours representing Adam and Eve in the -Garden of Eden, and we read in a fifteenth-century poem by H. Bradshaw, -concerning the tapestry in the Abbey of Ely, that:-- - - "The storye of Adam there was goodly wrought - And of his wyfe Eve, bytwene them the serpente." - -In embroidered pictures the working of the nude figures on a necessarily -much smaller scale would appear to have been a difficulty it was hard to -contend with, and we consequently find the subject treated for the most -part rather from the point of view of the animals to be introduced than -from that of our first parents. - -Curiously enough, Adam and Eve came to the front again as a most popular -subject in samplers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, at a time -when a knowledge of the draughtsmanship of the human figure appeared to be -even slighter than heretofore. Consequently, they were usually of the most -primitive character, standing on either side of a Tree of Knowledge, from -which depends the serpent. - -[Illustration: FIG. 56.--THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS. ABOUT 1630. _Late in the -Author's Collection._] - -Passing onwards in Bible history we find in tapestry embroideries several -incidents in the life of Abraham. First the entertainment of the angels -and the promise made to him; next the casting forth of Hagar and Ishmael -(Plate XV.), oft repeated, perhaps, because of the many incidents in the -story capable of illustration; then the offering up of Isaac, as -illustrated in Plate IV. "Moses in the Bullrushes" (Fig. 57) completes the -illustrations from the Pentateuch. Few other subjects are met with until -we reach the life of David as pictured in "David and Goliath" and "David -and Abigail." To these follow the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, -and the judgment of that ruler. But the most popular subject of all would -seem to be the episode of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus (Plate XVIII.), -from which Mordecai sitting in the King's Gate, Esther adventuring on the -King's favour, the banquet to Haman, and his end on the gallows, furnished -delightfully sensational episodes, although the main reason for its -frequency doubtless depended upon its offering an opportunity of honouring -the reigning kings and queens by figuring them as the great monarch -Ahasuerus and his beautiful consort, a reason also for the frequent -selection of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The only incident subsequent -to this is one hardly to be expected, namely, "Susannah and the Elders," -from the Apocrypha (Plate XIV.). The New Testament, curiously enough, -seems to have received but scant attention, even the birth of Christ being -but seldom illustrated. - -If space permitted it would be a matter of interest to trace the reasons -for this unexpectedness of subject. It may have arisen from the fact that -the English at this time were "the people of one book, and that book the -Bible." It is, however, more readily conceivable that the selection was a -survival of the times when the mainstay of all the Arts was the Church, -and the majority of the work, all the world over, was produced in its -service, and therefore naturally was imbued with a religious flavouring. - -Again, the pieces being in imitation of tapestries, the subjects would -naturally follow those figured thereon. Now we find, curiously enough, in -the "Story of Tapestrys in the Royal Palaces of Henry VIII.," that whilst -there were a few such subjects as "Jupiter and Juno," and "Thebes and -Troy," the majority were the following: In the Tower of London, "Esther -and Ahasuerus"; in Durham Palace, "Esther" and "Susannah"; in Cardinal -Wolsey's Palace, the "Petition of Esther," the "Honouring of -Mordecai," and the "History of Susannah and the Elders," bordered with the -Cardinal's arms, subjects identical with those represented in our little -embroidered pictures. - -[Illustration: PLATE XVII.--LID OF A CASKET. THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS. ABOUT -1630. _Formerly in the Author's Collection._ - -Reproduces the gay and well-preserved top of a writing box. The figures -which stand under a festooned bower may represent Paris handing the apple -to Venus. The dress of the female is of the time of Charles I., which is -the date of the casket, the interior of which is lined in part with that -beautiful shade of red so popular at this time, and in part with mirrors -which reflect a Flemish engraving which lines the bottom. An upper tray is -a mass of ill-concealed secret drawers. Size, 12 x 11 inches.] - -It has been claimed for many of these pieces that they are the product of -those prolific workers the nuns of Little Gidding, but the assertion rests -on as little basis as does that which ascribes all the embroidered book -covers to the same origin. The subjects, although sacred in character, are -too mundane in habit to render it at all probable that they were worked in -the seclusion of a country nunnery. - -The foreign origin of the tapestries (even those which were manufactured -in England being made and designed by foreigners) accounts for the foreign -flavour which pervades their backgrounds and accessories. It has, -consequently, been asserted that the inspiration of these embroidery -pictures is also foreign, the assertion being based on the fact that the -buildings are for the most part of Teutonic design. This is not my -opinion. The buildings, it is true, for the most part assume a Flemish or -German air, but this is probably due to the reason given at the -commencement of this paragraph. It might, with equal force, be held that -the pieces are Italian in their origin, as their foregrounds, as we shall -presently show, largely affect that style. That either of these -suppositions is correct is negatived by the thoroughly English -contemporary costume that apparels the principal figures, which also -proves that the majority of the pieces were in the main original -conceptions, the designers following in the footsteps of their forerunners -from the times of Greece downwards, and clothing their puppets, no matter -to what age they appertained, in the contemporary dress of their own -country. This brings us to the most interesting feature of these little -pictures, namely, their value as mirrors of fashion. - - -Tapestry Embroideries as Mirrors of Fashion - -In this respect they are hardly inferior, as illustrations, to the -pictures of Vandyck or the engravings of Hollar; whilst, as sidelights to -horticultural pursuits under the Stuart kings, and of the flowers which -were then affected, they are perhaps more reliable authorities than the -Herbals from whence it has been erroneously asserted that they derived -their information. In these respects their value has been entirely -overlooked. Authorities on dress go to obscure engravings, or to the -brasses or sculptural effigies in our churches, for examples, which have, -in every instance, been designed by a man unversed in the intricacies of -dressmaking. They have failed to recognise the fact that these -embroideries are the product of hands which very certainly knew the cut of -every garment, and the intricacy of every bow, knot, and point, and which -would take a pride in rendering them not only with accuracy, but in the -latest mode. It was probably due to this desire to make their work -complete mirrors of fashion, that the embroideresses gave up illustrating -the figure in the flat, and stuffed it out like a puppet, upon which each -portion of the dress might be superimposed. An illustration of this may be -seen in the reproduction on a large scale, in the text of Part III., of -some of the figures from the piece of embroidery illustrated in Plate -XXIII.[12] - -As Sir James Linton, an eminent authority upon the dress of the period -under review, has pointed out, these embroideries bear upon their face an -impress of truth, for they usually, in the same picture, illustrate -fashions extending over a considerable period of time. This, instead -of being an inaccuracy, is unimpeachable evidence as to their correctness, -for the fact is usually overlooked that in those times a man (and a woman -also) almost invariably wore, throughout life, the costume of his early -manhood, and that in such a piece as that illustrated in Plate XIV. it is -quite accurate to represent the old men in the costume of the reign of -James I., and the young women in that of Charles I. - -[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. THE STORY OF QUEEN -ESTHER. ABOUT 1630. - -This remarkably well-preserved piece of Embroidery represents various -incidents in the life of Queen Esther. In the centre the King stretches -forth his sceptre to the Queen; in the various corners are portrayed the -banquet, the hanging of Haman, and Mordecai and the King. It will be -noticed that the King and Queen are likenesses of Charles I. and Henrietta -Maria, and the costume is that in vogue towards the end of his reign, when -the big boots worn by the men came in for much ridicule, the tops of the -King's being "very large and turned down, and the feet two inches too -long." The needlework is of the transition period, when a better effect -was sought for by appliqueing the faces in satin, outlining the features -in silk, and making the hair of the same material. The collars and bows -are also added, and the Queen's crown is of pearls, the dais on which the -King sits being also sown with them. Size, 16-1/2 x 20-1/2.] - -The repetition, amounting almost to monotony, in the subjects of these -tapestry pieces has been urged against them, but the force of this -depreciation is considerably lessened if this question of costume and -accessories is taken into account, for a comparison even of the few pieces -which are illustrated here will show how much variety is afforded in -matters of dress, even if that of a single individual, such as Charles I., -is selected for study, although in the case of a royal personage, such as -the king, it would only be natural if there was a sameness of costume. He -may probably never have been seen by the embroiderer, who would -consequently dress him from some picture or engraving. But even here the -differences are many and interesting.[13] - -[Illustration: FIG. 57.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. THE FINDING OF MOSES. ABOUT -1640. _Lady Middleton._] - -They may therefore be deemed worthy of further examination than is usually -given them, and this we have accorded in the description attached to each. -We embody, however, an instance here as it is not only an apt illustration -of the use of these little pictures as illustrations of dress, but of how -their age may be thereby ascertained. The work in question belongs to Lady -Middleton, is illustrated in Fig. 57, and its frame bears an inscription -that it dates from the sixteenth century. The condition of the needlework, -and the stitches employed, might well lead to this supposition, but the -dress of the attendant to the left of the picture almost exactly -corresponds with that on the effigy of one Dorothy Strutt, whose monument -is dated 1641. The hair flows freely on the shoulders, but is combed back -from the forehead; it is bunched behind, and from this descends a long -coverchief which falls like a mantle; the sleeves are wide at the top, but -confined at the wrist; a kerchief covers the bust, whilst the gown pulled -in at the waist sets fully all round. It will be noted that the chimneys -of the house in the background emit volumes of black smoke, a tribute to -the Wallsend coal which came only into general use in the early -seventeenth century. The greater part of the strong darks in this picture -are due to the silk having been painted with a kind of bitumen, which has -eaten away the groundwork wherever it has come into contact with it. - -The frequent selection of royal personages for illustration is one of the -features of the industry, and is probably accounted for by the majority of -the workers being persons in the higher walks of life, to whom the divine -right of kings and devotion to the Crown were very present matters in -those troublous times. It will be further noted that the only pre-Stuart -embroideries which are reproduced here (_Frontispiece_, and the covering -for a book [Fig. 58]) deal with them. - -As I have stated, yet another value attaches to these tapestry -embroideries, namely, as illustrations of the fashions in horticulture -under the Stuarts. Those who take an interest in gardening will not be -slow to recognise this, and they may even carry that interest beyond this -Stuart work to the samplers, whereon instances are not wanting of the -formal gardening which came over from Holland with King William, and -continued under the House of Hanover. - -[Illustration: FIG. 58.--PORTION OF A BOOK COVER. 16TH CENTURY. _Author's -Collection._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 59.--PURL AND APPLIED EMBROIDERY. LADY WITH A RABBIT. -ABOUT 1630. _Formerly in the Author's Collection._ - -An illustration of purl work, the whole of the smaller decorations being -in tarnished silver thread sewn upon the original satin. The figure in the -centre with a rabbit on her knees, as well as the other flowers and birds, -are appliqued, and are in very fine coloured silks. The date of the piece -is, judging from the costume, the early part of the reign of Charles I.] - -In the embroideries we see repeated again and again the hold that Italian -gardening had obtained in this country at the time when they were -produced, owing to the grafting of ideas carried from the age of mediaeval -Art. Note, for instance, the importance attached to the fountain, which -Hertzner, a German, who travelled through England at the end of the -sixteenth century, remarked upon as being such a feature in gardens. The -many columns and pyramids of marble and fountains of springing water to -which he alludes are repeated again and again in tapestry pictures. The -pools of fish which are also found in embroideries of the time were a -common feature of the gardens. We read that "A fayre garden always -contained a poole of fysshe if the poole be clene kept." (Plate XVIII., -Fig. 64, and Fig. 68.) The garden also had green galleries or pergolas -formed of light poles overgrown with roses red and white. These are -illustrated in Plate XIV. The little Noah's Ark trees did not originate in -the brain of the sampler designer, but were actualities which he saw in -the garden of the time, being as old as the Romans, who employed a -topiarius or pleacher, whose sole business was the cutting of trees into -fantastic shapes. This practice was in full swing in Italy in the -fifteenth century, and was familiarised in England by the "Hyperotomachia -Poliphili," published in 1592, although this book did not introduce it, -for Bacon in his essay on "Gardens" says that the art of pleaching was -already well known and practised in England. They are quite common objects -on the samplers of the eighteenth century, when the cult was increasingly -fostered, William and Mary having brought over the Dutch fashion of -cutting everything into queer little trifles. An illustration in -Worlidge's "Art of Gardening" might almost be a reproduction of the -sampler of 1760 (Plate IX.) with its trees all set in absolutely similar -order and size. This style, it may be remembered, was doomed upon the -advent of Capability Brown with his attempts at chastening and polishing, -but not reforming, the living landscape. - -The embroidered pictures are also interesting as showing the flowers which -found a place in the parterres of English gardens. A nosegay garden at the -beginning of the seventeenth century consisted, we read, of "gillyflowers, -marigolds, lilies, and daffodils, with such strange flowers as hyacinths, -narcissus, also the red, damaske, velvet, and double province rose, double -and single white rose, the fair and sweet scenting woodbind, double and -single, the violet nothing behind the rose for smelling sweetly." - -Figs. 59 and 60 show many of these flowers naturally disposed, as an -examination of the samplers of the period displays almost all of them in a -decorative form. - -A curious feature of these little pictures is the fondness of their makers -for introducing grubs of all kinds. This was not altogether fortuitous, or -done simply to fill a void, for some of them were certainly as much -emblems as the lion and unicorn. The caterpillar, for instance, was a -badge of Charles I. - -It speaks somewhat for the difficulty of imitating these little pictures, -that although their price has increased since this book was first -published, from a moderate to a high figure, there are as yet few spurious -or much restored pieces on the market, and the same remark may apply to -samplers. - -[Illustration: FIG. 60.--EMBROIDERY PICTURE. CHARLES I. AND HIS QUEEN. -DATED 1663. _Lord Montagu._ - -This picture is signed "K.B.," and bears the date 1663, and is, through -its composition and subject, of much interest. The king and queen stand -under an elaborate tent, on the canopy of which is emblazoned the Royal -Arms, the rose and the thistle, in heavy gold and silver bullion. The -robes of both their majesties are ornamented with coloured flowers in a -heavy silver tissue. The king is crowned and has an ermine cloak, and his -spurred white boots have pink heels.] - -[Illustration: PLATE XIX.--LID OF A CASKET. ABOUT 1660. - -We have here the top of the lid of the best preserved casket it has been -our fortune to encounter, the reproduction in no way exaggerating the -brilliancy or freshness of its colouring. The whole of the embroidery is -in high relief, and as the shadows show, much of it is detached from the -ground, as for instance the strawberries, the apples on the tree on which -the parroquet with his ruffled feathers is seated, and the pink and tulip. -For some reason not apparent, the gentleman has two left arms and hands, -in each of which he holds a hat. It is possible that the figures may be -intended for Abraham and Sarah, the latter with her flock at the well.] - - - - -[Illustration: FIG. 61.--HOLLIE POINT LACE FROM TOP OF CHRISTENING CAP. -1774. _Formerly in the Author's Collection._] - - -PART III - -I.--Stitchery of Pictures in Imitation of Tapestry and the Like - - "Tent-worke, Rais'd-worke, Laid-worke, Froste-worke, Net-worke, - Most curious Purles or rare Italian Cut-worke, - Pine Ferne-stitch, Finny-stitch, New-stitch, and Chain-stitch, - Brave Bred-stitch, Fisher-stitch, Irish-stitch, and Queen-stitch, - The Spanish-stitch, Rosemary-stitch, and Morose-stitch, - The Smarting Whip-stitch, Back-stitch, and the Cross-stitch. - All these are good, and these we must allow, - And these are everywhere in practise now." - _The Needles Excellency._--JOHN TAYLOR. - - -A Writer on the interesting subject of the stitchery of embroidered -pictures and their allies, is confronted at the outset with a serious -difficulty in the almost hopeless confusion which exists as to the proper -nomenclature of stitches. It is hardly too much to say that nearly every -stitch has something like half a dozen different names, the result of -re-invention or revival by succeeding generations, while to add to the -trouble some authorities have assigned ancient names to certain stitches -on what appears to be wholly insufficient evidence of identity. - -That stitches known as _opus Anglicanum_, _opus plumarium_, _opus -peclinum_, and so on, were used in embroidery as far back as the -thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is proved by ancient deeds and -inventories, but what these stitches actually were we have no means of -deciding with any degree of certainty. - -We shall, therefore, in these notes describe the stitches under the names -by which they are most commonly known, or which seem to describe them most -clearly. - - -Background-Stitches - -When the backgrounds of pictures in raised or stump embroidery are not of -silk or satin left more or less visible, they are usually worked in one or -other of the innumerable varieties of cushion-stitch, so-called, it is -said, because it was first introduced in the embroidering of church -kneeling-cushions. Foremost among these ground-stitches comes tent-stitch, -in which the flat embroidered pictures of a slightly earlier period are -entirely executed. Tent-stitch is the first half of the familiar -cross-stitch, but is taken over a single thread only, all the rows of -stitches sloping the same way as a rule, although occasionally certain -desired effects of light and shade are produced by reversing the direction -of the stitches in portions of the work. An admirable example of evenly -worked tent-stitch is shown in Plate XV., although here, of course, it is -not a purely background-stitch, as it is adopted for the whole of the -work. - -[Illustration: PLATE XX.--BACK OF CASKET IN TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. SIGNED A. -K., 1657. _Mrs Percy Macquoid._ - -We have here the true imitation of Tapestry as regards stitch, but not so -as regards composition, for it is seldom that in Tapestry we find such a -lack of proportion as exists in this case between figures and accessories, -tulips and carnations standing breast-high, and butterflies larger than -human heads. The harpy, which appears on the lower portion of the lid, is -an exceptional form of decoration. The backs of caskets are always the -least faded portions, as they have been less exposed to the sun and light; -such is the case here, although the whole is in a fine state of -preservation. It is one of the few dated pieces in existence, being signed -"A. K.," 1657.] - -Another commonly used grounding-stitch is that known in modern times -as tapestry or Gobelin-stitch. This is not infrequently confused with -tent-stitch, which it much resembles, save that it is two threads in -height, but one only in breadth. - -[Illustration: FIG. 62.--CUSHION-STITCH BACKGROUND; EMBROIDERED BOOK -COVER, DATED 1703.] - -Next in order of importance to these two stitches come the perfectly -upright ones, which, arranged in a score of different ways, have been -christened by an equal number of names. An effective kind, used for the -background of many Stuart pictures, consists of a series of the short -perpendicular stitches, arranged in a zig-zag or chevron pattern, each row -fitting into that above it. This particular stitch, or rather group of -stitches, has been named _opus pulvinarium_, but its claim to the title -does not seem very well supported. Other and more modern names are -Florentine and Hungary stitch. A neat and pretty cushion-stitch is shown -in the background of Fig. 62 on an enlarged scale. This is taken from a -quaint little needle-book dated 1703; the design itself being worked in -tent-stitch. - -Among other stitches used for grounds are the long flat satin-stitch -familiar in Japanese embroideries of all periods, and laid-stitches, -_i.e._, those formed of long threads "laid" on the satin or silk -foundation, and held down by short "couching" stitches placed at -intervals. Laid-stitch grounds, however, are oftener seen in foreign -embroideries, especially Italian and Spanish, than in English examples. - -[Illustration: FIG. 63.--EYELET-HOLE-STITCH: FROM A SAMPLER DATED 1811.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 64.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY (UPPER PORTION). ABOUT 1640. -_Formerly in the Author's possession._] - -Although tapestry embroidery backgrounds are in most cases worked "solid," -that is, entirely covered with close-set stitches forming an even surface, -they are occasionally found to be filled in with some variety of -open-stitch, as exemplified by Plate XV. Sometimes the lace-like effect is -produced by covering the foundation material with a surface stitch; the -first row being a buttonhole-stitch, worked into the stuff so as to form -the basis of the succeeding rows of simple lace or knotting stitches. The -last row is again worked into the foundation. When, however, a linen -canvas of rather open mesh was the material of the picture or panel, it -was not unusual to whip or buttonhole over the threads with fine silk, a -process resulting in a honeycomb-like series of small eyelet holes, as -shown in the enlargement, Fig. 63. This is taken from an early -nineteenth-century sampler, but the stitch is precisely similar to that -seen in embroideries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. - - -Figures in Raised Needlework - -The high relief portions of the embroidery known as "stump" or "stamp" -work, which is popularly supposed to have been invented by the nuns of -Little Gidding, appear to have been almost invariably worked separately on -stout linen stretched in a frame, and applied when completed. The design -was sketched, or transferred, by means of something equivalent to our -carbonised paper, on the linen, padded with hair or wool kept in position -by a lattice-work of crossing threads, and the raised foundation, or -"stump," thus formed covered with close lace-stitches, or with satin or -silk, which, in its turn, was partly or entirely covered with embroidery, -generally in long-and-short stitch. When the figures were finished a paper -was pasted at the back to obviate any risk of frayed or loosened stitches, -and they were cut out and fastened into their proper places in the design -which had been drawn on or transferred to the silk, satin, or canvas -foundation of the actual picture. The lines of attachment are adroitly -concealed by couchings of fine cord or gimp. - -In some pieces of stump embroidery the heads and hands of the figures are -of carved wood covered in most instances with a close network of -lace-stitch, or with satin or silk, on which the eyes and mouth are either -painted or embroidered. In the more elaborate specimens, however, the -satin is merely a foundation for embroidery in long-and-short or split -stitch, the latter being a variety of the ordinary stem-stitch, in which -the needle is brought out through, instead of at the side of, the -preceding stitch. The features of faces worked in either of these stitches -are generally indicated by carefully directed lines of stem or chain -stitching worked over the ground-stitch. This latter when well worked -forms a surface scarcely distinguishable from satin in its smoothness. The -Figs. 65 and 66, which are enlargements of portions of the embroidery -illustrated in Fig. 64, show examples of this mode of working faces. - -[Illustration: FIG. 65.--FACE WORKED IN SPLIT-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM -EMBROIDERY REPRODUCED IN FIG. 64.] - -[Illustration: PLATE XXI.--BEADWORK EMBROIDERY. CHARLES II. AND HIS QUEEN, -ETC. - -The bright colouring of this picture is due to the greater portion of it -having been worked in beads, in which those of strong blue and green -predominate, only the hair and hands being worked in needlework, the -former in knotted stitches. Beadwork seems to have been extensively -utilised in seventeenth-century pictures, but it does not figure in -Samplers until a late date, and then only to a minor extent. It is -illustrated in Fig. 52, and is about a century old, having been included -in the Fine Art Society's Exhibition. - -The central figures in this piece represent Charles II. and his Queen, -Catherine of Braganza, who is represented with that curious lock of hair -on her forehead to which the King took so much objection when he saw it -for the first time upon her arrival at Southampton. The portraits within -the four circles have not at present been recognised. The late owner of -this piece purchased it in Hammersmith, and from the fact that Queen -Catherine had a house there it is possible that it may have once been a -royal possession. Size, 13-1/2 x 17-1/2.] - - -Knot-Stitches - -[Illustration: FIG. 66.--FACE WORKED IN SPLIT-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM LOWER -PORTION (NOT REPRODUCED) OF FIG. 64.] - -Knot-stitches--these, by the way, have no connection with the -knotting-work popular at the end of the seventeenth century--are -introduced freely into the stump-work pictures to represent the hair of -the human figures, together with the woolly coats of sheep and the sundry -and divers unclassified animals invariably found in this type of -embroidered picture. These knots or knotted stitches range from the small, -tightly-worked French knots which, when closely massed, produce a -sufficiently realistic imitation of a fleece, to the long bullion knots -formed by twisting the silk thread ten or twelve times round the needle -before drawing the latter through the loops. The sheep (enlarged from Fig. -64) in Fig. 67 shows very clearly the effect of the massed French knots. -The longer knot-stitches are found to be arranged in even loops sewn -closely together, or are worked loosely and placed irregularly to meet -the requirements of the design. Knot-stitches of all kinds are seen, too, -in the foliage, grass, and mossy banks, although for these couchings of -loops of fine cord, untwisted silk and gimp, as well as of purl, seem to -have been equally popular. At a later period, that is, towards the middle -of the eighteenth century, chenille replaced knot-stitches, couched loops, -and purl for the purpose, but it proved much less satisfactory both as -regards appearance and durability. - -[Illustration: FIG. 67.--KNOTTED-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM EMBROIDERY -REPRODUCED IN FIG. 64.] - -Looped-stitches are also used to indicate flowing ringlets, for which the -bullion knots would be too formal, as may be seen in Figs. 65 and 66. The -loops in these examples are of partly untwisted gimp. In flat embroidery, -it may be mentioned, the hair is frequently worked in long-and-short or -split stitch, or in short, flat satin-stitches, the lines whereof are -cleverly arranged to follow the twists of the curls. In this way the hair -of the lady, shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 66, is worked. - - -Plush-Stitch - -This is a modern name for the stitch used in the Stuart period -embroideries for fur robes and the coats of certain beasts. It is also -known as velvet, rug, and raised stitch. To carry it out a series of loops -is worked over a small mesh or a knitting pin, each loop being secured to -the foundation stuff by a tent or cross-stitch, and when the necessary -number of rows is completed, the loops are cut as in the raised Berlin -wool-work of early Victorian days. In this stitch the ermine of the king's -robe in Plate XVIII. is worked, the black stitches meant to represent the -little tails having been put in after the completion of the white silk -ground. - - -Embroidery in Purl and Metallic Threads - -Purl, both that of uncovered metal and that variety wherein the -corkscrew-like tube is cased with silk, was generally cut into pieces of -the desired length, which were threaded on the needle and sewn down either -flat or in loops, according to the design. The greater part of the -beautiful piece of embroidery illustrated in Plate XXIII. is carried out -in coloured purl, applied in pieces sufficiently long to follow the curves -of the pattern. A small example of looped purl-work is shown in the -left-hand upper corner of Fig. 66. - -Purl embroidery, when at all on an elaborate scale, was worked in a frame -and "applied," although the slighter portions of a design were often -executed on the picture itself. The system of working all the heavier -parts of such embroideries separately and adding them piece by piece, as -it were, until the whole was complete, accounts, of course, for the -extreme rarity of a "drawn" or puckered ground in old needlework pictures -and panels. - -Besides purl, gold and silver "passing" often appears in certain sections -of the work. "Passing" is wire sufficiently thin and flexible to be passed -through instead of couched down on the foundation material, and with it -such devices as rayed suns and moons are often embroidered in -long-and-short stitch. A thicker kind of metallic thread was employed for -couching, this being made in the same manner as the Japanese thread so -largely used in modern work, save that a thin ribbon of real gold took the -place of the strip of gilt paper as a casing for the silk thread. - -Water is sometimes represented by lengths of silver purl stretched tightly -across a flat surface of satin or laid-stitches, but not infrequently, -instead of the purl, sheets of talc are laid over the silken stitchery. -The water in Susannah's bath (Plate XIV.) is covered with talc, hence it -appears light coloured in the reproduction. - -When a metallic lustre was needed, the plumules of peacocks' feathers were -occasionally employed, especially in the bodies of butterflies and -caterpillars, but these unfortunately have almost invariably suffered from -the depredations of a small insect, and it is seldom that more remains of -them in old embroideries than a few dilapidated and minute fragments, -often barely recognisable for what they are. - - -Lace-Stitches - -The needle-point lace-stitches, so profusely used in the dresses and -decorative accessories of the figures in Stuart embroideries, are, as a -rule, of a close and rather heavy type. Sometimes they are found to be -worked directly on the picture or panel as surface stitches, in the manner -already described as adopted for backgrounds; but it was undoubtedly more -usual to work the ruffles, sleeves, flower-petals, butterfly-wings, -etc., separately, fastening them into their proper places when finished. -Stiffenings of fine wire were generally sewn round the extreme edge of any -part intended to stand away from the background. A most interesting -variety of lace-stitches may be seen in the costume of the boy shown in -the enlargement (Fig. 69), taken from the panel reproduced in Fig. 64. The -small illustration (Fig. 61) heading this chapter illustrates quite a -different kind of lace-stitch, to wit, the hollie-point, which, originally -confined to church embroidery, was during the seventeenth century used to -ornament under-garments and babies' christening-robes. - -[Illustration: FIG. 68.--EMBROIDERY PICTURE. A SQUIRE AND HIS LADY. SIGNED -M. C. DATED 1657. _Mr Minet._ - -This embroidery, which bears the initials "M. C." and the date 1657 in -pearls, is notable for the variety of stitches which find a place upon it. -The central figures are dressed in elaborate costumes, the lady's robe of -yellow satin being embroidered with coloured flowers and decked with -pearls, laces, and flowers, an attire altogether inconsistent with the -Puritanical times in which she lived.] - -[Illustration: FIG. 69.--HAIR OF UNRAVELLED SILK: ENLARGEMENT OF PORTION -OF EMBROIDERY REPRODUCED IN FIG. 64.] - - -Bead Embroidery - -The actual stitchery in the old embroideries that are worked entirely, or -almost entirely, in beads, is of an extremely simple description. In the -majority of pieces the work is applied as in the case of the stump -embroideries, the beads being threaded and sewn down on the framed linen, -either flatly or over padding. In the less elaborate class of -embroideries, however, the beads are sewn directly on the satin ground; -but when this plan has been adopted the design is rarely padded at all, -although small portions of it, such as cravats, girdle-tassels, and -garter-knots, are found to be detached from the rest of the work. This is -for the most part executed with long strings of threaded beads couched -down in close-set rows. Plate XXI. represents an excellent specimen of -flat and raised bead-work combined with purl embroidery. See also Fig. 52. - - -Groundwork Tracings - -The first stage of an embroidered picture is well illustrated in Fig. 70, -which is worthy of careful study. The original is a piece of satin -measuring 9-1/2 x 8 in., and on this the design has been traced by a -pointed stylus, the deep incised lines made in the thick material having -been coloured black, probably by a transferring medium similar to -carbonised paper. The shadows have been added with a brush, evidently -wielded by an experienced hand, for not only are they gradated in the -original, but there are no signs of any difficulty in dealing with the -flow of colour on the absorbent textile. The subject of the picture is -said to be the Princess Mary and the Prince William of Orange. - -[Illustration: PLATE XXII.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. DATED 1735. - -In no Embroidery in the whole of this volume has a more determined -endeavour been made to imitate Tapestry than in the little piece here -illustrated. So deftly has this been carried out that experts have -declined to believe that it is needlework, or that the gradation of blues -in the background have been obtained except through stain or dye. The -workmanship of that portion of the sky over which the bird flies appeared -also too fine for manual execution. An examination of the back has -disproved both suppositions. The piece is noteworthy for the border at the -top, which is a link connecting it with the Sampler. A date, 1735, can be -distinguished through the stain in the upper right corner.] - - -Implements Used - -[Illustration: FIG. 70.--GROUNDWORK TRACING FOR EMBROIDERED PICTURE. 17TH -CENTURY. _Mr E. Hennell._] - -It is probable that some details in the picture--acorns, fruit, and the -like--were worked with the aid of the curious little implements shown in -Fig. 71. These are thimble-shaped moulds of thin, hard wood, which have -two rows of holes pierced round their base. Through these holes are passed -the threads which form the foundation of the rows of lace or -knotting-stitches that are worked with the needle round and round the -mould until it is completely covered. The knotted purses of the -seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were possibly made on moulds of this -kind. The plate shows two of these queer little objects, as well as a long -spool or bobbin with ancient silks of various colours still wound on it, -the spool-case belonging to it, and two pieces of knotted-work in -different stages of development. - -[Illustration: FIG. 71.--MOULDS FOR KNOTTED OR LACE WORK, WITH SILK SPOOLS -AND CASE.] - -[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.--SPECIMEN OF PURL EMBROIDERY. 16TH-17TH -CENTURY. _Formerly in the Author's Collection._ - -A specimen of stitchery of various kinds, much of it in high relief, and -of purl work. The reproduction, whilst translating very faithfully the -colours, gives but little idea of the relief. Size, 12 x 16-1/2.] - - -II.--The Stitchery of Samplers, with a Note on their Materials - - "Sad sewers make sad samplers. We'll be sorry - Down to our fingers'-ends and 'broider emblems - Native to desolation--cypress sprays, - Yew-tufts and hectic leaves of various autumn - And bitter tawny rue, and bent blackthorns." - _The Soldier of Fortune._--LORD DE TABLEY. - - -Cut and Drawn-Work - -The open-work stitchery, which is so important and pleasing a feature of -the seventeenth-century sampler, is of two kinds; that is, _double_ -cut-work--the Italian _punto tagliato_--in which both warp and woof -threads are removed, save for a few necessary connecting bars, and -_single_ cut-work--_punto tirato_--wherein but one set of threads is -withdrawn. The first type (which is probably the "rare Italian cut-work" -mentioned in "The Needle's Excellency") is the immediate ancestor of -needle-point lace, and is the kind that is oftenest met with in the oldest -and finest samplers; the second approaches more nearly to the drawn-thread -embroidery worked both abroad and at home at the present day. - -In executing real double cut-work, after the surplus material has been cut -away, the supporting or connecting threads are overcast, the edges of the -cut linen buttonholed, and the spaces within this framework filled in with -lace-stitches, simple or elaborate. In the best specimens of samplers the -effect is sometimes enhanced by portions of the pattern being detached -from the ground, as in the upper part of the beautiful sampler illustrated -in Fig. 72.[14] These loose pieces usually have as basis a row of -buttonhole-stitches worked into the linen, but in some examples the lace -has been worked quite separately and sewn on. The mode of working both -double and single cut-work is shown plainly in the two enlargements (Figs. -73 and 74), which are of parts of samplers probably worked about 1660. - -[Illustration: FIG. 72--DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER. 17TH CENTURY.] - -There is a third and much simpler type of open-work occasionally found on -seventeenth-century samplers, which is carried out by piercing the linen -with a stiletto and overcasting the resulting holes so as to produce a -series of bird's-eye or eyelet stitches. All three varieties of -open-stitch are frequently seen in combination with that short, flat -satin-stitch, which, when worked in a diaper pattern with white thread or -silk on a white ground, is sometimes called damask-stitch. This pretty -combination of stitches appears in Plate VI., and also in the enlargement -(Fig. 74) already referred to. - -[Illustration: FIG. 73.--CUT AND DRAWN-WORK: ENLARGEMENT FROM 17TH-CENTURY -SAMPLER.] - - -Back-Stitch - -This stitch was largely used in the seventeenth and early eighteenth -centuries for the adornment of articles of personal clothing, as well as -of quilts and hangings, hence it is natural that it is prominent in the -samplers of the period. In the older specimens the bands of back-stitch -patterns are worked with exquisite neatness, both sides being precisely -alike; but in those of later date signs of carelessness are apparent, and -the reverse side is somewhat untidy. In no sampler examined by the writer, -however, has the back-stitch been produced by working a chain-stitch on -the wrong side of the linen, as is the case in some of the embroidered -garments of the period. - -The samplers illustrated in Plates III. and VII. are noticeable for their -good bands of back-stitching. A small section of Fig. 5 is shown on an -enlarged scale in Fig. 75. In some modern text-books of embroidery, it may -be added, the old reversible or two-sided back-stitch is distinguished as -Holbein-stitch. - -[Illustration: FIG. 74.--SATIN-STITCH AND COMBINATION OF TYPES OF -OPEN-WORK: ENLARGED FROM THE SAMPLER REPRODUCED IN FIG. 4. 17TH CENTURY.] - - -Alphabet-Stitches - -The stitches used for the lettering on samplers are three in number, to -wit, cross-stitch, bird's-eye-stitch and satin-stitch. Of the first there -are two varieties, the ordinary cross-stitch, known in later years as -sampler-stitch, and the much neater kind, in which the crossed stitches -form a perfect little square on the wrong side. This daintiest of marking -stitches is rarely seen on samplers later than the eighteenth century. - -The satin-stitch alphabets are worked in short flat stitches, not over -padding, according to the modern method of initial embroidering, and the -letters are generally square rather than curved in outline. The -bird's-eye-stitch, when used for alphabets, varies greatly in degree of -fineness. In some instances the holes are very closely overcast with -short, even stitches, but in others the latter are alternately long and -short, so that each "eyelet" or "bird's-eye" is the centre, as it were, of -a star of ray-like stitches. - -[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.--DARNING SAMPLER. 1788. - -Darning Samplers of unpretentious form date back a long way, but those -where they were conjoined to decoration, as in the specimens reproduced -here, appeared to cluster round the end of the eighteenth century. Not -only are a variety of stitches of a most intricate kind set out on them, -but they are done in gay colours, and any monotony is averted by -delicately conceived borderings. Whilst "Darning Samplers" cannot be -considered as rare, they certainly are not often met with in fine -condition. They are a standing testimony to the assiduity and dexterity of -our grandparents in the reparation of their household napery.] - - -Darning-Stitches - -The stitches exemplifying the mode of darning damask, cambric, or linen -had usually a sampler entirely devoted to them, and at one period--the end -of the eighteenth century--it seems to have been a fairly general custom -that a girl should work one as a companion to the ordinary sampler of -lettering and patterns. The specimen darns on such a sampler are, as a -rule, arranged in squares or crosses round some centre device, a bouquet -or basket of flowers for instance, or it may be merely the initials of the -worker in a shield. The two samplers (Fig. 76 and Plate XXIV.) are typical -examples of their kind, although perhaps the ornamental parts of the -designs are a little more fanciful than in the majority of those met with. - -[Illustration: FIG. 75.--BACK-STITCH: ENLARGEMENT OF PORTION OF SAMPLER IN -FIG. 5. 17TH CENTURY. TWICE ACTUAL SIZE.] - -The best worked--not necessarily the most elaborately embellished--of this -particular class of sampler has small pieces of the material actually cut -out and the holes filled up with darning, but in inferior ones the stuff -is left untouched, and the darn is simply worked on the linen, tammy -cloth, or tiffany itself. This is a very much easier method and the -appearance is better; but the darns so made are, after all, but imitations -of the real thing. For the damask darns fine silk of two colours is -invariably used, and in the properly worked examples both sides are alike, -save, of course, for the reversal of the damask effect, as in woven -damask. - -The centre designs in the two samplers illustrated are worked in fine -darning-stitches of divers kinds, outlined with chain and stem stitches. -Here and there a few other stitches are introduced, as in the stem of the -rose in Fig. 76, where French knots are used to produce the mossy -appearance. The centre basket in this sampler is worked in lines of -chain-stitching crossing each other lattice fashion. Both the samplers -have the initials of their workers, and in that shown in Fig. 76 the date -(1802) also, neatly darned into one of the crosses formed by the damask -patterns. - -Darning-samplers are usually square, or nearly square, in shape, and are -simply finished with a single line of hem-stitching at the edge, but some -of the older ones are ornamented with a broader band of drawn-work as -border; while a few have examples of drawn-work, alternating with squares -and crosses of darning, in the body of the sampler. A small section of -such a sampler, dated 1785, is illustrated on an enlarged scale in Fig. -77. It has a series of small conventional leaf patterns worked in single -drawn-work, and edged with a scalloping worked in chain-stitch with green -silk. The ground of this particular sampler is thin linen, but the -muslin-like stuff known as tiffany is that used for the foundation of nine -darning-samplers out of ten. - - -Tent and Cross Stitches - -Neither tent-stitch nor tapestry-stitch appears to have been largely -introduced in sampler-embroidery at any period; still, portions of a -few specimens worked during the early and middle years of the eighteenth -century are executed in one or other of these stitches. Tent-stitch, for -instance, plays an important part in the wreath border of Fig. 8. The -beautifully shaded leaves are all worked in this way, as are many of the -flowers, other varieties of grounding or cushion-stitches being used for -the rest of the border. The Commandments, which the wreath enframes, are -worked in cross-stitch. This last-named stitch in its earliest form is -worked over a single thread, and produces a close and solid effect when -closely massed, or, as may be seen in many sampler maps, very fine lines -when worked in single rows. Ordinary cross-stitch taken over two threads -is, of course, the familiar stitch in which nineteenth-century samplers -are entirely worked, whence arises its second name of sampler-stitch. - -[Illustration: FIG. 76.--DARNING SAMPLER. SIGNED M. M., T. B., J. F. DATED -1802. _The late Mrs Head._] - -[Illustration: FIG. 77.--ENLARGED PORTION OF A DARNING SAMPLER. DATED -1785.] - -A pretty and--in sampler embroidery--uncommon stitch is that in which the -crowned lions in the samplers of Mary and Lydia Johnson (Figs. 35 and 36) -are worked. This stitch is formed of two cross-stitches superimposed -diagonally, and since its revival in the Berlin wool era has been known by -the names of star-stitch and leviathan-stitch. - - -Various Stitches - -Besides the stitches already enumerated and described, sundry and divers -others are found on samplers of various periods. Satin-stitch, for -instance, is used for borders and other parts of designs, as well as for -alphabets. Long-and-short stitch, frequently very irregularly executed, -seems to have been popular for the embroidery of the wreaths and garlands -that make gay many of the later eighteenth-century samplers. Stem-stitch, -save for such minor details as flower-stalks and tendrils, is not often -seen; but the wreath-borders of a limited number of eighteenth-century -samplers are done entirely in this stitch, worked in lines round and -round, or up and down, each leaf and petal until the whole is filled in. -Stem-stitch, it should be explained, is, to all intents and purposes, the -same as "outline" or "crewel" stitch. The latter name, however, is -likewise applied to long-and-short or plumage stitch by some writers on -embroidery. - -Laid-stitches may also be included in the list of stitches occurring -occasionally in samplers, although it is rarely met with in its more -elaborate forms. A sampler dated 1808 has two baskets (of flowers) worked -in long laid-stitches of brown silk couched with yellow silk, the effect -of wicker-work being produced with some success by this plan, and similar -unambitious examples appear in some samplers of rather earlier date. - -The portion of a sampler shown in Fig. 2 is interesting by reason of the -fact that it is worked in knots, a form of stitchery comparatively rare, -save in those unclassifiable pieces of embroidery which are neither -pictures nor samplers, but possess some of the features of both. - - -Materials - -Linen, bleached or unbleached, but, of course, always hand-woven, is the -foundation material of the early samplers. It varies greatly in texture, -from a coarse, canvas-like kind to a fine and closely woven sort of about -the same stoutness as good modern pillow-case linen. The stitchery of -these oldest samplers is executed in linen thread or a somewhat loosely -twisted silk, often scarcely coarser than our nineteenth-century "machine -silk," although, on the other hand, a very thick and irregularly spun type -is occasionally seen. - -About 1725 linen of a peculiar yellow colour and rather harsh texture came -into vogue; but this went out of fashion in a few years, and towards the -end of the eighteenth century the strong and durable linen was almost -entirely superseded by an ugly and moth-attracting stuff called -indifferently tammy, tammy cloth, bolting cloth, and, when woven in a -specially narrow width, sampler canvas. The stitchery on samplers of this -date is almost invariably executed with silk, although in a few of the -coarser ones fine untwisted crewel is substituted. Tiffany, the thin, -muslin-like material mentioned in connection with darning-samplers, was at -this period used also for small delicately wrought samplers of the -ordinary type. - -Early in the nineteenth century very coarsely woven linen and linen canvas -came into fashion again, and for some time were nearly as popular as the -woollen tammy; while, about 1820, twisted crewels of the crudest dyes -replaced in a great measure the soft toned silks. Next followed the -introduction of cotton canvas and Berlin wool, and with them vanished the -last remaining vestige of the exquisite stitchery and well-balanced -designs of earlier generations, and the sampler, save in a most degraded -form, ceased to exist. - - - - -Index - - - Abraham on sampler, 58. Fig. 16 - - Acorn, 58, 68, 109. Plate III. Fig. 16 - - Adam and Eve on samplers, 21, 62, 109; - on embroideries, 128 - - Africa, map of, 97. Fig 41 - - Age of sampler, how to estimate, 15 - - Age of sampler workers, 80 - - Agur's prayer. Plate XI. - - Alphabets on samplers, 19, 22, 84; - stitches, 164 - - America, samplers from, 24, 97 (Plate XIII., Figs. 42-51); - map of, 92. Fig. 39 - - Anchors, Fig. 23 - - Animals on samplers, 65 - - Ascension Day samplers, 38 - - - Background-stitches, 144 - - Back-stitches, 109, 163. Plates III. and VII. Fig. 75 - - Bead embroidery, 158 (Plate XXII.); - sampler, Fig. 53 - - Belief, the, 28 - - Belgian samplers, 110 - - Biblical subjects in tapestry embroideries, 128 - - Bird's-eye-stitch, 164 - - Borders to samplers, 75 - - Boston, U.S.A., samplers from, 89. Fig. 50 - - Boxers, 61. Plate III. Fig. 18 - - Boys, samplers by, 84. Fig 34 - - Brontes, samplers by, 28. Figs. 10, 11, 12 - - Brooklyn, U.S.A., sampler from, 89. Fig. 47 - - Buttonhole-stitch, 146 - - - Calcutta, samplers from, 35. Fig. 3 - - Carnation, see "Pink" - - Caterpillar, 140 - - Charles I., Plates XVI. and XVIII. - - Charles II., Plate XXI. - - Children, samplers by, 80 - - Christening samplers, 109 - - Christmas samplers, 38 - - Colouring of samplers, 52 - - Commandments, the, 27. Fig. 9 - - Corn blue-bottle, 78 - - Coronet, see "Crowns" - - Costume on tapestry embroideries, 132 - - Crewel-stitch, 170 - - Cross-stitch, 109, 166 - - Crowns on samplers, 68. Figs. 20-22 - - Crucifixion on samplers, 108, 109 - - Cupids on samplers, Fig. 23 - - Cushion-stitch, 144. Fig. 62 - - Cut and drawn work stitches, 161. Figs. 4, 7, 16, 24, 42, 72, 73 - - - Darned samplers, Fig. 76. Plate XXIV. - - Darning-stitches, 110, 165. Plate XXIV. Figs. 76, 77 - - David and Abigail, 128, 130; - and Goliath, 130 - - Deer, see "Stags" - - Design on samplers, 51 - - Dogs on samplers, Fig. 17. Plate III. - - Drawn-work, 58, 135. Fig. 16 - - Dress, value of tapestry embroideries as patterns of, 132 - - Dutch samplers, 110 - - - Earliest samplers, 10, 13, 16 - - Easter samplers, 36 - - Embroiderers' Company, 127 - - Embroideries in the manner of tapestry pictures, 123; - subjects of, 127; - as mirrors of fashion, 132 - - England, maps of, 94. Fig. 40. - - Esther and Ahasuerus, 128, 130. Plate XVIII. - - Evolution of samplers, 12, 15 - - Eyelet-stitch, 146. Fig. 63 - - - Fig on samplers, 68. Plate III. - - Fine Art Society's Exhibition of samplers, 4, 28, 66, 89, 119; - of embroideries, 123 - - Fleur de Lys on samplers, 21 - - Florentine-stitch, 145 - - Flowers on samplers, 65; - on tapestry embroideries, 139 - - Foreign flavour in embroideries, 131 - - Foreign samplers, 104 - - Fountains on tapestry embroideries, 136 - - French knot-stitches, 151. Figs. 21 and 67 - - French samplers, 111 - - - Gardening, illustrations of, on tapestry embroideries, 135 - - German samplers, 108 - - Glove, embroidered. Fig. 55 - - Gobelin-stitch, 145 - - Gold and silver passing, 154 - - Grubs on tapestry embroideries, 140 - - - Hagar and Ishmael, 129. Plate XV. - - Hearts on samplers, 75. Figs. 21-23 - - Hollie point lace cap, Fig. 61; - stitch, 157 - - Honeysuckle on samplers, 66, 79. Fig. 30 - - Horticulture, see "Gardening" - - House on samplers, 118 (Figs. 14, 46, 48); - on tapestry embroidery, 135. Fig. 56 - - Human figure, 57 - - Hungary-stitch, 145 - - - Implements used in stitchery, 159. Fig. 71 - - Indian samplers, 113. Figs. 3 and 52 - - Inscriptions on samplers, 23, 91 - - Italian samplers, 111 - - - Judgment of Paris, 128. Fig. 56 - - - Knot-stitches, 109, 151. Figs. 21 and 67 - - - Lace-stitches, 154. Figs. 61, 68-70 - - Laid-stitch, 146 - - Last of the samplers, 117 - - Lettering on samplers, 22 - - Leviathan-stitch, 169 - - Life and death, inscriptions referring to, 41 - - Lion on sampler, 65. Fig. 44 - - Literature sampler, 115 - - Little Gidding, nuns, 131, 149 - - Long-and-short-stitch, 170 - - Looped-stitches, 152 - - Lord's Prayer, the, 27 - - - Maidstone Museum, tapestry picture. Plate I. - - Map samplers, 92. Figs. 39-41 - - Materials on which samplers were worked, 171 - - Mermaid on sampler, Fig. 16 - - Metal thread, 153 - - Milton, mention of sampler by, 14 - - Mitford, Miss, on samplers, 118 - - Mortlake tapestries, 100 - - Moses in the bullrushes, 129 - - Mustard or canary-coloured canvas, 55 - - - - National events, samplers as records of, 90 - - Need of samplers, 11 - - Needle's excellency, the, 115, 116, 143 - - Numerals on samplers, 22 - - - Oak, see "Acorn" - - Origin of samplers, place of, 88 - - Ornament, sampler, 51 - - Ornamentation, earliest date of various forms of, 21 - - Orpheus, 128 - - - Parents and preceptors, duties to, 46 - - Passing, 154 - - Passion Week samplers, 38 - - Patternes of cut workes, 115 - - Peacocks' feathers, use of, 154 - - Pearls, seed, on tapestry embroideries, 133--_note_ - - Pears, 109 - - Pineapple on samplers, 68 - - Pink on samplers, 66, 78, 109. Plates III., IV., VI. Fig. 28 - - Place of origin of samplers, 88 - - Plush-stitch, 153. Plate XVIII. - - Portuguese samplers, 112 - - Poverty, inscriptions concerning, 48 - - Prayers on samplers, 39 - - Preceptors, duties to, 46 - - Purl, 153. Plate XXIII. - - - Quaint inscriptions, 49 - - - Religious festivals, verses commemorating, 36 - - Rhymes on samplers, see "Verses" - - Royal personages on tapestry embroideries, 133 - - Royal school of art needlework, 120 - - Rose on samplers, 58, 66, 109 (Figs. 7, 16, Plate VI.); - on tapestry embroideries, 113 - - Ruskin, John, on needlework in museums, 2; - on samplers, 3; - sampler by grandmother of, 3, and Plate X. - - Samplers. Parts I. and III. (Sec. II.) - - Satin-stitch, 122, 141, 146 - - Scottish samplers, 71, 84, 89. Figs. 21, 34 - - Sex of sampler workers, 80 - - Shakespeare, mention of sampler by, 13 - - Sidney, Sir P., mention of sampler by, 14 - - Signatures on samplers, 23 - - Size of samplers, 84 - - Smoke (chimney) on embroideries, 135. Fig. 57 - - Spanish samplers, 112 - - _Spectator_ on decay of needlework, 117 - - Spies to Canaan, 21 - - Split-stitch, 150. Figs. 65, 66 - - Stag on samplers, 21, 65, 80. Figs. 6, 17. Plates III., VIII. - - Star-stitch, 169. Figs. 35, 36 - - Stem-stitch, 150 - - Stitchery of tapestry pictures, 143; - of samplers, 161 - - Stitches, background, 144; - cushion, 144; - tent, 144; - Gobelin, 145; - upright, 145; - Florentine, 145; - Hungary, 145; - satin, 146; - open, 146; - buttonhole, 146; - eyelet, 149 (Fig. 63); - split, 152 (Figs. 65, 66); - stem, 150; - knot, 151; - looped, 152; - plush, 153; - purl, 153; - passing, 154; - lace, sampler stitches, 154; - hollie point, 157 (Fig. 61); - cut and drawn-work, 161; - back-stitch, 163 (Fig. 75); - alphabet-stitch, 164; - darning-stitch, 165 (Plate XXIV. and Figs. 8, 76); - tent and cross-stitch, 166; - various, 170 - - Strawberry on samplers, 66. Fig. 31. Plate XIII. - - Stump embroidery, 149 - - Susannah and the elders, 128, 130, 131. Plate XIV. - - Swiss samplers, 111 - - - Talc, 154. Plate XIV. - - Tammy cloth, 171 - - Tapestry, history of, 125; - stitch, 145 - - Tapestry pictures--see embroideries in the manner of - - Tent-stitch, 166 - - Thistle on sampler, 71. Fig. 21 - - Tracing, groundwork, 158. Fig. 70 - - Tree of knowledge on samplers, 18_n_, 62_n_, 109. Figs. 17, 18 - - Tulip on samplers, 78. Figs. 27, 59 - - - Upright-stitch, 145 - - - Verses on samplers, 27, 36-51 - - Vice, inscription concerning, 48 - - Victoria and Albert Museum, samplers in, 11, 21, 58. Fig. 7 - - Virtue, inscription concerning, 48 - - - Wealth, inscription concerning, 48 - - -_Printed at_ THE DARIEN PRESS, _Edinburgh_ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The picture also shows that the principal decorations of the walls of -the schoolroom were framed examples of attainments with the needle. - -[2] In the original all the small pieces of work in the upper corner near -the initials are varieties of gold thread design, and almost all the grey -colour throughout, in the reproduction, is silver thread. - -[3] It was claimed by its late owner, Mrs Egerton Baines, that almost -every line of this sampler contains Royalist emblems. For instance, the -angel in the upper part is supposed to be Margaret of Scotland wearing the -Yorkist badge as a part of her chatelaine; beside her is the Tree of Life, -on either side of which are Lancastrian S's, the whole row being -symbolical of the descent of the Stuarts from Margaret of Scotland, -daughter of Henry VII. The next row of ornament is also the Tree of Life, -represented by a vine springing from an acorn, by tradition a symbolical -badge of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. The next two rows are made up -of roses, acorns, and Stuart S's, which S's again appear in the line -beneath, linked with the Tree of Life. We refer elsewhere (p. 62) to the -figures in the bottom row (the whole of the sampler is not shown here), -and these are supposed to be Oliver Cromwell as a tailed devil. The -sampler is neither signed nor dated, but it clearly belongs to the first -half of the seventeenth century. The silks employed are almost exclusively -pink, green, and blue, and the work is of the open character found in that -illustrated in Plate III. - -[4] In one by Hannah Lanting, dated 1691, the orthography is "with my -nedel I rout the same," and it adds, "and Juda Hayle is my Dame." - -[5] The lower portion of Fig. 18 opposite introduces us to an early and -crude representation of Adam and Eve and the serpent, and to the bird and -fountain, and flower in vase, forms of decoration which became at a later -date so very common. The name of the maker has been obliterated owing to -dirt getting through a broken glass, but the date is 1742. - -[6] This sampler is interesting owing to its drawn-work figures, which are -directly copied from two effigies of the reign of James I., and may stand -for that Monarch and his Queen. This portion of the sampler might readily -be mistaken for that date were it not that it bears on the bar which -divides the figures the letters S.W., 1700. The border at the side of the -figures is in red silk, that at the top and the alphabet are in the motley -array of colours to which we are accustomed in specimens of this date. - -[7] A map of Europe, formerly in the author's possession, had the degrees -marked as so many minutes or hours east or west of Clapton! - -[8] "Samplers," by Alice Morse Earle. - -[9] It first appeared in the _Lady's Magazine_, 1819, and in the first -collected edition, 1824, Vol. I. pp. 67, 68; also in Bohn's Classics, -1852, pp. 138, 139. - -[10] These latter, with their figures standing out in relief, could never -have been used for cushions, and can only have been employed as pictures. - -[11] The difficulty of assigning a close date to tapestry embroideries is -a considerable one, for dress is practically the only guide, and this is -by no means a reliable one, for a design may well have been taken from a -piece dated half a century previously, as, for instance, when the marriage -of Charles I. is portrayed on an embroidery bearing date 1649, the year of -his death. Those, therefore, which have a genuine date have this value, -that they can only represent a phase of art or a subject coeval with, or -precedent to, that date. Hence the importance of the pieces illustrated in -Fig. 60 and in Fig. 68, dated six years later. - -[12] Mr Davenport considers that this rounded, padded work is a caricature -of the raised embroidery of the _opus Anglicanum_, and that the earliest -specimens of it are to be found at Coire, Zurich, and Munich. - -[13] The fondness for decking the dress with pearls is quaintly portrayed -in these pictures, where they are imitated by seed pearls. As to these -there is an interesting extract extant, from the inventory of St James's -House, nigh Westminster, in 1549, wherein among the items is one of "a -table [or picture] whereon is a man holding a sword in one hand and a -sceptre in the other, of needlework, prettily garnished with seed pearls." - -[14] A very good example of a sampler in drawn-work, in which the floral -form of decoration is entirely absent, save in the sixth row (the pinks), -which is in green silk, the rest being in white. That the sampler was -intended as a pattern is evident from some of the rows being unfinished. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMPLERS AND TAPESTRY EMBROIDERIES*** - - -******* This file should be named 41717.txt or 41717.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/1/7/1/41717 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at - www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 -North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email -contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the -Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |